FCC continues push to replace rural copper with wireless service

30 October 2017 by Steve Blum
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The Federal Communications Commission won’t preempt state regulations regarding changes in network technologies made by telephone companies – commonly referred to as copper retirement – but it will streamline its own procedures to make those transitions easier. Including replacing rural wireline systems with wireless service that has much lower capacity, reliability and consistency than the fiber networks slated for more affluent communities. That’s the gist of a draft order published by the FCC last week.… More

UK considers making ISPs, particularly cable companies, tell customers the truth

29 October 2017 by Steve Blum
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A consumer protection proposal by the United Kingdom’s telecoms regulator does two useful things: it would require Internet service providers to state a minimum speed they’ll deliver, even under peak load conditions, and it takes a big step towards eliminating the artificial distinction between telephone and cable companies.

The U.K.’s office of communications – Ofcom – says it’s planning to do three things…

  • Improve speed information at the point of sale and in contracts, by reflecting the slower speeds people can experience at ‘peak’ times; and by ensuring providers always give a minimum guaranteed speed before sale.
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Commercial drone experiments outsourced to cities, counties

28 October 2017 by Steve Blum
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Local governments have a chance to jump into the drone development business, by invitation from none other than the Trump administration. An order signed by president Trump gives the Federal Aviation Administration three months to create a program that will allow local, state and tribal governments to propose unmanned aircraft system (UAS) pilot projects, in partnership with private companies, to see what might and might not be feasible to write into FAA regulations in the future.… More

Silicon Valley joined with telcos, cable to defeat California privacy law, says EFF

27 October 2017 by Steve Blum
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An unholy alliance between big tech interests and big telecoms companies succeeded in spiking an Internet privacy bill in Sacramento this year, according to the Electronic Freedom Foundation. In a blog post, the EFF’s Ernesto Falcon says that “Google and Facebook locked arms with AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast to oppose” assembly bill 375…

How do we know? Because we were on the ground in Sacramento in September to witness every last-minute dirty trick to stop A.B.

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Santa Cruz fights fire with fiber

26 October 2017 by Steve Blum
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As a wild fire burned in the Santa Cruz mountains, a key AT&T fiber line was cut nearby, reportedly by a road maintenance crew doing previously scheduled work just before 5:00 a.m. on Tuesday of last week.

In 2009, a break in a different AT&T cable effectively knocked Santa Cruz, Watsonville and most of the rest of the county off of the Internet for most of a day. Since then, AT&T, Comcast and independent broadband companies have upgraded and diversified cable routes running north and south.… More

FCC wants to give "citizens broadband" spectrum to big mobile

25 October 2017 by Steve Blum
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Some citizens are more equal than others.

The Federal Communications Commission says it wants to assign frequencies in the so-called Citizens Broadband Radio Service using a more traditional, industry-centric approach than previously planned. It’s a significant chunk of spectrum, 150 MHz located between 3.550 GHz and 3.700 GHz in what’s referred to as the “mid-band”.

It’s not pristine territory. Government and other legacy licensees are still operating in that band, and they would be protected. New operators, running under whatever new rules that the FCC eventually adopts, will have stay out of the way of those existing users and coordinate use among themselves.… More

FCC commissioner signals more preemption of state, local wireless review

24 October 2017 by Steve Blum
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Well that didn’t take long. Just a couple of working days after a pair of U.S. senators introduced a modest and sane bill to streamline federal permitting for wireless projects – S–1988, aka the Speed Act – there’s a call to double down and go after state and local approval processes too. Except it’s not from a lobbyist or trade association that wants to add perks to the bill.

It’s from someone who already has the authority to big foot state and local authority at will, at least if he can convince a couple of his colleagues to go along with it.… More

Bipartisan bill limits federal environmental review of telecoms projects


Just don’t disturb the ground.

A bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. senate aims to put some common sense into environmental law, at least where wireless facilities are concerned. Co-authored by U.S. senators Roger Wicker (R – Mississippi) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D – Nevada), senate bill 1988, aka the Speed act, would exempt a “communication facility installation” from federal environmental and historic reviews, if there’s already infrastructure in place in the project area.

Wireless infrastructure gets additional exemptions.… More

Cord cutters hurt cable but are killing AT&T

22 October 2017 by Steve Blum
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AT&T’s overall television subscriber count is down, despite the strong growth of of its online video service, DirecTv Now. That’s according to a federal securities and exchange commission filing by the company. Even though it signed up 300,000 new online viewers to DirectTv Now in the third quarter of this year, its total video subscription count dropped by 90,000 according to the filing…

The video net losses were driven by heightened competition in traditional pay TV markets and over-the-top services, hurricanes and our stricter credit standards.

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Apple iOS gaining on Android in U.S. and China

21 October 2017 by Steve Blum
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Apple and Samsung are in a dead heat in the U.S. Both companies captured 35% of smartphone sales for three months ending in August of this year, according to Kantar Wordpanel, a market research firm based in London. Apple is showing strength in carrier distribution channels, particularly with Verizon…

“Apple maintained strong momentum in the US one month before the release of iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, and grew its sales share by 3.7 percentage points year-on-year, compared to Samsung’s growth of 0.8 percentage points,” [Dominic Sunnebo, Global Business Unit Director at Kantar Worldpanel said].

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