Fierce

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler’s business data services proposal is facing opposition from the Schools, Health, Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition who say that the proposal needs to regulate Ethernet pricing, a key factor for its cash-strapped constituency.

A key point of content for SHLB is that Wheeler’s proposal only applies to TDM-based services. The organization has asked the FCC to consider developing a technology-neutral regulatory construct that takes into consider IP-based Ethernet and existing TDM services. “The record evidence shows that TDM and IP services are not two separate markets -- they are substitutable services,” SHLB Coalition said in a letter to the FCC. “The very first paragraph of the Commission’s Tech Transitions Order discusses how IP-networks are replacing TDM-based networks and calls for a “technology-neutral” policy. SHLB pointed out that “Ethernet services are sometimes delivered over TDM circuits illustrates the difficulty of establishing different regulatory rules for these two technologies.” Not surprisingly, a particular concern SHLB cites is service cost, which is a major issue organizations that reside in rural markets. Schools and rural anchor institutions in rural markets often are limited to just one provider, inhibiting their choice for competitively priced services.

Chattanooga’s EPB says that while it is still limited by Tennessee law to selling 1 Gbps FTTH service within its defined borders, the municipal fiber provider is confident that growing demand for higher speed broadband could drive a change to current legislation.

Despite the legal barrier, the service provider continues to get requests from nearby towns to get their broadband service. At the same time, local incumbent telcos like AT&T have not made any moves to upgrade their facilities to offer faster speeds that consumers want. “We have a defined electric power footprint and the state of Tennessee only allows us to offer internet service within that defined electric power footprint and our answer has always been no,” said Danna Bailey, VP of corporate communications for EPB. “We’d like to serve you because Tennessee law prohibits it and it’s become a statewide issue as we hear more stories in not-always rural parts of the state who have access to little or no broadband at all.” The service provider has begun working with six other communities in Tennessee that have built out similar FTTH networks. As part of that work, the communities have continued to petition the state general assembly to get the law changed, but no progress has been made. “We haven’t been successful in working with the Tennessee general assembly to get this law changed,” Bailey said. “I expect that will come up again on the docket this winter when general assembly goes back into session.” EPB and the other communities continue to hear about more voters telling them stories about how students have to drive to a local restaurant to use Wi-Fi to complete homework assignments.

Comcast may have been one of the most vocal opponents to the fiber-to-the-home moves by Chattanooga, Tennessee-based utility EPB, but the company’s efforts over the past year to wire the city with fiber-based 2 Gbps services for residential and businesses is giving customers more choice. While Comcast has not revealed how many customers have signed up for its 2 Gbps service in Chattanooga -- a much smaller market in comparison to other ones it serves like Chicago -- its moves are a likely response to EPB’s efforts to offer the community 1 Gbps and even 10 Gbps fiber-based services.

Comcast has increased its network investments and launched new products in the city, including Gigabit Pro, Comcast’s 2-gigabit internet service, and installed hundreds of Xfinity Wi-Fi hotspots in its markets. Gigabit Pro is a FTTH-based service, which requires a special installation at the home. The cable MSO has been no less aggressive on the business front. In June, Comcast Business completed a multi-million dollar fiber optic network across greater Chattanooga capable of delivering up to 10-gigabit speeds to local businesses. Even though Chattanooga is not a Tier 1 city, Comcast and even incumbent telecom AT&T are bringing better broadband into the area, responding to a competitive environment.

AT&T has begun a hybrid millimeter wave (mmWave) wireless and wireline technology trial, targeting apartment complexes outside of its wireline service area to deliver up to 100 Mbps in areas where it has not been able to reach potential broadband users. But 100 Mbps is just the start of its bandwidth ambitions.

AT&T indicated that it plans to make faster speeds available, including a possible 500 Mbps tier that it will test through this fixed-wireless solution. To deliver the service to each user, AT&T is using mmWave wireless technology to send a multi-gigabit signal from a central building connected to fiber to neighboring locations, and then is connecting each unit over the existing in-building wiring. When a neighboring building receives the multi-gigabit mmWave wireless signal, AT&T converts it to a wired internet connection. The telco then uses existing or new wiring in the property to offer internet access directly to each unit. When customers that reside in these properties sign up for service, they can plug their Wi-Fi router into an existing wall outlet to get internet service in their apartment. AT&T did not specify what millimeter wave spectrum band it is using for this trial.

“The Internet has eaten the TV,” an analyst for The Diffusion Group pointed out in a post arguing that the Federal Communications Commission needs to stop futzing about with set-top box regulation and instead accept that TV’s future lies in apps, not hardware. With the FCC’s vote on new “unlock the box” set-top rules due Sept 29, TDG analyst Joel Espelien sided squarely with the commission on its “surprisingly radical and surprisingly obvious” new policy recommendation – one that is more in line with the pay-TV industry’s counter-proposal -- that multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs, or pay-TV) provide an app-based alternative to set-tops after a two-year transition period. That alternative would run on a streaming device like Roku or Google Chromecast and obviate the need to lease a box. Espelien suggested that the industry needs to change its perspective on streaming video and its place in the greater broadband-based internet. Getting access to broadband is far more important than being able to tune into a TV program; that’s why the FCC has encouraged programs that help lower-income Americans get high-speed broadband connections. And that’s why TV has become an “option,” not a necessity, he said.

[Commentary] With continually expanding Wi-Fi footprints and enough backhaul to choke a horse, Comcast and Charter could finally succeed where past cable efforts to break into wireless failed. And there’s good reason to be excited about that opportunity. As Shaw CTO Zoran Stakic put it, since his company was able to acquire Wind Mobile in Canada, he’s been in disbelief at how powerful a combination it is once a company can offer broadband, Wi-Fi and LTE. “I think we’ll be able to deliver solutions for our customers that we didn’t think were possible a few years ago,” said Stakic. And Nair offered a glowing review of the full mobile virtual network operator deals that Liberty Global has been able to do, which have given the multiple-system operators the flexibility to control its own SIM and switch wholesalers should the need arise because of price changes.

But perhaps the most hopeful sign for cable operators looking toward wireless is that, as wireless network architecture is shifting away from the macro tower paradigm and toward smaller, denser infrastructure schemes, telecommunication company and cable nodes are getting closer and closer to one another in the network. Options abound for cable companies seeking that wireless service piece that will help augment their video and broadband strategies as well as help them gain foothold in emerging markets like the Internet of Things. Now it’s up to the likes of Comcast and Charter to choose the right path to make sure another wireless flop doesn’t lie in cable’s future.

Georgia’s lawmakers are working together to find a way to enhance broadband service in the state’s rural areas by asking residents to take an online survey about their service experience. After tallying the survey results, state Sen Steve Gooch (R-Dahlonega (GA)) said a joint committee of state lawmakers will make a set of recommendations, including developing tax incentives to further broadband investment and getting rid of certain government regulation. State Sen Gooch said that substandard Internet service creates a barrier to economic development in rural parts of Northeast Georgia. State Sen Gooch added that businesses say broadband weighs heavily on whether they will locate their business in a particular town or city.

The Federal Communications Commission once again declined to say whether the US wireless industry is competitive in its annual report addressing the matter. And once again, industry associations offered very different views. The Commission’s Nineteenth Mobile Wireless Competition Report weighed data from the second half of 2015 in an effort to analyze competition among carriers “as well as examining competition across the entire mobile wireless ecosystem.”

The Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) for the fifth consecutive time stopped short of concluding the market “was effectively competitive,” saying the space is too complex to be summed up in such a simple way. The FCC estimated Verizon claimed 38.1 percent of overall industry service revenues in 2015, down slightly from 38.7 percent in 2014, while AT&T’s 32.4 percent share of revenues was essentially flat from the previous year. Sprint pocketed 14 percent of all service revenues last year, down from 14.9 percent the previous year, while T-Mobile’s share grew to 13.5 percent last year, up from 11.9 percent in 2014.

The Competitive Carriers Association (CCA) praised the Commission’s unwillingness to deem the mobile market competitive and encouraged the agency to develop reforms that would spur competition. “It’s true that the mobile market continues to evolve as consumers demand more wireless services. Nevertheless the Report affirms CCA’s analysis that the mobile marketplace cannot be considered effectively competitive as a result of concentrated market share, and a duopoly that continues to dominate service revenue and the number of connections and devices,” CCA CEO Steven Berry said.

Cox Communications has again in 2016 raised its broadband rates for customers, citing "product and technology investments and increases in business costs" as the reason for the increase. DSL Reports forum users posted the text from an e-mail Cox is sending out to its customers, alerting them that the new rates will go into effect on Oct. 6. Specifically, Cox’s Starter tier will change from $37.99 to $39.99, Essential from $56.99 to $62.99, Preferred from $72.99 to $77.99 and Premier from $84.99 to $87.99. Those increases come after Cox in January raised its broadband service rates.

CenturyLink said that as it extends broadband services to rural areas via the Federal Communications Commission’s Connect America Fund-II program, it can attract a larger amount of customers that reside in 1.2 million homes with 10/1 Mbps speeds. In 2015, CenturyLink accepted $500 million in the second phase of the FCC's Connect America Fund (CAF-II), enabling it to deliver broadband services to about 1.2 million rural households and businesses in 33 states over the next six years. By accepting the 33 CAF II statewide offers, CenturyLink will be able to deliver up to 10/1 Mbps to locations in FCC-designated, high-cost census blocks that today can get at best between 1.5 to 3 Mbps speeds. Stewart Ewing, CFO of CenturyLink, said that as its technicians begin building service in a community, more users will sign up. “There are numerous examples of places where we have gone out and enabled locations that did not have service before,” Ewing said. “With door hangers left by the technicians and word of mouth, basically you can quickly get penetration of 50 percent.”