telecompetitor

Level3 Communications wants the Federal Communications Commission to impose interconnection requirements on Internet service providers -- a move the company said is necessary to “fully protect the free and open Internet.”

The company recommends three specific ISP interconnection requirements. Mooney said Level3 already has similar arrangements with several ISPs and “the solution is good for everyone.”

Level3’s proposed ISP interconnection requirements include:

1. If a content provider or a network operator providing connectivity for the content provider delivers content into the ISP’s local market closest to the location of the ISP’s customer requesting the content, the ISP should be required to deliver the traffic to its customer without charging an interconnection fee -- provided that the content provider delivers a certain amount of traffic in the aggregate to the ISP.
2. The ISP would be able to select the interconnection location but selections would have to be “reasonable.” For example, each location would have to serve a minimum number of the ISP’s customers and the location would have to be served by several different metro transport service providers to ensure that the ISP has competitive choices.
3. If interconnection capacity becomes congested at any interconnection location, it would have to be promptly augmented.

The latest network operator with a gigabit network announcement is Paxio, which has launched gigabit residential service in Emeryville (CA), based on fiber-to-the-home technology.

Paxio’s business model is to partner with municipalities, property owners and the like -- sometimes overbuilding incumbent carrier networks. According to the Paxio website, the company is part of a public/private partnership known as EmeryConnect, which is “committed to delivering and maintaining a state-of-the-art fiber optic network for businesses and residential users in Emeryville.”

Several other network operators -- including Cogent, Hurrican Network, Level3 and Unwired -- also are part of EmeryConnect. Paxio did not immediately respond to an inquiry from Telecompetitor asking for more information.

But according to the company’s website, the company’s Emeryville fiber network is open access, meaning that other network operators also can use it. The company also sells dark fiber and other services -- including 10 Gbps connectivity for businesses based on fiber-to-the-premises.

The number of fixed and mobile US broadband connections with downstream speeds of at least 10 Mbps increased 118% between June 2012 and June 2013 to reach 103 million, according to Federal Communications Commission data.

The data is contained in the FCC’s latest “Internet Access Services” report, which is based on information collected from broadband providers.

Mobile broadband saw a particularly steep increase in the number of users connecting at higher data rates. More than 52 million mobile Internet users connected at speeds above 6 Mbps downstream and 1.5 Mbps upstream as of June 2013, up from 18.7 million in June 2012 -- an increase of 279%.

Smartphones and tablets combined to account for 60 percent of the total time Americans spent using digital media in May, up from 50 percent in 2013, and one of several “huge milestones which underscored just how impressive the medium’s ascendance has been in the past few years,” according to the latest from comScore.

Mobile apps accounted for just over half (51 percent) of total digital media time spent in May. The shift toward mobile access and delivery is taking place at different speeds across different categories of content. A couple of content categories “have shifted almost exclusively to mobile.” Among the supporting statistics are:

• Total mobile engagement on social has grown 55%;
• Social networking on mobile has accounted for 31% of all growth in total Internet engagement;
• Social is the home of the #1 mobile property, Facebook, which accounts for 24% of all mobile time spent. The primary Facebook app accounts for 18% on its own.

How soon will AT&T and Verizon, whose revenues once were driven by voice products, find they both generate more fixed network revenue from video and high speed access than from voice?

Answer: AT&T will likely get there sooner than Verizon.

In fact, AT&T might find that voice is just the third most important revenue source, in the consumer fixed network segment, just as soon as it acquires DirecTV. Should AT&T succeed in its bid for DirecTV, video entertainment would possibly reach $37.1 billion, eclipsing even data services -- at about $28.3 billion in annual revenue -- as drivers of AT&T fixed network segment revenues.

After a DirecTV acquisition, voice would be only the trailing third most important revenue source for the fixed network segment. Of $89.7 billion in total revenues, voice would represent 22 percent of fixed segment revenues. Video would represent 41 percent of total fixed network revenues. Internet access and other data services would represent 32 percent of total fixed network revenues.

Rural communications service provider Plateau Telecommunications said that it has reached an agreement to sell its wireless operations in eastern New Mexico and West Texas to AT&T, making Plateau the latest in a long line of small carriers that have moved away from the wireless market.

The operations that are being sold are comprised of partnerships between Plateau, Yucca Telecom, Five Area Telephone Cooperative, South Plains Telephone Cooperative, Mid-Plains Rural Telephone Cooperative and West Texas Rural Telephone.

The US Government Accountability Office has asked the Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Rural Utilities Service, to provide more detailed information about the impact of the broadband stimulus program in annual reports.

“RUS has not shown how the approximately $3 billion in funds awarded [for broadband infrastructure] BIP projects [has] affected broadband availability,” wrote the GAO in a 25-plus page report sent to members of Congress.

The authors also note that “without this information future efforts to expand broadband may lack important information on the types of projects that were most effective at meeting subscribership goals, thereby limiting the ability to apply federal resources to programs with the best likelihood of success.”

According to the report authors, the USDA has said it will institute procedures to comply with the GAO’s reporting recommendations.

The New York Post, citing unnamed sources, has reported that Verizon is talking with Dish Network about the possibility of buying Dish’s AWS spectrum.

But while such a deal would make sense for Verizon, the potential benefits for Dish are not so clear. AWS spectrum includes several different blocks in a relatively high frequency band in the 1700-2200 MHz range. High-frequency spectrum has less range but greater capacity than lower-frequency spectrum making it well suited to serving high-traffic urban areas.

What Dish would gain by selling its spectrum to Verizon is less clear. Of course the company would gain cash. But it would shut itself out of the possibility of building its own wireless network -- and with TV Everywhere expected to skyrocket, video providers without their own wireless networks could be at a disadvantage.

Wireless network operators have launched 109 new commercial LTE mobile broadband networks around the world in the 12 months since June 2013. That brings the number of 4G LTE networks up and running to 300 in 107 countries, according to the latest data from 4G Americas.

4G Americas anticipates 350 new LTE networks will be launched in 2014. In addition, nine LTE-Advanced networks have been commercially deployed in seven countries, with 4G Americas expecting that will reach 40 by year-end 2014.

Commenting on the rapid pace of LTE deployment, stated, “In five years, since the first launch of LTE by TeliaSonera in 2009, there has been explosive growth in LTE network deployments as the entire ecosystem -- operators, vendors and stakeholders combined -- progress the technology,” said 4G Americas’ President Chris Pearson in a press release. “As LTE becomes the foundation of the wireless landscape, LTE-Advanced is the evolutionary step for increased speed and network capacity. We are beginning to see activity around LTE-Advanced including initial launches and devices.”

4G Americas also released some other statistics regarding global LTE deployments:

• 500 total commitments to LTE deployments by mobile operators to date;
• LTE connections are forecast to surpass 2.3 billion by 2020 (Informa Telecoms & Media WCIS+);
• 23 LTE-TDD and 264 LTE-FDD networks, with an additional 23 networks with both LTE-TDD and FDD;
• 10 radio spectrum bands used for LTE today ranging from 700 MHz to 2.6 GHz.

Oddly enough, whether Sprint decides to bid for T-Mobile US, and whether that deal is approved or rejected, the US mobile market is may likely retain its current structure. Only the names might change.

Over the longer term, Comcast may emerge as the number-three provider, no matter what happens with Sprint and T-Mobile US.

The reason is a fundamental change in consumer communications and video entertainment markets, putting a premium on the ability to sell a quadruple play or triple play package that is functionally equivalent to a quadruple play. More than 97 percent of AT&T’s 5.7 million video customers subscribe to bundled services, according to the company.

“This consumer preference is not unique to AT&T, as 78 percent of basic subscribers of the six largest cable operators take at least a double-play of services, predominantly video and broadband,” the company says. In 2006, cable TV operator bundle adoption was 56 percent. Since then, adoption has grown, globally.