Telecom

FCC Aiming for 100 Million Households at 100 Megabits Per Second

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission unveiled a plan on Tuesday proposing minimum broadband speeds of 100Mbps. In his remarks, FCC's chief Julius Genachowski said: "To meet the imperatives of global competitiveness and enduring job creation, we must have broadband networks of such unsurpassed excellence that they will empower American entrepreneurs and innovators to build and expand businesses here in the United States. Our plan will set goals for the U.S. to have the world's largest market of very high-speed broadband users. A '100 Squared' initiative -- 100 million households at 100 megabits per second -- to unleash American ingenuity and ensure that businesses, large and small, are created here, move here, and stay here."

How IT and Internet Saved Lives in Haiti

Stéphane Bruno writes: "In the first few hours that followed the earthquake, mobile service was completely disrupted. It was almost impossible to place a call, due to the combination of the damages on the cellular networks and the spike in phone calls. However, on some networks, SMS service was still available. People stuck under rubbles started texting to their friends and family (in Haiti and abroad) to tell them they were still alive and needed help. Those friends and family, not knowing what to do, started posting these SOS messages on their social networks, mainly on Facebook."

Google to Begin Experimental Ultra High-Speed Broadband Networks

In a blog post today, Google has announced that they will begin a fiber network experiment of their own. From the announcement: "We're planning to build and test ultra high-speed broadband networks in a small number of trial locations across the United States. We'll deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today with 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections. We plan to offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people."

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.

China Telecom Issues Complete IPv6 Schedule, Commercial Launch Set for 2012

According to reports, China Telecom has announced a complete schedule of IPv6 deployment including commercial trials currently underway. A full commercial launch is scheduled for 2012 while retreating from IPv4 network and services will begin in 2015. China Telecom has also announced various goals as part of the IPv6 transition which includes building a self-supporting IPv6 business and upgrading enterprise and residential gateways to support IPv6 access for government, enterprise and residential customers.

Google Inks Another Undersea Internet Cable Deal

KDDI, Bharti Airtel, Reliance and Google yesterday signed a letter of intent to build a $400 million subsea cable between India and Japan. The 6-fiber-pair Asia-Pacific Japan Cable will have a design capacity of 17 Tbps -- the highest capacity cable ever planned -- and will be upgradeable to 23 Tbps, the companies said in a joint statement.

IDC on Why Mobile Devices Accessing Internet Will Pass 1 Billion by 2013

There were more than 450 million mobile Internet users worldwide in 2009, a number that is expected to more than double by the end of 2013. Driven by the popularity and affordability of mobile phones, smartphones, and other wireless devices, IDC expects the number of mobile devices accessing the Internet to surpass the one billion mark over the next four years.

Residents in Utah Offered to Buy Their Own Fiber Connection, 1600 Already Have

Geoff Daily reports today on the App-Rising.com: "A new model is emerging in Brigham City, a city of less than 20,000 in northern Utah, for how user-owned open fiber networks can be financed and deployed. It used to be that the only way you could get fiber was if you were lucky enough to have a private provider lay it or to live in a city that did it itself. Today in Brigham City, for $3,000 you can buy your own fiber. And in fact more than 1,600 local residents have already bought in to this new opportunity."

How Brazil’s Massive Power Outage Affected Telecommunications and Internet Routing System

Last night millions of people were left without electricity in two of Brazils' biggest cities, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, as a result of a massive power failure. Consequently the outage has also had a significant impact on telecommunications and the Internet routing system in a number of South American regions. According to a related report released today by Renesys, while Brazil took the largest hit, Paraguayan and Uruguayan networks also went out "as a result of the largest regional power outage to hit Brazil and its neighbors in several years."

Cablecos Continue to Gain Telcom Market Share; Now at 15% and Growing

In a report released today by the research group, TeleGeography, Executive Director, John Dinsdale says, "traditional telcos have been losing substantial market share while leading cablecos have succeeded in transforming their businesses to the point where almost 40% of their revenues now come from telecoms. Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Liberty Global all now feature in the top 15 ranking of broadband internet service providers, and telecoms remains an engine for growth for many cablecos around the world."

Video: Engineers in Washington Discuss How Pending US Regulations Could Impact the Internet

"What Will the Internet of the Future Look Like?," was the subject of a panel discussion held this week in Washington, DC, organized by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF). The discussion was aimed at examining pending Internet regulations in the U.S. and their impact on packet discrimination, traffic shaping, network management, and carrier business models. The panel, moderated by Robert Atkinson, included: Richard Bennett; Dr. David Farber; Charles Jackson; and Jon Peha.

Telecom Execs Meet at the NGT Asia Summit to Discuss the Move to 4G

"Such a meeting has been a long time coming, large operators have been losing revenue as the communication market has diversified, network optimization should lend to them finding new revenue streams as the level of service can expand" -- Nick York, NGT Summit Director Asia Pacific.

Google and Verizon Wireless Find Common Ground on Net Neutrality

In a joint statement released today by Eric Schmidt, Chairman and CEO of Google, and Lowell McAdam, President and CEO of Verizon Wireless, the two companies have expressed their support for making existing 'net neutrality' principles enforceable. The joint statement was published as a blog post late Wednesday on both Google and Verizon policy blogs.

Internet Pioneers, Company Founders, CEOs Send Letters to FCC in Support of Open Internet Initiative

A group of 24 CEO's and Internet company founders submitted a letter today to the Federal Communications Commission in support of the Net Neutrality initiative. Also last week, in a similar letter, Vinton Cerf, Stephen Crocker and other Internet pioneers spoke out on Net Neutrality supporting FCC's recent open Internet initiative.

Berkman Center Releases Broadband Study for FCC, Says Open Access Key to Competition, Performance

The Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University today announced the release of its 232-page study commissioned by the FCC examining global broadband deployment and usage. The draft of the study titled, "Next Generation Connectivity: A review of broadband Internet transitions and policy from around the world," has now been posted for public comment.