November 2009

USF legislation could be a game-changer for broadband innovation

[Commentary] It's difficult to see the potential diamonds of innovation in the rough phase our current economy, but proposed legislation to reform the Universal Service Fund could result in broadband innovations - if people with vision see the light. The challenge, of course, will be in getting from here to there once the light bulb goes off. The High Cost Fund is the specific USF program that would support the broadband funding. Currently it provides vital telephone services (and occasionally some broadband projects are funded) for which many are thankful. But there probably isn't much resulting from this you'd call innovative. This can change if creative people are willing to influence the hearts and minds of those writing and eventually voting on the reform bill, as well as inspire the business thinking of rural telecom companies that are intended fund recipients. Congress should change the High Cost Fund into a Digital Communication Enhancement Fund. Just nuke once and for all this concept that there are separate worlds of voice communication and data communication. It's a digital world now, folks! Voice can be reduced to 0's and 1's similar to everything else we use to communicate information. Our legislation and rules for grants need to reflect and reinforce this reality.

Broadband and Energy Hearing at MIT

The Federal Communications Commission will hold a field hearing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology focusing on how broadband can help the nation achieve its energy and environmental goals, including energy independence, greenhouse gas emissions reductions and clean energy generation. The public is encouraged to attend and participate.

Telcos to FCC: give us billions, but don't make us share lines

It was a report that went right to the roots of United States broadband policy, so it should come as no surprise that it's getting hammered by the telecommunications industry. Harvard's Berkman Center study of global broadband practices, produced at the FCC's request, is an "embarrassingly slanted econometric analysis that violates professional statistical standards and is insufficiently reliable to provide meaningful guidance," declares AT&T. The study does nothing but promote the lead author's "own extreme views," warns a response from Verizon Wireless. Most importantly, it "should not be relied upon by the FCC in formulating a National Broadband Plan," concludes the United States Telecom Association. Reviewing the slew of criticisms, Berkman's blog wryly notes that the report seems to have been "a mini stimulus act for telecommunications lawyers and consultants." (Interestingly, not everything the Berkman study observes is repugnant to the telcos—hint: big direct public subsidies.) But the ISPs have good reason to go after Harvard scholar Yochai Benkler's survey on "Next Generation Connectivity" around the world, because if the Federal Communications Commission does endorse the study's conclusions in its impending National Broadband Plan, that document might say something like this: "FCC line-sharing policy since 2002 has taken the United States off track when it comes to broadband deployment. The agency should reverse course and require AT&T, Verizon, Qwest, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and the other big ISPs to open their networks to smaller providers of residential broadband service at regulated wholesale rates. This will foster competition, lower prices, and more innovative broadband offerings across the country, as it has elsewhere." That's what's at stake in this debate, and it's not a pretty prospect for Big Telecom.

Survey Shows Fiber Reaching Rural America

According to a survey of rural carriers conducted by the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association, these rural providers are deploying fiber considerably faster than one would expect. Consumers are seeing an increase in broadband speeds due to the increase of fiber availability that was given to the communities, said NTCA. NTCA's 2009 broadband and Internet availability survey found that nearly three-quarters, or 73 percent, of respondents with a fiber deployment strategy intend to offer fiber to the node to more than 75 percent of their customer base by 2011. Among respondent, 55 percent plan to offer fiber to the home to more than half their customers in that same time frame - more than double the amount of 26 percent last year. Of the respondents of the survey, 53 percent said their customers now can receive broadband at between 3 and 6 Megabits per second (Mbps), and 39 percent said their customers can receive service in excess of 6 Mpbs.

Launch of National Broadband Research Center Puts Focus on Adoption, Not Access

Declaring that its prior mission had been accomplished, on Thursday the Alliance for Public Technology rebranded itself as the National Broadband Research Center, a new organization charged with carrying the banner for broadband adoption. When the Alliance for Public Technology was founded twenty years ago, its members saw themselves as leaders in the call for equal access to technology. Now, "the goal of universal access is not really new," said Kenneth Peres, president of the board of directors, and an economist for the Communications Workers of America. Peres said that equal access is approaching realization: among other achievements, almost 100 percent of American classrooms are now wired. The leaders of APT believe that there is now a more fundamental problem with demand. Hence the National Broadband Research Center steps in. The NBRC mission is to "foster adoption of high-speed applications by unserved, underserved, under-resourced and under-represented communities through educating, informing and connecting them to relevant resources," according to the center.

Malone: Key To NBCU/Comcast Deal is What Government, Affiliates Want

Liberty Media Group Chairman John Malone says the NBCU/Comcast deal could give Comcast some content market power "without betting the farm." Malone said powering up in content made strategic sense for Comcast, but said an x-factor is how much the government would allow it to use its market power. The Obama Administration has signaled it wants to take a closer look at mergers than its predecessor. The general theory is that the NBCU/Comcast deal will not be blocked, which Malone said he ascribes to, but that there will be conditions. And not just from the government. He said the key political issue will be what the NBC affiliates want out of this deal: "What will the broadcast affiliates of NBC say they want [in order] to not fight this transaction."

Apple's Schiller Defends iPhone App Approval Process

Apple is under fire from some developers for the way it vets applications that can be sold on its online App Store. Facebook developer Joe Hewitt goes so far as to say he's "philosophically opposed" to the very notion of a company deciding which applications can and can't be used on its hardware. The presence of "gatekeepers" in software development "sets a horrible precedent," he says. But in his first extensive interview on the subject, Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice-president for worldwide product marketing, outlines the many reasons Apple keeps close tabs on which applications can be downloaded onto the iPhone and iPod Touch. He also outlined ways the company is trying to become more flexible in its approval process. "We've built a store for the most part that people can trust," he says. "You and your family and friends can download applications from the store, and for the most part they do what you'd expect, and they get onto your phone, and you get billed appropriately, and it all just works."

Word of Advice To AT&T: If You're The Only One Ranting, You Look Awkward

[Commentary] Perhaps AT&T accepts Google's explanation that Google Voice is an information service? But it is also consistent with AT&T's overall strategy of trying to duck substantive issues and debates on network neutrality and bring in a host of proceedings that don't belong — other than as opportunities to try to make this about Google rather than about substance. Certainly there are plenty of folks out there objecting to the network neutrality proposals. For the most part, however, they appear to be following the advice of Commissioner Clyburn and others in urging commenters to focus on issues and not invective. While I certainly disagree with Verizon, Comcast and others who say that a rule is unnecessary, or harmful, or beyond the FCC's authority, these are relevant and substantive arguments that need to be addressed in a serious manner. Happily, AT&T appears to be the only provider still consistently harping on the theme that it is "all about the Google" and that therefore anything Google does is somehow relevant to network neutrality — even when it legally isn't.

Transforming Learning in the Digital Age

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced a $2 million open competition for ideas to transform learning using digital media. The competition seeks designers, inventors, entrepreneurs, researchers, and others to build digital media experiences - the learning labs of the 21st Century - that help young people interact, share, build, tinker, and explore in new and innovative ways. Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA), in cooperation with the Entertainment Software Association and the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, will team with MacArthur to support Game Changers, a new component of the competition. Game Changers will provide awards for the creation of new game experiences using PlayStation's popular video game, LittleBigPlanet™. SCEA will also donate 1000 PlayStation®3 (PS3™) systems and copies of the LittleBigPlanet™ game to libraries and community-based organizations in low-income communities.

Does AT&T turn into a pumpkin in June?

Broadpoint AmTech's Brian Marshall predicts that the contract that gives AT&T exclusive access in the U.S. to Apple's iPhone expires in June 2010. He also says that Apple is now getting a $450 subsidy from AT&T for each iPhone it sells; after June, that subsidy will be reduced to $300 for all carriers, domestic and international. He also says the 4% of AT&T subscribers who use the iPhone consume roughly 40% of the network's bandwidth.

Benton

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