Telecom

Carriers Constrain Entrepreneurs

Previously, I've written about how the success of the MVNO (though not without its problems) demonstrates how an Open Access-like business model can work in a wireless context. The underlying carrier, such as Sprint or Verizon, can sell access to its network at wholesale rates to a company like Virgin Mobile, which then markets to consumers. This model can be and is a success both for the retailer and the wholesaler. MVNOs are not perfect. more

Reduce Churn with Better Visibility Over Your Service Activation Processes

How much visibility do you have over service activation processes? For many service providers, the answer to that question is bleak. The sad truth is that visibility over service activation processes, including errors and misconfigurations, is lacking in many Tier 3, Tier 2, and even Tier 1 organizations. Today's operators often turn to multiple siloed systems when attempting to ensure that services are activated accurately, on time, and are working as promised. more

Pay TV Loses Record 1.3M Subscriptions So Far This Year

The U.S. Cable, satellite and telecommunications-based subscription video services lost 430,000 customers in the third quarter of this year, bringing the year-to-date drop to 1.3 million -- the largest ever through the first nine months of the year. more

Almost All 5G Estimates for 2019-2020 Need to Be Doubled

The remarkable take rate in Korea and China is invalidating almost all projections of 5G subscriptions. The 5G promotion has consumers wanting to buy, buy, buy. Huawei Mate 20 5G is selling for only US$30 more than the 4G model. At that price, who would want to buy a 4G phone that could be obsolete in a year or two? In the first two weeks of sale, over a million Chinese bought Huawei's 5G phone. more

Freedom to Connect

Over the last ten years, Andrew Odlyzko has been writing about a pricing algorithm that would assure reasonable service levels at reasonable prices. If you're going to F2C, you might want to read that brief article or this slightly more complex one to learn (or refresh your sense of) PMP -- Paris Metro Pricing models to deal with network congestion. You'll also get a sense of why throwing bandwidth at the network will not be sufficient. Here's a great article from 1995... more

In the 5G Era, at Least 20 Million U.S. Homes Will Rely on Wireless for Broadband

There now can be no doubt that fixed wireless, mostly 5G, will be a viable business in the right locations. Today's wireless has enormous capacity, enough to supply the broadband needs of a significant population. It's better than most DSL and a workable alternative to cable in many locations. Traffic demand is falling, with Cisco predicting the U.S. will fall to 31% growth in 2021. more

Telecoms Development Booming in the French Pacific Territories

After the nuclear submarine debacle with France, political ties have been restored, and both France and Australia have agreed on further cooperation in the South Pacific, where France has several overseas territories. Also, here telecoms is a key issue. Such cooperation has become more urgent with the increased political interest of China in the region. more

Comcast to Start a Series of Public IPv6 Trials Using 3 Transition Mechanisms

Comcast today announced plans to conduct production-network trials of IPv6 technology this year. The trials are aimed at helping identify and solve any areas of difficulty involved in the transition to IPv6, and to determine what approach will be the easiest and most seamless for its customers, says Jason Livingood, Comcast's Internet System Engineer. more

Traditional Big ISPs Stagnate

In the first quarter of this year, the big cable companies added 482,000 customers, while telcos added over 50,000 customers. In what is a surprise to the industry, that growth has disappeared, and all of the big ISPs collectively lost almost 150,000 customers. That's a loss of 60,000 customers for the cable companies and 88,000 for the big telcos. The following statistics have been compiled by the Leichtman Research Group, which tracks the broadband performance of the largest ISPs in the country. more

Lead With Privacy and Customers Will Follow

From high-profile data breaches to increasingly sophisticated tracking systems, the issue of consumer privacy is earning a lot of headlines these days. To better protect their personal privacy, many consumers are taking matters into their own hands. A Forrester Consulting survey revealed that one-third of consumers polled admitted to using do-not-track tools and ad blockers to protect their online privacy, while another 25 percent have cancelled at least one online transaction after reading the seller's privacy policy. more

Farm Access to Broadband

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has been measuring computer usage on farms and publishes the results every two years in its Farm Computer Usage and Ownership report. The most recently released report for 2019 was compiled by asking questions to 20,000 farmers. This is a large sample from the more than 2 million farms in the country. more

US Carriers Continue Their Decline As More Folks Push Their Way Into the “Tier 1” Club

Clint Hepner from Renesys reports: "The US old guard of AT&T, Sprint, Verizon and Qwest are treading water or declining. And as if to highlight that fact, Telecom Italia, Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom (AS5511) all became transit-free during the year. ... [P]roviders with a strong global footprint and a diverse set of offerings are continuing to rise in the rankings. And those organizations with popular content or captive end-users will find themselves increasingly in the driver's seat when it comes to pricing negotiations. When it comes to the Internet, the only constant is change and we can expect more turmoil in 2011 as the market continues its rapid evolution." more

The Growth Rate of Broadband Speeds

Cisco has changed the name of its periodic predictions of broadband usage from the Visual Networking Index to the Annual Broadband Report, and recently issued a report that covers the period from 2018 to predictions made through 2023. Cisco is one of the few industry players that projects future broadband usage. Their past reports have been spot on in terms of predicting future broadband usage. more

Broadband Internet Crunch is Beginning to Occur

Internet demand remains at a rate which could outpace capacity within the next two to four years, according to "Internet Interrupted: Why Architectural Limitations Will Fracture the 'Net," a new report today from Nemertes Research. ...If left unaddressed, the development of next generation applications, from software to interactive video, will likely be stifled as users find Internet infrastructure incapable of efficiently delivering quality content. more

Update on the 5G Race in the US

It's been a while since I checked in to see how the U.S. is doing in the 5G race. I haven't been following the issue since before the pandemic when the U.S. government was tossing around the idea of buying a controlling interest in Nokia or Ericsson. That idea went nowhere but led to a lot of articles in the business press. I decided to look anew after seeing recently that the FCC is estimating that it would cost U.S. carriers about $1.8 billion to replace Huawei and ZTE gear in U.S. more