Joan Engebretson

AT&T took the unusual step late last night of announcing that it is “in advanced discussions” to bring a gigabit network to parts of the Triangle and Piedmont Triad regions of North Carolina.

Normally companies like AT&T wait until a deal is iron-clad before announcing it. The unusual announcement illustrates just how competitive the gigabit business is becoming -- in the right markets, at least. Austin, Texas for example now has three network operators offering or planning to offer gigabit service and a fourth that has increased its broadband speeds to 300 Mbps.

And in North Carolina, a local news outlet reported that eight service providers are negotiating with North Carolina Next-Generation Network (NCNGN) about the gigabit network. One of these appears to be Google Fiber, which early 2014 mentioned Raleigh-Durham (NC) and Charlotte (NC) as two of the nine communities where it was considering building gigabit networks.

More than half of senior citizens (56%) would find it “very hard” to give up the Internet, according to new research from Older Americans Technology Services (OATS) and New York Law School.

Perhaps surprisingly the Internet was the only communications means or device cited as “very hard” to give up by more than half of survey respondents. Slightly less than half of respondents said they would find it “very hard” to give up cable TV (47%), their cellphone (45%) or their landline phone (45%).

“Broadband clearly brings the world to senior citizens,” said John Horrigan, a senior advisor for the Advanced Communications Law and Policy Institute (ACLP) at New York Law School. “Without question it is helping seniors be more engaged with others. . . They clearly value being on line.”

The OATS and New York Law School research was based on a telephone survey of 1200 Americans aged 65 or older, including 780 broadband users and 420 who don’t use broadband.

Although most are not known outside their local -- primarily rural -- communities, small cable companies offer advanced communications services to 14% of US homes, according to a report issued from the American Cable Association.

The ACA advocates for more than 800 small cable company members, who have an average 36% market share in their serving areas according to the ACA. Understanding the role that ACA members play in offering video, data and voice services in rural areas is important at a time when policymakers are in the process of transforming today’s voice-focused Universal Service program to a Connect America Fund focused on broadband. Somewhat less than half (43%) of ACA members are small telecommunications companies that have cable operations. A slightly higher percentage (44%) is comprised of traditional cable operators, while 13% are municipalities or other types of organizations.

Long-distance service providers that have been complaining about rural call completion reporting requirements may find that task simplified now that vendors have stepped in to address that need.

At least one major network operator has invested in a third-party product that automates rural call completion reporting. Analytics provider TEOCO announced that an unnamed tier one service provider has purchased its Rural Call Completion Analytics Solution. And in an interview TEOCO Executive Director Derek Canfield said the company has other customers for the product as well.

TEOCO’s rural call completion offering is available as an optional module for the company’s Analytics Platform or as an outsourced service. At least one other vendor has an offering that automates rural call completion reporting, but Canfield said TEOCO’s offering is unique in that it also provides root cause analytics.

“Clients have the ability to look at call completion along dimensions such as wholesale customers, vendors they may choose in routing [calls], or their own network equipment,” said Canfield.

AT&T’s plans for TDM-to-IP transition trials are clashing with efforts to de-regulate telecom -- an initiative the company also has been championing.

Consumer advocates and ADT, one of the nation’s largest alarm companies, are asking Kentucky lawmakers to delay passing a telecom deregulation bill until the TDM-to-IP transition trials, to be overseen by the FCC, are completed, reports Public News Service. According to an AT&T proposal, TDM-to-IP transition trials would begin in late 2014 or early 2015 and run into 2017. The Kentucky bill would allow major phone companies to stop providing landline service in parts of the state, Public News Service reports. If the bill were to pass, consumers would have to rely on VoIP over a broadband connection or a cellular service. And if that were to occur, “there is some likelihood that alarm systems and/or medical alert systems may not be able to send signals to ADT’s monitoring centers,” ADT Vice President of Industry Relations Steve Shapiro told Public News Service.

Three years after a Tennessee power company kicked off the gigabit network trend with the announcement of a residential gigabit network in Chattanooga, more electric utilities are getting in on the trend.

Missouri electric cooperative Co-Mo Comm said it will launch gigabit service in August. And Habersham EMC, a northeast Georgia electric cooperative, said it is increasing the speed its broadband network will support to a gigabit. Habersham EMC calls the service Trailwave and will charge $99 a month for the service. The company also has a 50 Mbps offering for $49.95.

A Federal Communications Commission workshop was organized with the goal of offering insight on how the FCC should allocate funding for rural broadband trials and ultimately, how a broadband Connect America Fund for rate of return carriers would be structured.

The workshop drew on a wide range of stakeholders and offered a lot of food for thought, but also illustrated that considerable more work will need to be done before the FCC can answer those questions. The total number of entities that have expressed interest in participating in the rural broadband trials has now reached 997, FCC officials said.

A workshop panel on rural broadband build-out strategies included representatives from several types of entities that have expressed interest in participating in the rural broadband trials, including:

• a municipality (Greenlight Community Broadband of Wilson (NC))
• a rural incumbent telco (Golden West Telecommunications)
• a utility co-operative (Co-Mo Comm)
• a wireless Internet service provider (Highspeedlink.net)
• a satellite broadband service provider (Hughes Network Systems)
• a rural cable company (Troy Cablevision)
• a large price cap carrier (AT&T)
• a cellular carrier that has moved into fiber-to-the-home (C Spire)

New York City-based startup company ASA Networks sees great potential for TV white spaces technology.

The wireless Internet service provider is currently trialing the technology in Gallatin, a rural area in upstate New York, and plans to expand service to other communities in the future.

“We have it working and it works for non-line of sight,” said Joe Plotkin, director of marketing for ASA Networks. When Plotkin and colleagues made a presentation about TV white spaces equipment at an upstate event prior to making their white spaces plans “we were swamped by town supervisors and county executives saying ‘help us,’” said Plotkin.

In communities like Gallatin the only way of accessing the Internet until now has been via spotty DSL and cellular service, Plotkin said. Plotkin was apparently talking about the upcoming voluntary TV broadcast spectrum auction which will enable broadcasters to relinquish spectrum in exchange for sharing in the auction proceeds. The band plan for that spectrum band has not yet been determined -- and a key issue is how much of the spectrum will be available for unlicensed use.

AT&T launched a promotion that many of its competitors will have difficulty matching. The company said it will offer up to one year of free U-verse High-Speed Internet service in parts of several states for small business customers that meet certain criteria.

The offer leverages the company’s landline and wireless networks, making it difficult for cable or wireless competitors other than Verizon to match. The move comes just a week after Verizon also launched a promotion that relies on its landline and wireless assets, suggesting that both companies may be feeling competitive pricing pressure. AT&T’s new free offer is on U-verse broadband speeds of up to 6 Mbps. Business customers will get one year of free service if they meet any of three conditions:

• They are new AT&T wireless business customers adding Mobile Share Value 10GB or higher plans
• They are existing AT&T mobility business customers migrating to AT&T Mobile Share Value 10 GB or higher plans
• They are existing business customers on Mobile Share Value 10 GB or higher plans

Sen Tim Johnson (D-SD) introduced the Public Safety and Economic Security Communications Act which aims to help prevent long-distance carriers from blocking or disrupting calls to rural areas.

Some people may not realize what a big deal it is when calls don’t go through to rural areas. But the ultimate result is that peoples’ lives are put in danger and companies lose business. That’s a big deal -- and the bill’s name better conveys what a big deal it is.

In a statement included in the Congressional Record, Sen Johnson noted that the rural call completion problem “poses a serious public safety threat, such as when a police dispatcher cannot reach law enforcement or when a doctor cannot call a patient.”

Sen Johnson’s bill would require companies that transport voice calls to register with the Federal Communications Commission and comply with basic service quality standards, which would be established by the commission within 180 days of enactment.