Tag: broadband

Editorial: Martin County officials should weigh potential benefits, risks before commercializing broadband cable network

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Proceed with caution.

Such is the posture Martin County commissioners should take toward the possibility of commercializing the county’s soon-to-be-installed broadband network.

Recently, commissioners voted 5-0 to spend $100,000 for expert advice to learn how the network could generate revenue and promote economic development and job creation.

In April, the County Commission and county School Board decided to build a broadband cable network. What prompted the decision? Comcast proposed raising rates for access to its dark fiber network to more than $1 million in 2013.

Installation of the county’s Community Broadband Network began two weeks ago and is scheduled for completion later this year. The new system will serve all public entities in Martin County.

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Mobile Broadband Shouldn’t Replace Fixed Broadband – Report

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Here’s a warning about jumping too far onto the mobile broadband bandwagon. Selling it as an alternative to fixed broadband will fail in both the U.S and Europe. That’s according to a new survey from Analysys Mason.

The report, The Connected Consumer Survey 2: Mobile Broadband, says there is a strong, and correct, perception among consumers that mobile broadband is slower, less reliable and more expensive than fixed broadband. Seventy percent of those surveyed had that opinion. Where consumers have a choice between fixed and mobile broadband, mobile broadband, the report says, should not be sold as the primary means of access, but as a complement. Six-thousand consumers were interviewed for the study.

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New OPASTCO chairman: Broadband universal service must fund served as well as unserved areas

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By Joan Engebretson

Ron Laudner, CEO of Iowa-based OmniTel Communications, was recently elected chairman of the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies, assuming that role at a critical time for small U.S. telcos. With the Federal Communications Commission set to put the process of reforming the Universal Service program in motion next week, I talked to Laudner this week about that and other key issues for OPASTCO members.

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Sides fight over fiber

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This insightful article describes the typical woes that municipalities and counties go through with the incumbent carriers.  Lake County wants to build an open-access network that will offer modern telecom services to this beautiful part of the country.  This network could benefit not only the residents but also the incumbents.  The problem is that the incumbents are happy with the status quo because they do not have to compete for market share or invest capital in their network; thereby, preserving their margins.  Companies like Frontier and Mediacom should embrace these networks as a way to reach more customers and increase ARPU without massive capital expenditures.

My family has vacationed in this area for years.  It was one of the few areas of the country where I could truly disconnect from work and the world.  My pager wouldn’t even work in many parts of the Gunflint Trail.  Such a build-out in Lake County would mean an end to my escape from civilization.  It is a small loss for me and a huge gain for the citizens of this wonderful part of Minnesota.

The first public shots have been fired by a potential competitor with Lake County’s fiber-to-home phone, television, and Internet service project.

By: Mike Creger, Lake County News Chronicle

The first public shots have been fired by a potential competitor with Lake County’s fiber-to-home phone, television, and Internet service project. Mediacom, a cable and internet provider in Two Harbors and Silver Bay, sent letters to the mayors of both cities late last month asking them to reconsider the joint powers agreement the city councils approved as part of Lake County’s application for funds for the countywide project.

But the company may have misfired. In the letter, it cited a portion of the agreement that doesn’t exist; county officials say they believe Mediacom was basing its argument on an early draft of the final document.

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Vermont Villages To Develop Rural Fiber Network

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Claiming LTE wireless can’t deliver broadband as robust, the East Central Vermont Community Fiber Network is planning a pilot project to serve the sparsely populated 23-town region.

By W. David Gardner ,  InformationWeek

Frustrated by the lack of broadband service, citizens in a group of towns in rural Vermont are developing a plan to build their own fiber-based broadband service.

It’s called the East Central Vermont Community (ECVC) Fiber Network and, although it is facing tough odds, the group believes it can succeed where big cash-laden carriers have failed to deliver the service in the 23-town region.

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Commerce Report Shows Diminishing Digital Divide

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Rahul Gaitonde, Deputy Editor, BroadbandBreakfast.com

WASHINGTON, November 9, 2010 –  After a year of data crunching and analysis, the Commerce Department has released a report titled “Exploring the Digital Nation Home Broadband Internet Adoption in the United States,” concluding that a digital divide still exists but is decreasing.

Yet almost one-fourth of all households did not have a single internet user. The study found that income and education have some of the most significant factors in determining if users have broadband at home. Additionally, cost remained one of the main reasons why users do not upgrade to broadband.

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