May 2015

Title II Fans Launch Net Neutrality 'Detector'

Only days after the Government Accountability Office suggested the Federal Communications Commission should seek third-party data on broadband speed and performance, a group of network neutrality activists have launched the Internet Health Test, which they call a kind of network neutrality detector.

In reclassifying the FCC under Title II common carrier regulations, the FCC added to bright-line rules a general conduct standard for anything that has the effect of impeding an open Internet. According to backers of the new online health test -- Demand Progress, Fight for the Future and the Free Press Action Fund -- the test is an interactive tool that lets Web surfers "run speed measurements across multiple interconnection points and collect data on whether and where Internet service providers are degrading online speeds and violating Net Neutrality." "After repeatedly watching Internet service providers slow down people’s Internet connections we're not going to just sit back and trust Comcast, Verizon and AT&T to follow the new open Internet rules,” said Fight for the Future campaign manager Charlie Furman. “The Internet Health Test is our way of sending a message to ISPs everywhere that we're watching and we won't let anyone throttle the Internet.”

Report: US consumers swallowed 2.5 GB/month of cellular data in Q1 on average

US wireless consumers on average chewed through around 2.5 GB of cellular data per month in the first quarter, according to industry analyst Chetan Sharma, up from an average of 2 GB per month at the end of 2014.

"In the US, it took roughly 20 years to reach the 1 GB/user/month mark," Sharma wrote in a research report. "However, the second GB mark has been reached in less than four quarters. An entire year's worth of mobile data traffic in 2007 is now reached in less than 75 hours." Sharma's figures are roughly in line with those from Cisco Systems. In its latest Visual Networking Index Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast report, which was released in February, Cisco found that in 2014, consumers in North America used on average 1.89 GB of mobile data per month in 2014. Cisco thinks that figure will surge ahead to a little more than 11 GB on average in 2019. According to Sharma, data made up 62 percent of all wireless carrier service revenues in the U.S. in the first quarter, up from 60 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014 and around 50 percent in the year-ago period.

Verizon will lease more fiber to densify wireless network

Verizon Communications plans to use a combination of fiber, distributed antenna systems and small cells to densify its wireless network instead of relying solely on spectrum to meet consumers' growing demand for capacity.

CFO Fran Shammo said that while Verizon's spectrum position is strong, the company plans to lease more fiber and buy more hardware like DAS and small cells to meet growing capacity demands rather than buy more spectrum. Shammo noted that the company leases fiber from other companies today and plans to lease more. "We lease a lot of fiber today and there's a lot of competition in the fiber world. We don't own a lot of fiber and we don't need too," he said, noting that there are lots of alternatives for achieving more capacity in the wireless network that don't include buying more spectrum. "We don't need to own and build and control everything," he said. Shammo added that the company is focused on densifying its wireless network first in the top 50 markets, with particular emphasis on the top 10 markets. He noted that the efforts to use hardware to densify the wireless network are already occurring in Chicago, New York and Boston

Sprint's Euteneuer: We're looking at 600 MHz auction, but don't need to participate

Sprint is interested in participating in 2016's planned incentive auction of 600 MHz broadcast TV spectrum but does not feel absolutely compelled to take part, according to CFO Joe Euteneuer.

That's because of the improvements Sprint is seeing by deploying its 800 MHz and 2.5 GHz spectrum for LTE and the addition of Wi-Fi calling. "The 600 MHz auction is something we're looking at but not necessarily something we need to do," Euteneuer said. Two years ago, Euteneuer said, it would have been more of an imperative for Sprint to participate in the auction, which many in the industry think will be the last time low-band spectrum will be auctioned for the foreseeable future. Euteneuer's comments are notable because Sprint has been a vocal proponent of rule changes it wants the FCC make ahead of the auction. Sprint, along with T-Mobile, Dish Network, C Spire Wireless and a group of policy and public interest groups, recently forged a new alliance intended to pressure the agency to craft 600 MHz auction rules that they say will benefit smaller carriers and increase wireless competition. The coalition wants the FCC to reserve spectrum in the auction exclusively for smaller carriers -- up to 40 MHz, or at least half of the spectrum available in the auction. However, Euteneuer noted that by the end of 2015 Sprint expects its 800 MHz LTE network to be largely built out (except in some areas where its rebanding process is not yet complete). "We feel very, very good about our deployment there," Euteneuer said, pointing to the band's ability to penetrate buildings.

Verizon to focus on ad-based business model for OTT video offering

Verizon will employ an advertising-based model for its planned over-the-top mobile video service, which CFO Fran Shammo could become a multibillion-dollar business over time. And that's the major reason why the company just spent $4.4 billion to buy AOL.

Verizon will continue to offer on-demand video offerings that count against customers' data buckets, and Verizon will, over time, transmit more video content using LTE Broadcast technology (which Verizon calls LTE Multicast), mainly for live sporting events. The carrier's third business model for video will let Verizon monetize video content via targeted advertising. "People will enjoy that product and they won't necessarily enjoy that through their data bundle," Shammo said during an appearance at the J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Telecom Conference. He noted that in some ways the video product will be similar to sponsored data plans, but at its heart it will be advertising-based. Verizon has spent the past few years building and buying video assets, including the content delivery network, EdgeCast Networks and the OnCue interactive TV platform from Intel. "The piece that we were missing was the ability to have an ad-tech platform to insert the advertising," Shammo noted. He said that when Verizon surveyed the market, it felt that AOL had one of the best-in-class ad-tech platforms available.

Frontier: 1 Gig Ethernet requests up 60 percent over 2014

Frontier Communications is seeing more retail small and medium business (SMB) customers starting to migrate to 1 Gbps Ethernet connections, with requests increasing by 60 percent over 2014.

Lisa Partridge, senior manager of data market management for Frontier, said that customers that were traditionally satisfied with 20-50 Mbps now want 1 Gbps Ethernet connections. "Where we're really starting to see the uptake is on the small medium business and enterprise side," Partridge said. "For a while, 20-50 Mbps was their comfort zone or sweet spot; however, in the last six months it has really taken a swing for the Gig." A large swath of vertical segments are looking for Gigabit-based Ethernet services from Frontier, including everything financial and healthcare segments. Given the amount of compliance healthcare companies have to abide by like the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), they are actually asking for 10G and above.

Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman Defends Cable Bundle

Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman defended the cable bundle and linear TV in general.

While praising the potential of new media, streaming short-form content and the like, he stressed that good old-fashioned television is still where it's at. "We get more 2-11 viewing on Saturday morning on Nickelodeon than a month 2-11 on YouTube," he said. "People forget the power of linear television and huge reach that you get." Of cable bundles, which some are trying to shrink and others are challenging outright with subscription video on demand, he said: "The best offering for consumers is to have the large offering -- the variety of networks," he said. He noted, though, that Viacom is supportive of streamers, including those who have yet to launch a service, since they are purchasers of Viacom's programming. "Having new distribution come in has always benefited content owners," he said. "We are in conversations with everyone who has announced or is looking at the possibility of announcing."

NAB-Backed Study: Broadcasting Brand Still Strong

Local and network news can hold its own with digital brands like Apple, Google, Facebook and Twitter, or at least that is the assertion of a new SmithGeiger report funded by the National Association of Broadcasters.

SmithGeiger says that conclusion is based on 3,365 online interviews with consumers ages 18-64 which sought to identify the "depth of brand affinity" over broadcasting, cable and digital news brands. SmithGeiger, who headed the research, said that at 57 percent, broadcasters had the highest positive brand affinity score (respondents who said “I like this brand” or it is “a favorite”), vs. 52 percent for digital and 40 percent for cable. And in a sort of Boy Scout measure of brand affinity -- trustworthy, informative, makes a difference in your daily life -- broadcasters got a 49 percent score to digital's 43 percent and cable's 34 percent. The broadcast brands included the Big Four networks, Univision and Telemundo, as well as all local broadcasters in a market. Among the study highlights:

66 percent of respondents are getting news from a broadcaster -- Web, TV or mobile -- at least once a week and 39 percent are watching TV news every day.
39 percent say they are going to a broadcaster's Web site at least once a week for news and information.

Utah Broadband Outreach Center Launches Locate.utah.gov

Utah’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) and the Economic Development Corporation of Utah (EDCUtah) launched a premier interactive economic development map, now available online at locate.utah.gov, the first site of its kind which allows users to explore the state’s broadband availability, utility information, transportation, work force and lifestyle features.

It also allows developers to evaluate potential locations and print customized reports with detailed summaries of available infrastructure. The new site will be a companion site to EDCUtah’s utahsuresites.com website, which allows companies to explore the state’s extensive inventory of listed commercial real estate. Locate.utah.gov was developed by the Utah Broadband Outreach Center in GOED. The Center works with more than 50 broadband providers who can supply premium services for all types of businesses in both urban and rural areas. The center also hosts an interactive residential broadband map that allows users to find services at home.

FCC Fines iHeartCommunications $1 Million for Transmitting Fake Emergency Alerts During "The Bobby Bones Show"

The Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau has resolved an investigation into the misuse of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) tones by iHeartCommunications, Inc., a subsidiary of iHeartMedia. The company has agreed to pay a $1 million civil penalty, admits to misuse of EAS tones, and agreed to a compliance and reporting plan as a result of airing a false emergency alert. On October 24, 2014, iHeart's stations WSIX-FM in Nashville (TN) aired a false emergency alert during broadcast of the nationally-syndicated "The Bobby Bones Show". While commenting on an EAS test that aired during the 2014 World Series, Bobby Bones, the show's host, broadcast an EAS tone from a recording of an earlier nationwide EAS test. This false emergency alert was sent to more than 70 affiliated stations airing "The Bobby Bones Show" and resulted in some of these stations restransmitting the tones, setting off a multi-state cascade of false EAS alerts on radios and television in multiple states.

Benton

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