Tuesday, February 24, 2009

What the broadband stimulus package means to rural telcos


New details about the program to award $7.2 billion for broadband have emerged, underscoring the widely held belief that small rural telephone companies--initially at least—may have the most to gain.

What the broadband stimulus package means to rural telcos - Telephony Online

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Rural Broadband: No Job Creation Machine?


Some noted economists have thought long and hard about the build-out of rural broadband and have concluded...nothing. Apparently, they felt that the impact of the Stimulus' planed increase in Internet access to spur economic growth is difficut to quantify.
“'Everyone talks about the jobs that are going to be created by this,' said Scott Wallsten, a senior fellow at the Technology Policy Institute. 'There is no way to measure that.' One problem, he said, is there’s no way to tell which of these jobs would have been created even without the stimulus bill.

Rural Broadband: No Job Creation Machine - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Worldwide IPTV subs double again


While IPTV is slow to show acceptance in the US, worldwide numbers show a different story. Global IPTV subscribers now number 15.5 million, now for the second year in a row.

The US has been late to the IPTV party, so can we expect a surge in growth here in the next few years?
Broadband Forum/Point Topic: IPTV subs double again - FierceIPTV

Friday, February 13, 2009

iDEN network not dead (yet)


Boost Mobile, the prepaid subsidiary of Sprint-Nextel, is focusing it's effots to use the company's iDEN network, rather than the CDMA one. This is either because iDEN fits the current business model (as they claim), or to make it a more attractive target for purchase
Boost revitalizes iDEN network - RCR Wireless News

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Giles Cottle: IPTV operators can't escape the content issue

Giles Cottle , a research analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media, writes that despite their lack of television success to date, telcos still place a great deal of faith in IPTV, putting it front and center of their content strategies. They see it as crucial to taking on cablers, which continue to muscle in on their voice and broadband territories.
"Although Belgacom and BT have recently reported more encouraging metrics, most IPTV services just don't have the subscribers. And even those that do aren't making money, with TV existing primarily to bolster the attractiveness of bundled offerings."

IPTV News via Informa Telecoms & Media's Intelligence Centre

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Congress approves digital TV delay


DTV changeover delay imminent. Now that it's passed both houses, The President just needs to put pen to paper, which he vowed to do.

'nuff said

Congress approves digital TV delay | Entertainment | Industry | Reuters

Telcos gaining ground over Cable


Fourth Quarter earnings were reported by Time Warner Cable today. One very interesting stat was AT&T's U-verse service has encroached an estimated 21% of TWC's territory.

“Telco competition has expanded to a more significant fraction of our footprint,” said TWC's CEO Glenn Britt on today’s earnings conference call. “As they enter new areas, they have initial gains in net subscribers. You’ll remember we benefited from the same phenomenon as we rolled out digital phones two years ago.”

While Britt claims that this just may be beginner's luck, There may be other conclusions to draw. As reported in IPTV news (I'm still looking for the article to cite), IPTV is growing rapidly. Both AT&T and Verizon came off their best ever quarters in terms of net TV adds. AT&T added 264,000 new subs and (while not technically IPTV) Verizon added 975,000. This in the face of a reverse trend in the cable industry.

I'd like to see if this remains consistent, but all indicators so far suggest that investing in IPTV is the correct move

Telcos put the squeeze on TWC - Telephony Online

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Tuesday, February 3, 2009

"You can take your Internets and *&^%$!!!"


A report last month by the Pew Internet & American Life Project finds that although price is a barrier for dial-up users in switching to broadband, one-third of those without a Net connection simply don't care.

About 35% of adults who's access is dial-up, haven't switched due to cost, and about 20% don't want it. According to John Horrigan, the report's author, "low-income and older Americans account for most of the non-users, whose median age is 61. He says that even if they find no need for logging on today, they might in the future — particularly if, say, a doctor wanted to share medical records.

Eventually, Horrigan says, the digital divisions will make it 'more costly to be excluded.'"

A third of adults without Internet don't want it - USATODAY.com