On March 2, Russia covered the US flag on the Roscosmos Space Agency rocket that was scheduled to launch 36 OneWeb broadband satellites on March 5. The Russians made two obviously untenable demands -- that OneWeb guarantee that the satellites would not be used for military purposes and the United Kingdom government remove its investment in the company. OneWeb declined, and the satellites were removed from the rocket. more
According to Data from TeleGeography's Wholesale Bandwidth Pricing Database, there are stark price differences around the globe for companies with large international bandwidth requirements. "For example, the median price of a 2 Mbps E-1 circuit between London and Johannesburg in Q4 2008 was nearly $15,000. For the same price, a bandwidth buyer could lease a 10 Gbps wavelength -- 500 times the capacity of an E-1 -- between London and New York." more
It is interesting to see telecommunications policy issues being covered by the general media. Of course, we expect to see coverage of communications issues in the business press. The sector is a large employer, makes massive investments in infrastructure and virtually every citizen buys communications products and services every month. Still, covering the sector in the business section is different from seeing coverage move to the front page or the general editorial pages. more
The classic view of a wireline or mobile carrier is that it was an "operator", it ran out cables, raised poles, installed switches, constructed central offices and base stations and the like. However, the figures from Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) show that firm is making 45% of its sales from services, meaning it is constructing and managing networks on behalf of "carriers". NSN is "carrying" a lot of telecoms traffic. This has been accelerated by the global financial crisis... more
For the first time in my memory, broadband has entered into U.S. presidential politics. This is an important milestone for rural broadband – not because of the proposals being made by candidates, but because it indicates that the voices of those without rural broadband have reached upward to the top of the political system. I'm sure that when the presidential candidates go to rural areas, they are asked if they can help find a solution for the lack of broadband in many rural counties. more
Emily Jackson interviewed Dan Goldberg, Telesat President and CEO, in a recent episode of the Down to Business podcast. The interview followed the announcement that the Canadian Government would contribute $85 million (all amounts are in Canadian dollars) to support research and development in support of Telesat's planned constellation of low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites and another $600 million to subsidize Internet connectivity in rural Canada. more
Huawei is the strong favorite of Canadian network builders, for good products and extraordinary support. It displaced the incumbents at Bell Canada years ago and has a joint "Living Lab" in Vancouver with Telus. Huawei had already won the 5G contracts. It has a thousand researchers and spends a quarter billion dollars on Canadian R&D. It was a government decision. more
"Saint Elon" is a bit much but ... It started with a tweet from Ukraine's Minister of Digital Transformation. The quoted text below is excerpts from How Elon Musk's Starlink satellite internet keeps Ukraine online in The Kyiv Independent. "Among the Ukrainian military, Elon Musk, the richest tech entrepreneur in the U.S., is often half-jokingly referred to as 'Saint Elon.'. The reason is Starlink, Musk's satellite communication system that keeps many Ukrainians, most importantly the military... more
Facebook has announced a new routing system aimed at solving fast-recovery challenges for its Terragraph network that brings high-speed internet connectivity to dense urban areas. more
In a previous blog post I mentioned that the FCC had taken away restrictions to allow broadband supplied by E-Rate funding to be used to provide free WiFi for the public. That's a good idea that will provide some relief for areas with little or no other broadband. But the announcement raises a more fundamental question - why was such a restriction in place to begin with? more
Starlink dominates the satellite internet race, echoing IBM's past supremacy in computing. But geopolitical divides, advancing rivals, and Elon Musk's controversies suggest its lead will narrow as competitors gain ground in a fragmented global market. more
Elon Musk has announced plans for a space project to provide faster, cheaper Internet access around the globe. The $15 billion plan would use hundreds of satellites placed 750 miles above the Earth, far lower than existing communications satellites. Doing so would speed up the transfer of data and give better coverage to three billion people who do not have it. more
Every day, new technologies bring us closer to ubiquitous connectivity. If the capabilities of technology is advancing at a fast pace, the same is not always true of regulations; when creating or marketing a new technology, regulation is likely to act as a bottleneck. Understanding regulatory challenges is therefore the foundation that your next move rest on. Although the target may be a global or regional market, it's essential that strategies are designed both well in advance and target each jurisdiction individually. more
Over the last 20 years or so we have regularly revisited the developments in virtual reality (VR). I remember experiencing VR for the first time in the late 1980s, so this technology has been in the making for a very long time. And we are still uncertain about its growth over the next decade. There is no doubt that VR is going through a period of revival. more
While jogging along LacLeman in Geneva I caught up with Dr. Kim Seang-Tae, the President of the National Information Society Agency of South Korea. He is also one of the Commissioners of the ITU/UNESCO Broadband Commission for Digital Development. Dr. Seang-Tae is the chief architect of the FttH miracle that is transforming South Korea. His broadband journey began in 1994, when he developed the country's first broadband plan. more