Last Wednesday, state Sen. David Hoyle, D-Gaston, unveiled a bill that if passed, would severely restrict North Carolina municipalities attempting to build their own broadband network. Supported by the powerful telecommunications companies, the bill would interminably delay or even halt public broadband projects.
Telecom players predict more mergers
On the heels of the blockbuster Qwest-CenturyTel merger announced last month, the telecommunications industry may be poised for further consolidation.
The next wave could stretch beyond traditional phone companies to fiber-optic-network operators such as Broomfield’s Level 3 Communications, slated to become the largest Colorado-based telco with Qwest’s pending departure.
BroadbandBreakfast.com: UTOPIA, Perfection or Fantasy: Partnering public-private sectors with broadband
Leonard Grace, Expert Opinion, BroadbandBreakfast.com
Utopia: the definition brings about visions of an “ideal place or state”, or “a system of political and social perfection.” Thus became the name chosen for a consortium of sixteen Utah cities building their own broadband infrastructure with a fiber-to-the-premise architecture, while offering residents a clear and alternative choice to incumbent operators, including Quest and Comcast. Is it perfection or fantasy?
Uh-oh, telcos: 93% of Australia getting gov’t-run fiber
When the FCC issued its National Broadband Plan earlier this year, it set some modest goals for the nation: 100Mbps to 100 million homes by 2020, universal service of 4Mbps everywhere.
Australia plans to do things… a bit differently. Within the next eight years, the Australian government will spend AUS$43 billion (US$38 billion) to build its own “world-class broadband infrastructure” that will deploy fiber to 93 percent of all Australian homes and bring 12Mbps broadband to everyone else. The network will be wholesale only and will be open access, enabling every ISP to use the fiber to offer services.
FCC Chairman Genachowski expected to leave broadband services deregulated
By Cecilia Kang
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 3, 2010
The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission has indicated he wants to keep broadband services deregulated, according to sources, even as a federal court decision has exposed weaknesses in the agency’s ability to be a strong watchdog over the companies that provide access to the Web.
Google takes diplomatic route on Net neutrality
In Washington, D.C., Google is learning there’s nothing wrong with a little diplomacy.
In a Federal Communications Commission filing earlier this week, Google reiterated its support for Net neutrality regulation, but it didn’t take sides in the ongoing debate over whether the FCC should reclassify broadband services to help ensure the agency has the authority to enforce that regulation.
The FCC’s authority was challenged earlier this month when a federal appeals court sided with Comcast, ruling that the FCC had no legal basis for censuring the company for violating its Net neutrality principles.
Fiber network looks to bolster local economy
It used to take Golfballs.com an hour and 31 minutes to upload one of its high-definition product demo videos for editing.
Now, it takes 2 minutes and 26 seconds.
Golfballs.com recently became one of the first businesses in Lafayette to connect to Lafayette Utilities System’s Fiber service.
LUS started rolling out its fiber network to business customers in October, and many are just beginning to discover the possibilities for economic development.