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An amended version of Chile's regulation on Internet neutrality is far from perfect but now better reflects the spirit of a law approved in July, said José Huerta, spokesperson for local network neutrality lobby group Neutralidad Sí. Chile introduced a landmark law on net neutrality - the principle which advocates no restrictions by ISPs and governments on content - last year, making it the first and so far only country in the world to do so.

A Berlin court has ruled that it is legal for Google to take street-level pictures. The court's ruling struck down a lawsuit brought by a German woman who sued Google over Street View. The woman sued over the possibility that her privacy and property rights might be invaded by Google's Street View cameras. The court, however, ruled that it is legal to take photography from street level.

Leaked documents show that New Zealand's new ultra-fast broadband (UFB) network will come with a variety of options and moderate prices, with connections starting at an estimated $47 a month.

The Herald has obtained a "price book" revealing the wholesale charges set by the Government agency in charge of the UFB, Crown Fiber Holdings. The wholesale charges are for the Local Fiber Companies bidding on ultra-fast broadband contracts around the country, and will be set at different levels for the next ten years. While retail costs for ultra-fast broadband plans remain unclear as of now, they can be estimated by adding an 18 per cent retail margin as defined by the Commerce Commission previously, and GST. Despite the government's promise that New Zealanders will receive at least 100Mpbs downloads and 50Mbps uploads on the fibre-optic network that will cost tax payers $1.5 billion, the price book shows that the entry-level service runs at more modest 30Mbps downstream and 10Mbps upstream. Today's broadband over the country's ageing copper phone network provides up to 15Mbps downloads and 800kbps uploads. With a ten-fold increase in upload speed, the UFB is expected to substantially improve people's broadband experience. More importantly, the government guarantees the minimum speeds of the UFB even though each fibre-optic network segment will be shared between as many as 24 residential customers

At first glance, there’s ample reason to believe that AT&T’s proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile could be dead on arrival in Washington.

After all, the deal would remove a nationwide wireless competitor from the marketplace and reduce the number of major national carriers from four to three. As a result, the transaction is expected to trigger close scrutiny from both the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department, and will be the focus of Senate and House hearings. But despite the hurdles, experts agree that there is a path for the companies to win approval of the merger. The Obama administration has been advocating many of the goals that AT&T says would result from the deal, such as faster rollout of advanced 4G wireless technology and more efficient use of spectrum resources. With the White House stepping up its outreach to the business sector and emphasizing the importance of spurring innovation, it might be difficult to justify blocking the transaction, analysts said.

“On its face, it’s a very, very heavy lift,” said Jeffrey Silva, a telecom analyst with Medley Global Advisors. Nevertheless, regulators might be wooed by AT&T’s promises of billions of dollars in infrastructure investments, job creation, and nationwide, next-generation broadband service, he noted.