July 2009

Sandvine has enhanced its Fairshare system -- used by Comcast and other providers to manage congestion on broadband networks -- to blend the ability to control bandwidth consumption based on both user activity and application types. The Fairshare Traffic Management 2.0 platform, which became generally available in June, is able to manage network access using both application and subscriber-usage data.

AT&T Inc. Thursday posted a smaller-than-expected drop in quarterly profit as strong sales of Apple Inc's iPhone helped boost wireless subscriber growth. The news sent AT&T shares up 2.5% in premarket trading, even as some analysts worried that the company's dependence on the iPhone for much of its growth raised concerns about what would happen if it lost its exclusive rights to sell the phone in the US. AT&T added 1.4 million net subscribers in the second quarter including 1.2 million retail monthly bill-paying customers.

Thousands of low-income Coloradans reliant on public assistance could get a free cellphone under a plan before the state Public Utilities Commission. If approved, the plan by TracFone Wireless in Miami would make Colorado the 17th state it has settled into with free cell service for the indigent, a form of wireless welfare that proponents say taps into one of the last untapped markets for the telecom technology. The program is a twist on Lifeline, a long-standing federal subsidy that provides low-income families with a break on their land-line telephone bill in order to ensure emergency 911 service. In Colorado, it's called LITAP — the Low Income Telephone Assistance Program — and is available to anyone receiving aid from any of six welfare funds: Colorado Works Assistance (TANF), Supplemental Security Income, LEAP, Aid to Needy Disabled, the Old Age Pension Fund and Aid to the Blind. Statewide, about 65 percent of those eligible participated in Lifeline last year. The money — more than $800 million in subsidies were paid last year for low-income phone service across the country — comes from the Universal Service Fund, a tax on all telephone lines. Of that amount, Coloradans received nearly $3.2 million in low-income subsidies. TracFone's subsidized program, called Safelink Wireless, gives users at least 68 minutes of free cell service each month — in Colorado, it would be 83 minutes — and unlimited access to 911 service even if the minutes are used up.

Walt Disney Co chief Robert Iger said on Wednesday advertising will rapidly grow more sophisticated as media firms begin tracking consumer preferences and selling the data on to advertisers. But Iger warned that privacy concerns may come to the fore with the growing ability of Web ads to monitor individual preferences and target surfers with custom ads. Iger has warned that fundamental changes now underway in the broadcast and cable industries may permanently cut TV advertising sales and prices, leaving traditional media companies looking for ways to make up that revenue when the economy recovers. The executive told the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference that media companies can pump up online sales volumes by either selling consumer information or by marketing directly to consumers based on individual tastes.