The Year in Communications

Communications news in 2013 was dominated by serial revelations of the National Security Agency’s mass collection of data from major Internet companies and mobile carriers, leading to widespread cries of governmental overreach. But those revelations, based on leaks from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, were accompanied by remarkable advances in wireless communications. The Snowden documents also galvanized new efforts at making the Internet more secure and private.

• The year 2013 saw several breakthroughs in basic communications technology. Researchers in China set a new speed record for a version of 4G known as LTE-Advanced. Alcatel-Lucent readied technology for gigabit speeds on last-mile copper networks. And Samsung described tests of a new technology it called 5G. The latest version of Apple’s operating system includes the capacity to automatically toggle between different wireless technologies --such as 4G and Wi-Fi -- which is a prelude to the use of data-encoding technologies that might split up data and use multiple channels at the same time for far more efficient service. Akamai and Ericsson, meanwhile, teamed up to figure out how to carve out a special wireless data fast lane for customers who pay extra to get things like e-commerce transactions completed as fast as possible.
• Long-discussed ideas for opening up bandwidth by sharing wireless spectrum bore fruit during 2013.
• The disruption of traditional TV expanded in 2013. Startup Aereo marched into 22 markets after an initial test in New York with its novel business of capturing free over-the-air broadcasts on tiny antennas in data centers. Google pushed its high-speed fiber and TV service in Kansas City, and expanded elsewhere; evidence emerged that the result was better prices and faster speeds in those markets.

[Dec 23]