Telecoms left out of new CPUC reform bill

12 December 2016 by Steve Blum
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California Public Utilities Commission reforms are back on the table in Sacramento, but the latest proposal doesn’t include anything specific about review or reorganisation of how telecommunications companies are regulated. Senate bill 19 was introduced by senator Jerry Hill (D – San Bruno) as new lawmakers were sworn in and the new legislative session began last week. He is the sole survivor of the trio that negotiated with governor Brown to come to agreement on a package of bills aimed at overhauling the CPUC last year.… More

Smart watch market collapses in on itself

11 December 2016 by Steve Blum
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Once upon a time, $700 million ago…

Full featured smart watches are heading for the dustbin of fads. Pebble, the early darling of the market, is being bought by FitBit, another player that was fast out of the gate, but stumbled down the stretch. The purchase price is the first clue that something is drastically wrong with the segment. FitBit is picking up Pebble for $40 million, which, as a story in ReThink IoT explains, is a just shoot me price tag…

For Fitbit, snapping up Pebble removes a real competitor in its segments, but for Pebble, it will rue the day that the company apparently turned down a $740m takeover bid from Citizen – the Japanese watchmaker.

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End of the line for an intelligent, independent FCC commissioner

10 December 2016 by Steve Blum
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Happier days.

Jessica Rosenworcel won’t be coming back to the Federal Communications Commission next year. Not unless she’s renominated by either president Obama or Trump and the U.S. senate concurs. Or the senate takes the highly unusual step of returning to work during the holiday break. Senators wrapped up business for the year in the wee hours this morning, leaving a stack of unfinished business, including confirmation of a new term on the FCC for Rosenworcel.… More

Comcast uses monopoly muscle to claw back profits from cord cutters

9 December 2016 by Steve Blum
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Odd. He always seems to win.

Comcast’s operating profit drops by $5.50 every time a customer cancels bundled television service and goes with Internet service alone. That’s according to a story by Daniel Frankel in Fierce Wireless about some back of the envelope modelling done by Wall Street analyst Craig Moffett. His conclusion is that bundling prevents cord cutting, and I think he’s right. But another way of looking at it is that Comcast – and its mega-cable brethren – are using their monopoly control of high speed Internet service to extract significant rents – profits beyond what a competitive market would allow – from consumers.… More

DSL service hammered in FCC report

8 December 2016 by Steve Blum
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Cable modem service is reliable and fast, and getting faster, but DSL service offered by telcos isn’t. That’s the top line conclusion of the Federal Communications Commission’s 2016 annual report on fixed broadband service across the U.S…

When DSL is used to provide broadband service, the maximum advertised download speeds among the most popular service tiers has increased only slightly since 2011. In contrast, for cable services, the maximum advertised download speeds among the most popular service tiers have increased from 12-30 Mbps in March 2011 to 100-300 Mbps in September 2015.

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California's broadband speeds rank second among its peers

7 December 2016 by Steve Blum
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Where it really counts, California’s broadband speeds come out on top, or nearly so. We’re the sixth largest economy in the world, and our average broadband speeds rank second, 1 Mbps behind Japan. According to the Akamai State of the Internet report for April through June of 2016, the average Internet user in Japan connected to its content delivery network at 17.1 Mbps, while the average Californian connected at 16.1 Mbps.

Average connection speeds in Japan slowed a bit in the second quarter, from a high of 18.2 Mbps, as did California’s average, which was 16.4 Mbps in the first quarter of 2016.… More

TV-to-mobile spectrum transfer heads to fourth auction round

6 December 2016 by Steve Blum
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Less equals less, when it comes to spectrum auctions. That seems to be the lesson the Federal Communications Commission is learning as it ends its third stage of reverse-and-forward auctions for frequencies currently used by television broadcasters and coveted by mobile carriers.

But not coveted as much as broadcasters think, apparently. The FCC opened the bidding from mobile carriers and closed it couple hours later when it became clear that the price they are willing to pay isn’t anywhere near what broadcasters want in exchange for giving it up.… More

California's telecoms playing field takes a tiny tilt towards level

5 December 2016 by Steve Blum
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It’s all the same.

The California Public Utilities Commission took a small, but significant, step towards treating all telecoms companies the same on Thursday. Cable and telephone companies, mobile carriers and any other communication service provider will now be subject to the same kind of safety enforcement procedures as other public utilities.

The commission [voted to allow enforcement staff to issue citations to any communications company]() that violates the safety rules that govern how utility poles, wires and cables, antennas, cabinets and other infrastructure in the public right of way is installed and maintained.… More

Mobile OS security gains strength as a selling proposition

4 December 2016 by Steve Blum
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They mind their own business.

A reason for Sailfish’s existence, and perhaps even for the $12 million investment it received earlier this year is becoming clearer. It’s an alternative mobile operating system – a competitor to Android and iOS – that arose from the ashes of Nokia’s MeeGo operating system, which was scrapped when Microsoft bought the company.

But it didn’t buy everything and the Finnish engineers who stayed behind started a new company, Jolla, and kept working on it.… More

Another net neutrality skeptic lands at the FCC

3 December 2016 by Steve Blum
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Telecoms policy solidifies.

A third, like minded crew member beamed down to the Trump transition’s landing team at the Federal Communications Commission this week. Roslyn Layton was named to the volunteer position and, together with previous appointees Jeffrey Eisenach and Mark Jamison, will help manage the transition from an Obama-appointed democratic majority to a Trump-appointed republican one.

Like Jamison and Eisenach, Layton has links to the American Enterprise Institute, a right-of-center consulting shop, and works as a consultant and in academia, albeit with a thin scholarly resume.… More