June 2012

Universal Service Fund reform is aimed at helping connect every American to high-speed Internet by the end of the decade, just as the fund did for telephone service in the 20th century, according to the Federal Communications Commission.

The next step in the process came on April 25, when the FCC officially launched the new Connect America Fund (CAF), a reform that will be dole out $300 million to both large and small telephone companies that agree by July 24 to “strict accountability measures and buildout requirements," wrote Sharon Gillett, chief of the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau. After the July 24 deadline — in areas where incumbents decline to make this commitment — local exchange carriers, including cable, wireless and satellite companies, will have opportunities to compete for Connect America Fund funding, the FCC says, as part of a “reverse auction.” Small phone companies that have aggressively built out fiber-optic networks and expanded their high-speed Internet access worry that the shift from USF to CAF may force them to slow these expansions. And some small towns have community fiber networks that are ineligible for CAF support.

Marking a major milestone, there are now more than 600 million broadband service subscribers around the world, according to latest figures from The Broadband Forum and Point Topic.

The 600-million mark was reached in 1Q this year, which indicates that broadband subscriber growth is accelerating. The global broadband subscriber lines grew by more than 100 million in less than 18 months, 20% of total new additions. Global broadband lines increased 16.12 million in 1Q, the two organizations estimate, a 2.7% quarterly and 11.48% annual increase. Results also showed Asia, China in particular, leading IPTV as well as broadband subscriber growth.

Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings is interested in acquisitions world-wide -- particularly in China and Latin America -- as part of what could be a global shakeout in outdoor-advertising business.

"It is a market that will consolidate over the next few years," said William Eccleshare, chief executive of the seller of space on billboards, public transportation and other public places . "There are clearly opportunities for getting benefits of scale." Clear Channel Outdoor is majority-owned by Clear Channel Communications, which in turn is owned by private-equity firms Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners. China and Latin America are particularly ripe for expansion. Clear Channel is seeing growth in its Chinese operations, where the market is still fragmented among a "huge number" of local players, said Eccleshare. And the company would be interested in expanding beyond operations in Brazil, Peru, Mexico and Chile.