Ting Fiber has announced plans for a second gigabit market, this one in Westminster (MD).
Ting Vice President of Marketing Michael Goldstein said the city of Westminster already has begun installing a dark fiber network that initially will reach 9,000 homes and 500 businesses and has enlisted Ting to “turn that ‘dark fiber’ into an affordable usable Internet service for those homes and businesses.”
Qualcomm and The Virgin Group announced plans for an ambitious satellite project aimed at bringing broadband service to remote rural areas around the world that cannot get service today. The companies are pursuing the project through a joint venture to be known as OneWeb.
While some broadband offerings rely on a single geostationary satellite, OneWeb plans to launch a total of 648 micro satellites that will operate in low earth orbits -- an approach that should enable OneWeb to offer lower latency service than can be delivered by geostationary satellites, which operate in more distant orbits. The satellite broadband service is targeted to be available in approximately four years, a Virgin spokesperson said. He declined to reveal target pricing or speeds per customer -- although he did say that each satellite will support eight terabytes per second. He also noted that the satellites will operate in the K and Ku bands.
The Startup Institute is a bootcamp for individuals looking to shift careers into the startup world. It offers classes that are meant to both provide technical skill and install the less quantifiable skill of being able to thrive in startup culture.
Classes are offered on four tracks: web development, web design, marketing, and sales. The Institute has also made diversity a key part of its mission. Since 2012, the Startup Institute's classes have been 41 percent women and 35 percent students of color. And diversity is hard-coded into the curriculum and how they operate. Diane Hessan, Startup Institute's new CEO also explains that whenever Startup Institute expands to new cities -- as it just did to Berlin and London -- that the first cohort of students in every track attend for free. In addition to being good promotion, that also lets Startup Institute be selective in who it admits, rather than just who can afford it. "We're able to pick diversity," says Hessan. "We get to think about who we want to be the flagship class."
[Commentary] Zero rating has been demonstrated under some circumstances to both enhance competition and benefit consumers. Therefore, zero rating is an imperfect proxy for the harm Harvard's Susan Crawford perceives. By pursuing such a proxy, Crawford’s proposition threatens to throw the baby out with the bathwater. If Professor Crawford’s underlying concern is that that zero rating could be used for anti-competitive purposes, but others have shown that it can also be pro-competitive then, like collaboration, a conditional prohibition on the anti-competitive use only would be less harmful -- and less controversial -- than an outright ban.
[Bronwyn Howell is General Manager for the New Zealand Institute for the Study of Competition and Regulation]
Why should libraries continue to serve as Internet access centers?
Given the nearly universal presence of wireless Internet options and the proliferation of smartphones and tablets, it seems as if the library Internet station has become as obsolete as the physical books that Fairfax officials so disdain. They should cut back on terminals and Internet bandwidth and spend that money on new books. For years, I visited the Fairfax City branch of the library almost daily. Over a decade, I noticed that, gradually, almost all daytime users turned into game-players and chatters. The library I had loved and patronized since childhood had evolved into a hangout spot for idle non-readers. Maybe many of the costs that bureaucrats decry are bound up in this online entertainment center aspect of libraries. With the real definition and purpose of a library in mind, Fairfax officials should strive to offer what avid readers have wanted all along: a book-filled and Internet-free library.
ABC has changed mainstream television's diversity makeup more than any of its broadcast counterparts in recent years, and executives say the commitment is paying off not just in ratings, but also in quality.
Already seeing success with shows like "Scandal", "How to Get Away with Murder", "Black-ish" and "Cristela", which star a variety of minority actors and have brought underrepresented perspectives to prime-time, the network will soon add midseason series "Fresh off the Boat" (prime time's first Asian-American sitcom since Margaret Cho's "All American Girl" in 1994) and "American Crime" (created by "12 Years a Slave" scriptwriter John Ridley). "I think it's our job to reflect America," said ABC entertainment president Paul Lee. "I really believed from the beginning that the demographic changes in America were just as important to our revolution as the technological changes."
[Commentary] Immigration reform has stalled because of ugly Republican politics and an insistence by the Democrats that it be all or nothing. This has taken a toll on the country’s economic growth and global competitiveness. But there may finally be hope to slow the skilled immigrant exodus that is in progress.
New legislation, the Immigration Innovation (“I-Squared”) Act of 2015, prescribes some very sensible reforms. Why might there be progress now, when all efforts over the past few years have failed? Because after the electoral defeat of Democrats, both sides are eager to show that they can act responsibly -- and put the needs of the country ahead of partisan politics.
[Vivek Wadhwa is a fellow at Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University]
On October 24, 2014, Sen David Vitter (R-LA) wrote to Federal Communications Chairman Tom Wheeler regarding the FCC's efforts to curb waste, fraud, and abuse in the Lifeline program, and particularly the Commission's Office of Inspector General's (OIG) request for Section 1811 criminal investigators. On December 29, 2014, Chairman Wheeler responded by saying the FCC's Fiscal Year 2015 appropriation does not provide additional requested funds to fully deploy a Universal Service Fund strike force, but that despite this funding situation, the FCC has achieved considerable success in reforming all the USF programs, including Lifeline.
He wrote, "We also have significantly increased our efforts to tackle waste, fraud and abuse in the Lifeline program, including coordination with OIG and the Department of Justice on various joint investigations. Our Lifeline enforcement actions during the last two years include twelve Notices of Apparent Liability proposing over $90 million in fines against companies for violating rules limiting Lifeline subscriptions to one subscriber per household." He went on to write that, "In addition to its aggressive enforcement efforts aimed at Lifeline program noncompliance, during 2013 and 2014 the FCC carried out eight enforcement actions involving violations of its USF contribution rules, resulting in payments to the U.S. Treasury totaling approximately $3.3 million."
On October 28, 2014, Sen Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) wrote a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler conveying her support for the recent proposed changes to the FCC's rules governing E911 location accuracy, and urged the FCC to take action to protect the public by strengthening indoor wireless 911 location accuracy rules and working with stakeholders.
On December 19, 2014, Chairman Wheeler responded, assuring Sen Klobuchar that her views are very important and will be included in the record of the proceeding and considered as part of the FCC's review. Chairman Wheeler also mentioned that the FCC has sought expedited comment on the "Roadmap for Improving E911 Location Accuracy" agreement with comments due December 15th and reply comments due December 24th.
On December 23, 2014, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler responded to letters from Sen John Hoeven (R-ND), Rep Jared Huffman (D-CA), and Rep Todd Rokita (R-IN) regarding the implementation of Phase II of the Connect America Fund.
Sen Hoeven wrote that increasing downstream speeds from 4 megabits per second to 10 should warrant an extension of Phase II's timeframe from 5 years to 10 years, and that providers must be given flexibility in high cost locations in order to efficiently use their available funds to reach the maximum amount of people. In response, Chairman Wheeler said that the "Connect America Fund Phase II Report and Order" extends the term of support for price cap carriers that accept the state-level commitment and gives those price cap carriers more flexibility in serving those areas.
Rep Huffman urged the FCC to create an inclusive process where all eligible providers, including electric cooperatives, have an opportunity to compete for support. Chairman Wheeler wrote that, "The FCC determined that we should adjust the offer of support for a Phase II state-level commitment based on the results of our rural broadband experiments. This approach will ensure that those areas where there is already a competitive provider willing to offer state-of-the-art broadband service will enjoy the benefits of competition as soon as possible."
Rep Rokita wrote the FCC, urging them to provide the necessary resources through Connect America Fund for providers to deliver faster speeds if the minimum broadband speed associated with CAF Phase II funding is increased. Chairman Wheeler responded, citing the "Connect America Fund Phase II Report and Order", the "Technology Transitions Order", and the "Connect American Fund Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking" as steps the FCC has taken to show the FCC is determined that we should adjust the offer of support for a Phase II state-level commitment based on the results of our rural broadband experiments. He also said that the FNPRM sought comment on the proposal from rural carrier associations and other possible methods to establish a CAF for rate-of-return carriers within the current budget for the program, as well as how to provide rate-of-return carriers with a way to transition to new forms of support.
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