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Viodi View – 08/04/10

Change was in the air at last week’s OPASTCO Summer 2010 Convention. From the changing technology, that is moving things to an all-broadband pipe, to the disintermediation of legacy services to the FCC’s National Broadband Plan, change was an underlying theme of the four-day event. The FCC’s National Broadband Plan was the source of much of the angst among attendees, as there is a great deal of uncertainty associated with the plan. 


Click here to go to the exclusive video interviewImportance of Rural Broadband – An Interview with the FCC's Genachowski

A highlight of the OPASTCO 2010 Summer Convention was the keynote speech of FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. ViodiTV caught up with Chairman Genachowski after his speech and he elaborated on the importance of a robust broadband infrastructure to creating a vibrant rural economy, which in turn benefits the urban economy. We also briefly discussed the importance of community-based, telecommunications companies in the development of the rural broadband infrastructure.  Click here to read more and to view the video interview.


Click here to read the rest of the post and view the videoIs 4 Mb/s a Dead End Rural Road?

A 25:1 ratio is what John Rose, president of OPASTCO, points out is the difference between what the National Broadband Plan calls for between urban and rural areas. The objective for 2020 is to have at least 100 million homes at 100 Mb/s. Rose points out that the other 15 to 30 million rural homes would have a different broadband standard of 4 Mb/s. Rose is concerned that this definition of broadband could relegate rural areas to the equivalent of a 60 Kb/s circuit in today’s terms.  Click here to read more and to view the video interview.


Thank you to the following sponsors for their support of ViodiTV's coverage of the 2010 OPASTCO Summer convention.  

Click here to go to Cronin's web site.spacerClick here to go to Extreme Networks' web site.Click here to go to OmniTel Communications.


Day 1 and Day 2 at OPASTCO

It is a huge challenge to produce 30 to 45 minutes of fresh content on a daily basis and have it ready by 5:30 PM to air on the hotel channel. In these two posts, created and posted from my G-Phone, I note some of the things we would have changed had we had more time for quality assurance, as provide some impressions, while they were still fresh, of the OPASTCO 2010 conference.


Conundrum Continues: Mobile video drives mobile traffic but for how long? by Alan Weissberger

With the success of smart phones, tablet PCs and game players, video continues to be the dominant form of mobile data traffic on wireless networks. Cisco Systems predicts that mobile video will increase at a compound annual growth rate of 131% between 2009 and 2014. Yet we constantly hear and read user complaints about poor video quality, stalling/ freezing. Can mobile video traffic continue to climb while users are so dissatisfied with reception?

The conundrum is that mobile video transported on 3G mobile networks cannot deliver the quality users desire, while the stand alone. broadcast mobile video networks are commercial failures with the new, standards based networks pushed off into the future. How long can this continue without mobile video traffic falling off a cliff?  Click here to read the rest of the article.


Some Tweets and Short Thoughts


The Korner – Has Facebook Peaked and Other Tidbits…….

A mix of consumers made for a very entertaining and informative panel at the OPASTCO Summer 2010 Convention. Scott Meyer of Innovative Systems did an excellent job of moderating this panel that featured consumers from 16 to someone who didn’t identify his age, but had to be in his fifties or sixties. The panel was attempting to answer the questions of how different generations are using telco services and what telcos must do to attract various generations.  Unfortunately, I lost my notes, but I do remember a couple of interesting tidbits from this panel included:

  • “Hearing about it from their friends or family” was the most common reason cited for adopting technology. This is consistent with other panels I have heard through the years. Social and email networks probably facilitate word-of-mouth between friends and family and make this an even more important reference point than ever.
  • Mobility was important. Interestingly, the oldest panelist dropped his cable television subscription, as he found he could live without cable television. He is now spending a great deal of his time on Facebook. He pointed out the importance of the local telecom company (Whidbey Tel) and their community involvement was a motivation to purchase their services.
  • When asked whether having a presence on Facebook would be a good thing, the older panelist said being on Facebook would make a telecommunications company seem “hip”. The younger people seemed to be somewhat indifferent and had a mixed reaction to corporations’ presence on Facebook.

I do have to wonder if the enthusiasm displayed by this aging baby boomer is an indication, that Facebook has not only hit the mainstream, but also indicates that Facebook may be peaking when an apparent late adopter has embraced something originally targeted for college kids. Then again, I wouldn’t bet against Facebook (check out the new “Like Button” on the Viodi View and ViodiTV articles).

Consumer panel at OPASTCO's Summer Convention

Note:  The text above was superimposed onto the photo of the panel.   

Author Ken Pyle, Managing Editor

By Ken Pyle, Managing Editor

Ken Pyle is Marketing Director for the Broadband Forum. The mission of this 25+-year-old non-profit “is to unlock the potential for new markets and profitable revenue growth by leveraging new technologies and standards in the home, intelligent small business, and multi-user infrastructure of the broadband network.”

He is also co-founder of Viodi, LLC and Managing Editor of the Viodi View, a publication focused on the rural broadband ecosystem, autonomous vehicles, and electric aviation. He has edited and produced numerous multimedia projects for NTCA, US Telecom and Viodi. Pyle is the producer of Viodi’s Local Content Workshop, the Video Production Crash Course at NAB, as well as ViodiTV. He has been intimately involved in Viodi’s consulting projects and has created processes for clients to use for their PPV and VOD operations, as well authored reports on the independent telco market.

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