Sailfish mobile OS development is shuddering to a halt

21 November 2015 by Steve Blum
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Another attempt to build an alternative to the Android mobile operating system is circling ever closer to the drain. A Nokia spin-off, Jolla, is laying off about half of its employees because an expected new round of investment didn’t come through. That means that development of its Sailfish operating system will be on the back burner. According to a story in TechCrunch, Jolla’s chairman, Antii Saaarnio, they need the money in order to hang onto talent…

“We are of course hoping that these are temporary actions… And we are committed to continue the company but really this depends on the external investors as well, how are we able to continue operations,” Saaarnio adds…

However he concedes it would be unable to retain the talent and fund the expensive development work needed to ensure its Sailfish OS is competitive against more well-resourced mobile OS rivals.

… More

Regional economy depends on infrastructure, particularly fiber and conduit

20 November 2015 by Steve Blum
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More broadband equals more work and fewer cars on the road.

“The most important infrastructure for the future is fast, reliable internet connectivity”, said Bud Colligan, co-chair of the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership (MBEP) as he opened a day long conference on the state of the region’s economy. He said that incumbent telephone and cable companies have a big role to play in that, but “it is in our public interest to have a level playing field with robust competition”.… More

Middle mile plan plugs northern California gap but needs open access guarantee

19 November 2015 by Steve Blum
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Open access rules are only as strong as the weakest link.

Siskiyou Telephone Company is asking for a $5.8 million grant from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) to plug a 22-mile fiber gap between the Siskiyou County towns of Happy Camp and Somes Bar. The middle mile project would boost broadband capacity in the region by providing the last link in a fiber chain that runs from Eureka on the coast to Yreka on the I-5 corridor, according to the publicly posted project summary.… More

Intelligent management of broadband subsidies works

18 November 2015 by Steve Blum
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Each taking care of its own.

I had the opportunity to speak at the California Broadband Workshop in Mountain View yesterday, organised by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. Here are the remarks I prepared, which greatly resemble the remarks I delivered…

Good morning. I’d like to make three points.

First, public subsidies provide the greatest benefit to the greatest number when used to leverage private capital and steer it toward public policy goals. Publicly owned assets are a powerful tool for encouraging competitive builds and keeping public policy goals front and center.… More

Rural areas get biggest benefit from higher Californian broadband standard

17 November 2015 by Steve Blum
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Another try at raising California’s minimum broadband standard to 25 Mbps down/3 Mbps up, from the current 6 Mbps down/1.5 Mbps up level, is gathering momentum in Sacramento. Introduced earlier this year by Santa Cruz assemblyman Mark Stone, assembly bill 238 would have raised the bar both for eligibility requirements for California Advanced Service Fund (CASF) subsidies, and for the infrastructure that’s built using that money. It’s stalled now, due to unexpected opposition from rural interests as well as the usual suspects.… More

Broadband is on CPUC's short list for review of Charter deal

16 November 2015 by Steve Blum
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Charter bundles broadband. Why shouldn’t the CPUC?

The cost and availability of broadband in California will be a key factor in determining whether Charter Communications is allowed to buy Time Warner’s and Bright House Networks’ cable systems. That was the decision on Friday by the president of the California Public Utilities Commission, Michael Picker, as he set out the criteria and the schedule for deciding if the transaction will be approved.

On the surface, it is a far less ambitious review than the CPUC undertook of the now dead Comcast mega-merger and market swap with Time Warner and Charter.… More

Los Angeles starts softening up the ground for 5G

15 November 2015 by Steve Blum
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Give it a couple of days and you’ll forget that it’s even there.

If you want to see what a 5G mobile broadband world will look like, check out the Gizmodo article about the new combo street light/cell site equipment that’s being planted in Los Angeles. For now, the poles support 4G service – because nobody will know exactly what 5G is for a few years – and will be installed at the rate of about 100 a year for the next five years.… More

Information can't be stopped and frisked at the border, federal court rules

14 November 2015 by Steve Blum
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Internet data is not a material thing. That was the ruling from a federal appeals court in Washington, as it told the International Trade Commission – a federal agency involved in policing intellectual property disputes, among other, um, things – to stay out of the business of trying to regulate international Internet traffic…

The Tariff Act of 1930 provides the International Trade Commission (“Commission”) with authority to remedy only those unfair acts that involve the importation of “articles”…Here, [the ITC] concluded that “articles” “should be construed to include electronic transmission of digital data…” We disagree.

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FCC's argument against voter discretion is out of bounds

13 November 2015 by Steve Blum
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Voters don’t have to stick to the story you give them.

Local governments are not private businesses and are not managed as if they were. That simple fact of life seems to be bothering the Federal Communications Commission. In its defence of its preemption of state restrictions on municipal broadband systems, filed with a federal appeals court, the FCC points to commonplace public disclosure, debate and voting requirements imposed by North Carolina as attempts to regulate interstate commerce rather than govern municipalities…

These include a requirement that the city hold public hearings and a special election.

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Accelerating technological change triggers regulatory reflex in Santa Cruz

12 November 2015 by Steve Blum
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San Francisco voters decisively rejected an attempt to clamp stiff limits on Airbnb and other online platforms that make it possible for people to rent out spare rooms and empty houses by the day. The measure was on the ballot in the first place “because the hotel industry is threatened”, said California lieutenant governor Gavin Newsom. He was the keynote speaker at the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership’s state of the region conference in Santa Cruz.

It’s not only the hotel industry that’s feeling the heat.… More