BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: This is from Dave Burstein, a telecom geek/journalist/gadfly, and who frequently has some interesting observations about broadband technologies, and the politics behind them. In this pieces, he's reporting on the thoughts of leaders in the mobile industry, to the effect of just how overblown is the hype behind 5G wireless technologies. No… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, April 11, 2018 – Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrived at the Rayburn House Office Building Wednesday for the second day of his first trip to Capitol Hill as a witness, this time before members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. His prepared testimony was the same, but the atmosphere was quite different. Not… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, April 10, 2018 – After months of seemingly-unending scandal over his company’s role in the 2018 election, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg began his first of two days of testimony on Capitol Hill Tuesday by making it clear he was well aware of the laundry list of problems with the company he created 14 years… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, April 5, 2018 — As Facebook users continue to learn more about how the social networking pioneer allowed third parties to gain access to contact information, lists of friends, interests, and other information, the companies behind another social networking app are beginning to face scrutiny over whether they allowed far more sensitive information to… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, March 23, 2018 – The odds that Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg will make an appearance on Capitol Hill to explain his company’s actions regarding the misuse of millions of Facecook users’ data by Cambridge Analytica – the “big data” company linked to President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign – just went up. After… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: Rural priorities are again receiving additional emphasis in the draft spending legislation currently before Congress. Though the proposed $600 million is lower than the $2.5 billion that some had been discussing, the pending Trump infrastructure package could allocate still more funds to rural broadband priorities. Although omnibus budget bills are considered "must… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: A great summary of what to take away from the Trump administration's blocking of Broadcom's acquisition attempt for Qualcomm, an action that appears to be have been taken quite precipitously. According to The New York Times' story on the subject, "A presidential action against foreign investment in an American company is rare and… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: Think of all that has transpired over the past century and a half! Remembering Alexander Graham Bell, from Commscope On March 7, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell received a patent for his revolutionary new device—the telephone. Since then, telephony has evolved in ways even this great thinker could not have imagined. After connecting the world… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: The debate over the role of violence in movies and video games never seems to end. President Trump's attempts to link video games to gun violence likely serves as another distraction effort in his "chaos"-driven White House. Trump reopens a seemingly settled debate on video games and violence, from PBS News Hour… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, March 7, 2018 - Local government officials seeking to offer a corrective tonic on broadband deployment to the Federal Communications Commission may consider applying for the expanded Intergovernmental Advisory Committee. Nominations for the more-than-10-year-old group are due on Monday, March 12, at 6 p.m. ET, according to a public notice published by the FCC… Keep Reading
Rural broadband has never been a more pressing priority for our nation, and now is the time to join the conversation. The Rural Telecommunications Congress (RTC) has an exciting program at the Broadband Communities Summit this year from May 1-3 in Austin, Texas. When you register for the summit using the RTC discount code of RTC350, you… Keep Reading
Network neutrality is an important issue. We mustn’t allow transport owners to limit our ability to communicate. But, network neutrality in itself positions the internet as a telecommunications service. We need to step back and recognize that the internet itself is part of a larger shift wrought by software. I thought about this more when… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: Daniel Berninger has been a voice in the wilderness on the issue of net neutrality, and the Obama-era Federal Communications Commission's efforts to reclassify broadband internet access services as common carriers, since 2015. But as an internet entrepreneur, he has direct experience in working with the FCC on the regulation of Voice-over-Internet-Protocol… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: This piece by The Washington Post has, in turn, prompting some gloating by Republicans over at the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which criticized the "sweeping claims" of Democrats: "That consumers will see a sharp drop in Internet speeds if the Federal Communications Commission proceeds with its plan to unwind net neutrality… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, February 28, 2018 – Advocates of net neutrality are pushing for congressional action to overturn a December action by the Federal Communications Commission to repeal such rules. But they will have an uphill battle if they expect President Trump to sign off on gutting an action by his appointee to lead the FCC. In… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: A great visual tidbit of history here. We found it when searching for information about the regulation of AT&T from the 1913 Kingsbury Commitment to the founding of the Federal Communications Commission in 1934. A Telephone Map of the United States Shows Where You Could Call Using Ma Bell in 1910, from… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: Windstream seems to increasingly be trying to talk and act like an AT&T or Verizon Communications. This article highlights some strong aspects to his heritage as a back-haul fiber-optic provider. If this division is sold, it might mark the continued evolution toward telecom giant status. Windstream weighs potential sale of certain fiber assets,… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, February 6, 2018 – The Trump administration will unveil principles for its long-awaited plan to spend $1.5 trillion on revamping the nation’s infrastructure this coming Monday, a White House official confirmed to BroadbandBreakfast.com. Trump alluded to the forthcoming plan during his first State of the Union address last week, when he called on Congress… Keep Reading
SEATTLE, January 18, 2018 - Amazon announced the 20 finalists for its second headquarters, or HQ2, after a high-profile quest among economic development officials around North America. The candidates include: Boston New York City Newark, New Jersey Pittsburgh Philadelphia Montgomery County, Maryland Washington, D.C. Raleigh Northern Virginia Atlanta Miami Toronto Columbus Indianapolis Chicago Denver Nashville… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: Joan Engebretson unpacks the reality and the hype of Trump’s rural broadband announcement. She also shows how Trump carefully avoided reference to broadband funding. Trump rural broadband initiatives include two executive orders aimed at eliminating regulatory deployment barriers. But if you were hoping to hear something about funding or addressing the USF… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, January 8, 2018 – The Trump Administration plans on making increased access to broadband in rural areas a priority as it implements the recommendations of its’ Rural Prosperity Task Force, said National Economic Council Special Assistant for Technology, Telecommunications, and Cybersecurity Grace Koh on Friday. “The White House is very excited about being able… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, January 4, 2018 – As the government of Iran continues to restrict internet access to hinder anti-government protesters’ ability to organize and communicate, the Trump Administration continues to condemn the restrictions – which include blocking numerous American social media websites and apps – in spite of previous statements by President Trump that endorsed “closing… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, December 15, 2017 – The Federal Communications Commission’s Thursday vote to repeal the “open internet” rules classifying broadband services as common carriers represents the most significant regulatory shift in the internet in more than a decade. Critics in Congress, at the agency, and even on late-night TV wasted no time in blasting it. These… Keep Reading
The success of the internet demonstrates that we now depend on network operators to assure that services like telephony work. The carriers are pushing back on neutrality because their business model is threatened by a level playing field. We should be encouraging innovative internet-native business models rather than working to preserve an industry threatened by… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, December 7, 2017 — Tom Wheeler, the Federal Communications Commission chairman under President Obama, wasn’t coy in expressing his feelings about his replacement’s “abomination” of a plan to gut the open internet rules he put in place two-and-a-half years ago. “This is the culmination of a grand plan which started back in 2013,” Wheeler… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: A great little piece from the Inverse lays out how the "Chatham House" rules may protect Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai from being quoted for what he says at Verizon Communications, his former employer, nine days before net neutrality rules are set to be axed. (UPDATE 12/6: It turns out that Pai… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: Once again, the folks at the Institute for Local Self Reliance have produced another standout report on how to get better broadband to those parts of American that are not served by the major incumbents. This report focuses on the role that cooperatives are playing, and can continue to play, in making… Keep Reading
Telecom attorney Jonathan Lee takes down the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division's specious case against the AT&T/Time Warner merger in this detailed blog post, excerpted below. (Click on the link at the bottom for the whole argument.) Here's the money quote: "This alleged harm is simply too general to merit analysis." Assumptions On Assumptions:… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: Is everyone having enough fun on this issue of network neutrality/open internet/"search neutrality"/Twitter-fenestration? It's been a wacky week, and the craziness is likely to accelerate over the next two weeks. Here, CNET's Marguerite Reardon covers Pai's Tuesday speech at the R Street Institute in Washington. FCC chairman calls Twitter the real threat… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: In a significant new development, the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration outlines a process for how states will be able to receive funding to build their own public safety wireless networks that are separate and apart from FirstNet. The far, approximately 35 of the 50 states have opted-in to FirstNet. Colorado and… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, November 23, 2017 – Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday praised plans by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to roll back the network neutrality rules put in place by his predecessor, but pledged to work towards some sort of legislation that would outlaw blocking and throttling internet content currently… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, November 21, 2017 – In a move that could further infuriate an already-energized coalition of technology industry power players, consumer advocates, and progressive interest groups, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai on Tuesday unveiled plans to undo the net neutrality rules that put in place in some form or another since the early years… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: Telemedicine is one of the most immediately needed high-bandwidth broadband applications, and it promises concrete and easy-to-see benefits. Yet its usage had limited by occupational licensing. In this policy report, CATO Institute Adjunct Scholar Shirley Svorny lays out the case for the best option (eliminating all governmental licensing), a second-best option (defining… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: Here, Microsoft is taking the initiative to address the communications failures and other challenges in Puerto Rico. Microsoft is aiming to use its particular variant of TV "white spaces" to allow greater communication capabilities during a time of widespread power outages. Using TV White Space technology in Puerto Rico and the US… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, November 21, 2017 — The White House on Friday defended the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to prevent telecommunications service resellers like TracPhone and Simply Wireless from participating in the Universal Service Fund Lifeline program, and to restrict participation in the program to facilities-based providers like AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. The Lifeline program allows low-income… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: Impossible task, meet unfortunate federal agency. | Federal Agency Drafts New Rules For Transparency In Political Social Media Ads, from NPR: The Federal Election Commission is moving to improve disclosure of the money behind Internet and digital ads, as the shadow of Russian-funded social media ads in last year's presidential race hangs… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: Major news from the United Kingdom with the deal announced between Vodafone and CityFibre. This deal shows how the rest of the world is adapting to the model that the United States has not yet, but eventually will: Separation of infrastructure from services. Vodafone throws down gauntlet to BT with new fibre… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: The power of municipal broadband isn't going away. While competition benefits everyone, it's undeniable that as the custodians of their rights of way, local government will play a role in the telecommunications infrastructure developments of the future. Charter gets competition in Lexington, Kentucky, as angry city enlists Indiana’s MetroNet to build FTTH… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, November 16, 2017 — In a move harshly condemned by Democrats and consumer advocates, the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday voted along party lines to significantly restrict the Universal Service Fund’s Lifeline program, which provides subsidies to enable lower-income consumers to purchase basic telecommunications services. The vote took place during a contentious open meeting… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: The future of broadband communication will involve advanced and low-latency applications, all delivered over symmetrical fiber or 5G wireless networks. To get there, we need computing and storage at the edge, and fiber deeper into the neighborhoods. Edge deployment strategy dependent on 5G use case being served, from RCR Wireless Whether it’s… Keep Reading