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FCC set to take first steps toward national broadband plan
Agency will next week lay out rulemaking to fund $15.5 billion for broadband deployment over the next 10 years
By Grant Gross
April 16, 2010 07:20 PM ET
IDG News Service – The U.S. Federal Communications Commission will take the first major steps toward implementing its national broadband plan next Wednesday, when it is scheduled to launch a rulemaking proceeding that would create a new fund for broadband deployment.
Fact-checking Verizon’s CEO on US broadband awesomeness
By Nate Anderson | Last updated a day ago
Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg sat down last week for a talk at the Council for Foreign Relations and talked about how mind-bendingly awesome the US broadband market is. Seidenberg all but put on a foam finger and started chanting, “We’re number one! We’re number one!”
All those studies you’ve read that suggest otherwise? The fact that Hong Kong residents can now get 1Gbps symmetric fiber for US$26, while New York City residents top out at 100Mbps and cost $100? Capping 3Mbps DSL at 5GB/month? All meaningless.
FTTH Council survey shows widespread plans for FTTH networks
APRIL 14, 2010 — Hundreds of small independent telecoms, broadband service providers, municipalities, and cable television companies have brought gigabit-enabled, FTTH-based services to a total of more than 1.4 million North American homes — about a quarter of all fiber to the home connections on the continent — according to a report released by the Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council. Even more service providers plan to join the trend, the study also reveals. (Download the report)
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Telcos Still Pretending Google Gets “Free Ride”
from the repeating-something-relentlessly-does-not-make-it-true dept
Back in 2005, former AT&T CEO Ed Whitacre (now the head of GM) boldly proclaimed that Google was getting a “free ride” on his company’s “pipes,” and that they should be charged an additional toll (you know, just because). As we’ve discussed several times now, Whitacre’s argument made absolutely no sense, given that Google not only pays plenty for bandwidth (as do AT&T’s customers), but the company owns billions in international and oceanic fiber runs, data centers and network infrastructure. Despite making no sense, this idea that Google was some kind of free ride parasite quickly became the cornerstone of the telco argument against network neutrality. In response,Techdirt has suggested that telco spokespeople should pay for Google’s bandwidth bill for a month if it’s so low — with no takers.
Unleashing American Broadband
By ERIC SCHMIDT AND IVAN SEIDENBERG
Innovation in technology and business is one of America’s major comparative advantages in the global information economy. That’s why the Federal Communication Commission’s recently released National Broadband Plan deserves attention.