On Monday, the FCC granted the application Public Safety Spectrum Trust Corporation (PSSTC) for the single nationwide license for the public safety 700 MHz broadband spectrum allocation (i.e., the Public Safety Broadband License). The PSSTC says that it is managed and controlled by public safety entities, has no commercial interests, is a non-profit organization, and is broadly representative of the public safety community. Continue reading
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VIDEO, INTERACTIVITY COULD ENSNARE WEB USERS BY 2010
After studying traffic growth predictions and plans to increase capacity, Nemertes predicts that the Internet will start to seem pokey as early as 2010, as use of interactive and video-intensive services overwhelms local cable, phone and wireless Internet providers. Continue reading
EarthLink Says No More Money for Existing Muni Networks
EarthLink drops another bombshell: They hired Rolla Huff to sort out their future business, and his message from the start was steely eye, bottom line, get things on track for the future in an industry in turmoil. Then Huff cuts a huge percentage of the staff, lays off the municipal network head, and says no more investment in new networks without a change in model. Now the final piece is in place: No more “significant investments†for existing networks without some alternative model being in place, which isn’t specified in the press release. Continue reading
INOUYE PUSHES SENATE TO MOVE BROADBAND MAPPING BILL
Commerce Committee Chairman Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii) on Thursday urged the United States Senate to adopt a bill that would improve the quality of federal and state broadband data collection. The Broadband Data Improvement Act (S. 1492) would also encourage initiatives that promote broadband deployment. “For America to keep pace with the rest of the world in the digital age, we need well-informed broadband policy. But we cannot have good broadband policy based on bad broadband data. This is why I call on the Senate to take up and pass the Broadband Data Improvement Act,” said Senator Inouye. Continue reading
VIDEO DISTRIBUTOR TO FCC: STOP ISP TRAFFIC ‘THROTTLING’
A distributor of online video content has filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission, asking the agency to stop broadband providers from blocking or slowing peer-to-peer traffic. The petition filed by Vuze, which uses the BitTorrent peer-to-peer protocol to distribute Web content, asks the FCC to set rules for network management by ISPs. Continue reading
WHY WE DON’T KNOW ENOUGH ABOUT BROADBAND IN THE US
Half of all Americans now have broadband at home, according to the Pew Internet Project’s September 2007 survey, marking the first time that as many as 50% of respondents say they have high-speed Internet connections at home.1 This milestone in broadband adoption occurs at a time of close scrutiny of the data gathered by government agencies on broadband deployment. This backgrounder puts the rate of home broadband adoption in historical context before discussing in detail the issues surrounding broadband data collection and current legislation that seeks to make improvements. Continue reading
HOUSE APPROVES BROADBAND MAPPING BILL
On Tuesday, the House passed the Broadband Census of America Act (HR 3919) which calls for the creation of a national, searchable broadband availability map that will allow consumers to find which service providers are available in their areas and authorizes funds for grants to local planning entities to increase broadband deployment and usage on the local level. Continue reading