Andrew Burger

The US ranked thirteenth in a new study of residential broadband costs by country.

The study was conducted by Internet and telecommunications market research specialist Point Topic. Researchers analyzed more than 5,000 fixed broadband tariff rate schedules spanning more than 300 operators in 94 countries. Using purchasing power parity (PPP) to adjust broadband subscription prices for differences in benchmark living costs across countries, Point Topic analyzed broadband prices and speeds for entry level, median and average price schedules for Internet services as of 2Q 2016. The U.S ranked 10th in entry-level, 41st in median and 44th in average broadband tariff rank.

T-Mobile Binge On mobile streaming service is proving to be very popular with early-adopter smartphone users. Effectively all (99%) who opted in to Strategy Analytics’ AppOptix USA market research platform said they were satisfied with the quality of videos delivered.

With Binge On, T-Mobile is aiming to find a market ¨sweet spot¨ that balances mobile device users’ ever growing demand for mobile data and budget consciousness. That’s something just about every company involved in the market space would like to achieve. Mobile video market revenues will rise to $25 billion by 2021, Strategy Analytics forecast in market research released in July. Advertising revenues will account for 2/3 of the total, according to the market research provider. Binge On users agree to limits on mobile video streaming quality in return for unmetered access.

Urban areas with high densities of young, heavy network users continue to pose challenges for wireless services providers, according to the second semi-annual installment of the JD Power 2016 Wireless Network Quality Performance Study. Released Aug 25, the results indicate wireless carriers need to continue investing in urban infrastructure as the use of 4G LTE smartphones grows and customers expect faster network speed. JD Power’s semi-annual studies assess wireless network quality performance along 10 problem areas, including dropped calls, unconnected calls, audio issues, and failed/late voicemails.

Results are measured in problems per 100 (PP100) connections with higher scores translating into higher quality, fewer problems and better performance. Urban residents experience the greatest number of network problems overall, according to JD Power’s study – 15 PP100 as compared to 12 PP100 on average for rural residents and 10 PP100 for those living in suburban areas. That extends across all 10 wireless network problem criteria.

Forty-two mayors and city leaders have sent letters of support to Chattanooga (TN) Mayor Andy Berke and Wilson (NC) Mayor Bruce Rose, who are advocating to overturn an anti-municipal broadband decision made by the US Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. The decision put a halt to an Federal Communications Commission ruling that would have preempted recently enacted legislation in NC and Tennessee that prohibits municipalities from creating publicly owned and operated broadband networks.

The mayors are members of the Next Century Cities association of public and private sector organizations, whose primary aims include providing affordable broadband access in cities and towns throughout the US. “As mayors and municipal leaders, we know that there is no single best solution for supporting connectivity in our communities,” they state in the letter. “While our paths vary, we are united by our commitment to competition and the right of self-determination for all our communities, free from interference."

Fatbeam E-Rate plans will help the competitive access provider build out wide-area fiber network infrastructure in Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington.

The broadband access provider won 11 FCC E-rate contracts, which will help fund the construction of an additional 200 miles of fiber. Once completed, Fatbeam will be able to offer high capacity gigabit fiber Internet connectivity to communities across the four-state area, including in Idaho, where it has signed an agreement with Lake Pend Oreille School District in Sandpoint to build a 49-mile fiber optic network capable of delivering 2-gigabit lit fiber services to the school district’s 13 facilities. Fatbeam is very active in the E-rate and uses it as a tool to further its business model. Key to the project development process for Fatbeam is signing agreements with school districts that serve as anchor tenants. Once these networks are built, Fatbeam leverages additional broadband capacity to expand network access and traffic to other local organizations and facilities, such as hospitals, banks and local government offices, as well as other broadband carriers and ISPs.

Consumer demand for network storage will fuel the market for consumer and small and medium-sized business network attached storage (NAS) to grow at an 11% compound annual growth rate from 2016 to 2020, according to a network attached storage forecast from Technavio ICT. In addition to growing demand for personal data back-up storage, growing use of networked video surveillance services is driving consumer and SMB NAS market expansion, Technavio ICT highlights about the network attached storage forecast. Other drivers will include ongoing increases in the number of connected home devices and growing demand for reliable, secure data storage solutions. Connected 24x7x365 video camera surveillance feeds require a lot of storage and processing, more than on-site home and SMB servers can provide, Technavio ICT analysts note. That’s going to make the use of NAS devices a requirement.

Total mobile video revenue will rise to $25 billion, with advertising revenue accounting for 2/3 of the total value by 2021, as viewer numbers and usage continues to expand and rise around the world, according to new market research from Strategy Analytics. Businesses will spend more to advertise on mobile device video delivery platforms in a bid to reach wider audiences. Strategy Analytics predicts that the number of mobile video viewers worldwide will more than double to 2 billion by year-end 2022, a 36 percent market penetration, the market research company highlights.

Wei Shi, Analyst, Wireless Media Strategies noted, “The strongest growth in mobile video revenue will come from advertising-funded content as advertisers look to catch up with the increasing quantity of video consumption."

According to a survey by SurveyMonkey for Find Me 911, two-thirds of cell phone owners incorrectly believed that if they used their mobile phones inside their homes to call 911, wireless companies could assist emergency responders locate them at least to their block.

Just 6 percent correctly believed that wireless company location information would likely only be accurate to the neighborhood level or worse. Eighty-three percent of survey respondents said it was very or critically important to public safety for the FCC to adopt a new rule requiring cell phone carriers to provide more specific location information with 911 calls when informed that the FCC doesn’t require cell phone carriers to provide an accurate location for callers inside buildings.

Smartphones and tablets combined to account for 60 percent of the total time Americans spent using digital media in May, up from 50 percent in 2013, and one of several “huge milestones which underscored just how impressive the medium’s ascendance has been in the past few years,” according to the latest from comScore.

Mobile apps accounted for just over half (51 percent) of total digital media time spent in May. The shift toward mobile access and delivery is taking place at different speeds across different categories of content. A couple of content categories “have shifted almost exclusively to mobile.” Among the supporting statistics are:

• Total mobile engagement on social has grown 55%;
• Social networking on mobile has accounted for 31% of all growth in total Internet engagement;
• Social is the home of the #1 mobile property, Facebook, which accounts for 24% of all mobile time spent. The primary Facebook app accounts for 18% on its own.

Wireless network operators have launched 109 new commercial LTE mobile broadband networks around the world in the 12 months since June 2013. That brings the number of 4G LTE networks up and running to 300 in 107 countries, according to the latest data from 4G Americas.

4G Americas anticipates 350 new LTE networks will be launched in 2014. In addition, nine LTE-Advanced networks have been commercially deployed in seven countries, with 4G Americas expecting that will reach 40 by year-end 2014.

Commenting on the rapid pace of LTE deployment, stated, “In five years, since the first launch of LTE by TeliaSonera in 2009, there has been explosive growth in LTE network deployments as the entire ecosystem -- operators, vendors and stakeholders combined -- progress the technology,” said 4G Americas’ President Chris Pearson in a press release. “As LTE becomes the foundation of the wireless landscape, LTE-Advanced is the evolutionary step for increased speed and network capacity. We are beginning to see activity around LTE-Advanced including initial launches and devices.”

4G Americas also released some other statistics regarding global LTE deployments:

• 500 total commitments to LTE deployments by mobile operators to date;
• LTE connections are forecast to surpass 2.3 billion by 2020 (Informa Telecoms & Media WCIS+);
• 23 LTE-TDD and 264 LTE-FDD networks, with an additional 23 networks with both LTE-TDD and FDD;
• 10 radio spectrum bands used for LTE today ranging from 700 MHz to 2.6 GHz.