China plans to send almost 13,000 satellites into low-Earth orbit to compete with and monitor SpaceX's Starlink constellations. The project, codenamed "GW," is being run by a newly established group called China Satellite Network Group Co, whose goal is to launch a total of 12,992 small satellites into orbit quickly. more
Craig Moffett, of MoffettNathanson, was recently quoted in FierceTelecom asking if the broadband industry is reaching maturity. Other than in rural areas, where many homes are still hungry for better broadband, the broadband penetration rate in cities is approaching 90%. It's a fair question to ask if there is room for much more growth in the industry. This is a question that has bounced around for the last five years. more
Bell Aliant customers in the Canadian province of New Brunswick have been experiencing repeated and prolonged disruption to their internet, home phone, and TV services due to vandalism to Bell's network. more
Indian authorities have instituted a mobile internet and text messaging blackout in the state of Punjab, which has a population of around 27 million, in an effort to capture a Sikh separatist. The ban began midday Saturday and was extended for another 24 hours on Sunday. more
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed rules and guidelines to enable satellite companies like SpaceX, T-Mobile, AST Spacemobile, and Lynk to offer satellite services directly to cell phones. more
Amazon has announced the development of a range of customer terminals for its broadband satellite network, Project Kuiper. The company's first device is a "standard" customer terminal that measures less than 11 inches square and one inch thick and weighs less than five pounds. more
SpaceX and T-Mobile are set to begin testing their satellite-to-cell service this year, an executive of Elon Musk's company confirmed Monday. Jonathan Hofeller, SpaceX vice president of Starlink Enterprise Sales, made the announcement during a panel at the Satellite 2023 conference in Washington, D.C. more
I have on my desk a rather small tube. It's a little under 2cm in diameter, 6 cm long, and looks like it's made from a dull white polycarbonate material. At the end, I can see a copper inner tube, and inside that, another polycarbonate layer, and then a smaller steel tube that holds a thin steel thread and some fibre optic cables. There are no layers of steel jacketing, nor any other additional wrapping at all. more
There was a recent article in JAMA Network Open, part of the monthly journals of the American Medical Association, that reported on a large study to quantify the benefits of using telemedicine with cancer patients. The study was conducted at National Cancer Institute - Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in Florida from April 2020 through June 2021. The study wanted to quantify the cost savings for patients that were able to conduct visits via telehealth rather than drive to the cancer center. more
The vision of Kenyan ISP Poa! Internet is "to bring internet to every home in Africa." Poa! offers unlimited, uncapped, 4 Mb/s fixed wireless connectivity to homes for 1,500 KSh ($11.64) per month plus a one-time installation fee of 3,500 KSh ($27.16). But wait, there's more. They provide a dual-SSID router, and the home SSID is used by trusted family members, and the open street SSID is for others. Street users get 100 MB of free data each day and are charged 15 KSh ($.16) per GB with no expiry .data if they exceed 100 MB on a given day. more
Residents of Matsu, an outlying island of Taiwan, have been relying on a very limited internet connection for the past month after two submarine cables leading to Taiwan's main island were cut. This disruption to their lives has also caused significant implications for national security. more
New York City has done a 180-degree turnaround on the concept of the City providing broadband to low-income households. In 2020, then-May Bill de Blasio announced a plan to bring affordable broadband to low-income households. That Master Plan said that the City would make a $157 million infrastructure investment to provide broadband to around 600,000 homes that includes 200,000 residents of public housing. more
Researchers in China have proposed a plan to establish a large satellite network in near-Earth orbit to provide internet services to users worldwide and to stifle Elon Musk's Starlink project. The project, referred to as the GW constellation, would include 12,992 satellites owned by the newly established China Satellite Network Group Co more
SpaceX is continuing to launch more Starlink satellites in an effort to increase the speed of its internet service. The tech company recently announced the launch of the V2 Mini satellites, which are designed to provide four times more per-satellite capacity than earlier versions more
From the Middle East to South Asia to Africa, shutdowns are becoming a norm of authoritarianism -- an accepted means of silencing criticism, stifling dissent, and controlling the population. Governments are increasingly using digital tools to surveil, censor, and manipulate information, as well as amplify their own propaganda. more
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