Unsurprisingly, the young watch less of their TV live. http://tcrn.ch/doUXuL # DOJ smells an anti-trust rat in the online video space. http://bit.ly/bhezyf # Lithuania on-track for FTTH in over 50% of the country. http://bit.ly/cdvQxv # Canada pulls an about-face, mandates open access. http://bit.ly/9VMpBh # Verizon says that FTTN is a dead-end. http://bit.ly/bUNhQZ # FCC asked [...]
The FCC recently issued a report on wireless industry competition that for the first time in seven years did not declare the sector to be competitive. That of course led to feigned indignation by carriers, who obviously declare every market they service to be a competitive Utopia of the highest order. Of course the reality [...]
Just as FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski faces Congressional criticism for his ‘third way’ proposal to net neutrality, Democratic leaders in the U.S. House and Senate want to see how they can update the landmark Telecommunications Act of 1996. According to a Bloomberg report, Congress is going to start “a process to develop proposals” to update [...]
Frontier (NYSE: FTR) finally cleared the last regulatory hurdle in its bid to acquire Verizon’s (NYSE: VZ) rural lines in 14 states as the FCC gave its official approval of the deal late last Friday. The FCC decided to approve the deal because Frontier had agreed to a number of commitments that included, not surprisingly, [...]
The FCC has released their fourteenth annual report (pdf) and like most things the FCC has attempted recently, the report tries to carefully walk a center line to avoid upsetting anyone. The report insists that the wireless industry is not “effectively competitive,” then proceeds to insist that the FCC is not making any conclusions on [...]
As we noted last week, the FCC has opened an inquiry into whether wireless carriers can do more to prevent what’s become an endless flood of stories about users facing ridiculously-huge 3G bills. The problem is a combination of users who don’t pay attention and carriers who have clearly not done enough in making their [...]
As we noted earlier this week, the FCC has launched in inquiry into why we continually see story after story (some involving smart individuals) suddenly facing ridiculous wireless broadband bills of $10,000, $20,000 or higher. Of course it’s a multi-sided situation, involving a combination of lazy or confused customers and complicated (and often amoral) billing [...]
Speaking at The Cable Show in Los Angeles, FCC boss Julius Genachowski yesterday discussed the FCC’s recent decision to partially reclassify broadband providers as common carriers under section two of the Communications Act. Despite the fact that more than 85% of the public lives in a largely uncompetitive duopoly market, Genachowski informed the crowd that [...]
As had been expected, West Virginia regulators have approved Verizon’s $8.5 billion sale of more than 6 million phone and DSL customers across fourteen states to Frontier Communications. West Virginia was the last state needed for approval — but approval had been hard earned due to Verizon’s neglect of infrastructure (and unions) in the state. [...]
We’ve seen no limit of insane 3G bills incurred by people who don’t understand the concept of overage penalties while in the States — or the steep overages they can incur by taking their phone (or tethered laptop) overseas. In Europe, regulators have tackled this problem by passing rules that cap roaming fees between carriers. [...]