Category: Broadband
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Death Knell for Google Fiber? Parent Company Reduces Spending & Cuts Jobs
Google’s parent company Alphabet significantly scaled back its investment in its Google Fiber service in the third quarter. The company said it was curbing the expansion of its high-speed fiber optic internet network and reducing staff in the unit responsible for the work. Alphabet did not provide an exact number for the jobs that will be…
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FCC Completes Reverse Auction as Forward Auction Looms Large
Executive Summary: The FCC concluded the first round of its two-part spectrum incentive Auction 1000 on Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Broadcasters sold some or all of their spectrum usage rights in exchange for millions of dollars. It’s been called a “reverse auction” and formally as “Auction 1001” since spectrum was being relinquished rather than acquired. The “forward auction,” formally known…
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More Than IP – People Do Business With People
“People do business with People” was the common sense wisdom that Nancy White provided at the 2016 IP Vision Conference and Expo. In this single sentence, White, who is president CEO of rural TN broadband provider North Central Telephone Cooperative (NCTC), summed up one of the major threads of this multi-day event. That is, collaboration…
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Sprint to Shut Down WiMAX Service ~Nov 6, 2015
Overview: At long last, Sprint has confirmed it will be turning off of its WiMAX service on or around November 6th, 2015. That’s a little over 1 year for owners of WiMAX mobile devices (including laptops with WiMax cards/dongles) to switch to LTE . WiMAX mobile devices will still work in 3G mode after that, but one doesn’t buy…
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Google’s Actions Hurt Broadband Rollout, Particularly in Rural America
Lack of relevant content, affordability and digital literacy are the three dominant barriers to the adoption of broadband, according to the World Bank Broadband Strategies Toolkit. The Google Apps Partner Edition™ platform addresses these barriers as it is a relatively low-cost, email/communications/productivity/device management platform. The Google platform has become a platform trusted by tens of…
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Rural America Needs Advanced Services & Competition – Part 1
The above title is by no means an original thought; this belief has been documented in policy statements and legislation at the Federal and individual state level many times over the years. Technology and other social factors have resulted in many changes to telecommunications policy for the common good of our country. A significant number…