Access Providers

Satellite Internet Service Progress by SpaceX and Telesat

This has been a busy week in the race to deploy constellations of low-earth orbit (LEO) Internet-service satellites. In their quarterly report, Telesat mentioned progress in two, disparate markets. As I noted earlier, they have signed their first LEO customer - Omniaccess a provider of connectivity to the superyacht market. more

American Households Estimated to Save Over $30 Billion a Year on Broadband With LEO Satellites

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites are still in their infancy, but according to one analysis, the technology could save American households more than $30 billion per year by intensifying broadband competition more

Vladimir Putin Signs ‘Sovereign Internet’ Law to Further Tighten Government Control of the Internet

President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday signed an "internet sovereignty" bill into law that further expands government's control of the Internet. more

FCC to Block China Mobile From Gaining Access to the U.S. Market

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai has opposed China Mobile's Application to provide telecom services in the United States. more

Russian Lawmakers Pass Bill to Expand Government Control Over Internet, Protests Expected to Ensue

Russian lawmakers on Thursday passed a bill to expand further government control of the internet proclaimed by backers of the bill to be a defensive measure against internet disruptions by hostile nations. more

US House of Representatives Pass a Bill to Restore Net Neutrality Rules Repealed by Trump’s FCC

The US House of Representatives just passed the Save the Internet Act of 2019 on a vote of 232-190. more

Close to Half of America Not Using the Internet at Broadband Speeds, Says Microsoft

The US government’s most recent broadband statistics from the FCC claims 25 million Americans to be lacking access to a broadband connection. more

Article Expresses Concern That Google and Other Tech Giants are Quietly Buying Up Undersea Cables

Big tech's ownership of the internet backbone will have far-reaching, yet familiar, implications, says Tyler Cooper, a broadband policy watcher, and editor at BroadbandNow. more

Amazon Joins the Race to Offer Broadband Access from Orbit, Uncovered Filings Show

Reports suggest Amazon Inc. is planning to provide broadband internet access worldwide via 3,236 satellites in low earth orbit. more

Are Inter-Satellite Laser Links a Bug or a Feature of ISP Constellations?

I hope each of these companies has someone in charge of thinking about what might go wrong with a single, satellite-based network providing fast, low-cost links anywhere on the global Internet. OneWeb, SpaceX, Telesat and Leosat all aspire to be global Internet service providers using constellations of low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites. Their success will require still-unproven technological innovation, but there are also political stumbling blocks. more

Google and ETECSA Will Agree to Exchange Internet Traffic Without Charge

Google and ETECSA have signed a memorandum of understanding agreeing to negotiate a peering agreement that would allow cost-free data exchange between their networks once an undersea cable physically connects them. Google has worked hard to establish a relationship with ETECSA and the Cuban government. In recent years, Cuba, not the US, has limited the Cuban Internet. This agreement telegraphs a change in Cuban policy. more

SpaceX’s Starlink Internet Service Will Target End Users on Day One

Starting with Teledesic in 1990, would-be Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellations have been justified to the FCC, other regulators, and the public as a means of closing the digital divide. Teledesic's goal was "providing affordable access to advanced network connections to all those parts of the world that will never get such advanced capabilities through existing technologies." Today's low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite companies make the same claim, but Telesat, OneWeb and Leosat seem to be targeting commercial markets first. more

4G Mobile Trials Have Begun in Cuba - What Is Their 3/4/5G Strategy?

During the first month of 3G mobile service, Cuban Internet use increased substantially. At the end of January, ETECSA had 5.4 million mobile users, 35% of which use the Internet and they are adding 5,000 new data customers per day. According to Eliecer Samada, head of ETECSA's wireless access group, the company is now at 160% of the expected capacity. more

Russians Take to the Streets to Protest Against New Internet Restrictions

Thousands of Russians in Moscow and other cities rallied on Sunday against tighter internet restrictions. The protest is reported to be one of the most prominent in the Russian capital in years. more

Facebook Enters Wholesale Fiber Business, Plans to Sell Unused Capacity on New Fiber Routes

Facebooks says it intends to allow third parties - including local and regional providers - to purchase excess capacity on its fiber. more