telecompetitor
Largest US Wireless ISP Offers Its Take on Suburban Fixed 5G
An interview with Rise Broadband co-founder Jeff Kholer. Rise Broadband is the largest US wireless Internet service provider (ISP).
Balloons and Drones in Telecom: Consultancy Advises Partnerships with Web Giants
Analytics and consulting firm GlobalData is recommending that telecommunication companies and webscale companies work together to develop communications services based on balloons and drones. Using atmospheric satellite balloons and drones in telecom could support emergency communications and could provide coverage in unserved areas, GlobalData said. Some US carriers, including AT&T, have used or are looking at using drones in telecom to act as cellsites during service outages when traditional cellsite infrastructure is damaged.
How the Rural Electric Cooperative Consortium Won $186 Million in CAF II Funding for Gigabit Broadband
When 21 rural electric cooperatives decided to submit a joint bid to receive funding for gigabit broadband in the Connect America Fund (CAF) II auction, their reason was a simple one. Consultants helping with bids were only allowed to work with a single bidder — and submitting a joint bid as the Rural Electric Cooperative Consortium enabled multiple co-ops to work with consulting firm Conexon. Telecompetitor talked with Jonathan Chambers, one of two partners who created Conexon with the goal of seeing fiber brought to rural America.
Electric Cooperative Gigabit Gains Traction
Electric cooperative gigabit is becoming more commonplace, as news from Aug 28 about four electric cooperative gigabit deployments illustrates.
Will 5G and Smart Cities Go Hand-in-Hand?
5G and smart cities could have a lot of synergies, as research firm Kagan explains in a new research note. Researchers drew on Verizon’s experience in the first four markets where the carrier will deploy fixed 5G wireless, but their observations could apply to mobile 5G as well.
Michigan Broadband Roadmap: Lots of Ideas for Improving Availability, Adoption
A consortium established by Gov Rick Snyder (R-MI) has come up with a wide range of recommendations for increasing broadband availability in the state, which currently ranks 30th among the 50 states in broadband availability and 34th on broadband adoption.
Broadband in Rural Higher Education Deserts Can Help Address Digital Divide
Broadband is a critical element of a new approach to rural higher education that aims to combine the best of on-line and in-class teaching techniques to address what some people call rural “higher education deserts.” By using broadband in rural higher education deserts, in combination with brick-and-mortar higher education centers, some states are finding ways of enabling local residents to earn college degrees.
FCC $2 Billion CAF-II Auction Has Concluded, Results to Be Released in a Few Days
The Federal Communications Commission announced the conclusion of the Connect America Fund Phase II (CAF-II) auction, which offered $1.98 billion in funding for rural broadband. The bidding began July 24th. The FCC will issue a public notice in a few business days outlining the results. Winning bidders have agreed to provide broadband service at the lowest cost in unserved and underserved areas in 20 states, formerly served by larger price cap carriers (although those same carriers could conceivably be the auction winner).
More Google Fiber Deployments? Exec Shares Company’s Vision for New SuperPON Architecture
Google is seeking industry support for a new Google Fiber vision for a passive optical network (PON) fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) architecture that would increase the distance between the central office and the customer, said Claudio DeSanti, architect for Google. The Google SuperPON architecture would support up to 1,024 customers over distances up to 50 kilometers– a substantial change from today’s architecture that supports up to 64 customers over distances of up to 20 kilometers. The goal would be to minimize the amount of fiber required to support FTTH and the associated labor.