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Broadband News Global broadband services market seen at $900 billion by 2012 The global market for high-speed Internet services will be worth nearly $1 trillion by 2012, according to a report by research firm Yankee Group. The broadband market, which includes revenue from services to consumers and businesses, as well as the amount spent on equipment for the underlying infrastructure, is currently worth $590 billion, Yankee Group said. By 2012, the market will grow to more than $903 billion, it projected. Emily Green, president and chief executive of Yankee Group, noted that it took 10 years for the Internet to reach one billion people. The Internet will double its reach by 2012, she said. Full Story Dow Jones/Morning Star_ 9/4/08 Start-up wants to provide free broadband Full Story USAToday_ 9/2/08 Broadband is far cry in India Further delay to Australia's national broadband network plan Australia Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's government will fail to deliver its second-biggest election commitment on time after announcing yesterday that tenders for its $4.7 billion national broadband network will not be due until the end of the year so it has time to collect more information for bidders. Optus head of government and corporate affairs Maha Krishnapillai blamed Telstra for delays. "Telstra has been the root cause, not only in delaying the release of this information, but in holding Australia's broadband future to ransom to protect its own interests and its 50 per cent-plus margins on fixed networks." But Telstra spokesman Jeremy Mitchell said Telstra had done everything possible to provide the information sought by the Government and to make it available to other bidders. Full Story The Australian_ 7/19/08 Rural broadband customers to be offered 400mbps The new technology is called Bonded DSL Rings (BDR) which relies on existing copper wire infrastructures. It is a patent pending technology from Genesis Technical Systems of Calgary, Canada. With BDR, telcos can deliver up to 400mbps to customers at one twentieth of the cost of fibre networks. Rural broadband has so far not kept up with bandwidth speeds in urban areas because there has not been an economical way for telcos or cable firms to deliver high bandwidth broadband services to rural customers. Bonded DSL Rings combines DSL and Resilient Packet Rings (RPR) technology to provide greater bandwidth and higher quality services. Full Story Computer Weekly 7/14/08 Massive Internet security flaw uncovered Security researchers on Tuesday said they had discovered an enormous flaw that could let hackers steer most people using corporate computer networks to malicious websites of their own devising. But there are two pieces of good news: First, no bad guys are known to be using the flaw yet. And second, in a possibly unprecedented display of industry cooperation, virtually every major software company affected is issuing patches to fix the problem. System administrators will have 30 days to apply those patches -- from the likes of Microsoft Corp., Sun Microsystems Inc., Red Hat Inc. and others -- before the details of the flaw are disclosed at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas. "This is about the integrity of the Web, this is about the integrity of e-mail," said Dan Kaminsky of security firm IOActive Inc., the man who discovered the flaw. "It's more, but I can't talk about how much more." Full Story Los Angeles Times_ 7/9/08 (logon required) Strategy Analytics: Worldwide broadband subscriptions to reach 415 million this year Worldwide broadband subscriptions will reach 415 million in 2008, representing one billion discrete broadband users, according to "Broadband Forecast: 1H 2008," a report just released by Strategy Analytics. The number of broadband subscriptions will continue to grow to 621 million by 2012. While DSL remains the dominant access technology, accounting for two-thirds of worldwide subscriptions, newer access technologies are taking hold. "Fiber and WiMax will increasingly displace traditional broadband access technologies, such as DSL and Cable," said Ben Piper, Director of the Strategy Analytics Broadband Network Strategies service. "This phenomenon is punctuated by the Asia Pacific region, where WiMax is expected to grow from 4.8 million subscriptions in 2008 to 23 million by 2012." "Global household penetration rates will continue to grow at a steady pace, approaching 35% in the next five years," said John Lee, Analyst in the Strategy Analytics Digital Consumer practice. "Latin America and Asia Pacific will make up half of all global broadband subscriptions by 2012." Full Story Centre Daily_ 5/28/08 Start-up Sezmi provides new way to deliver TV content If you're fed up with cable or satellite TV service, you may have another, potentially cheaper choice within the next two years, thanks to a local start-up. Video distributor study: All broadband providers disrupt P2P The eight biggest Internet service providers in the U.S.—which collectively serve more than 54 million broadband users—all “artificially interrupt” peer-to-peer traffic to some extent, according to a study by P2P video distributor Vuze. The study, released April 18, found that AT&T, Cablevision Systems, Charter Communications, Comcast, Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable, Qwest Communications International and Verizon Communications regularly send false commands, designed to slow down file transfers, to BitTorrent-based peer-to-peer software. Comcast has borne the brunt of attention on this issue, with the Federal Communications Commission currently investigating the operator for its practice of selectively blocking P2P transmissions that traverse its network. Vuze’s software uses the BitTorrent-developed peer-to-peer protocol to distribute promotional and ad-supported video files over the Internet from more than 100 content partners. It formerly was known as Azureus. Full Story Multichannel_ 4/22/08 FCC calls for mobile alert system The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has moved to set up a system that would send text alerts to people on their mobile phones in case of natural disasters and other emergencies. With an order released Wednesday, the FCC adopted technical requirements for transmission of the alerts, which would require the cooperation of mobile operators. However, no government agency has yet been named to collect and transmit the alerts to mobile operators. The Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS) would be designed to reach U.S. residents regardless whether they have access to a TV, radio or electricity. More than 250 million people in the country have mobile phones today, FCC commissioners noted. The system would send out three types of alerts: Imminent Threat Alerts, with information on emergencies that may pose an imminent threat to peoples' lives or well-being, Child Abduction Emergency/AMBER Alerts concerning missing children and Presidential Alerts, which would preempt any other pending alerts. The alerts initially would be text only, though with vibration and audio signals for people with disabilities. They eventually might include audio and video content. FULL STORY_PC World4/10/08 Comcast adjusts its Internet traffic management Slowing down the bandwidth 'hogs' Comcast, the country’s largest residential Internet provider, said on Thursday that it would take a more equitable approach toward managing the ever-expanding flow of Web traffic on its network. The cable company, based in Philadelphia, has been under relentless pressure from the Federal Communications Commission and public interest groups after media reports last year that it was blocking some Internet traffic of customers who used online software based on the popular peer-to-peer BitTorrent protocol. Comcast said it would change its fundamental approach to playing Internet traffic cop. Instead of interfering with specific online applications, it will manage traffic by slowing the Internet speeds of its most bandwidth-hogging users when traffic is busiest. “In the event of congestion, the half percent of people who are overutilizing an excessive amount of capacity will be slowed down subtly until capacity is restored,” the chief technology officer for Comcast, Tony G. Werner, said. “For the other 99.5 percent, their performance will be maintained exactly as they expect it.” Mr. Werner said he hoped to have the new system in place by the end of the year. FULL STORY_New York Times 3/28/08 Stelera Wireless receives $35 million loan to deploy broadband in rural U.S. Stelera Wireless, a privately-held company specializing in wireless broadband services has received $35 million from the Department of Agriculture in the form of a low interest loan. The funds will be used to invest and grow the most technologically-advanced wireless broadband service available--3.5 generation HSUPA (High Speed Upload Packet Access). According to CEO Ed Evans, Stelera Wireless is the first in the nation to introduce this advanced technology and is unique in the deployment of a wireless network that is purely focused on broadband services. "Plenty of carriers are offering voice services and some data services, but we have built a network optimized for the broadband experience," Evans said. Rural customers, typically the last to receive service and the very last to enjoy the latest technology, will instead have access to services unavailable as yet in the largest cities in the U.S. as Stelera Wireless customers. The Department of Agriculture loan will allow Oklahoma City, Oklahoma-based Stelera Wireless to launch 55 cities in 2008, with an initial focus on communities with less than 20,000 residents where broadband choices are limited and sometimes non-existent. The immediate planned locations are in Texas, Kansas, New Mexico, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington, Oregon and Arizona. Larger markets will be included as growth continues. "This is only the beginning," said Evans. Full Story News Release_ 3/11/08 Google bypasses corporate IT departments ....again Microsoft’s pursuit of Google’s online advertising business may earn the headlines. But the search giant is quietly trying to steal business customers from Microsoft, as a new product release shows.Google today is adding a feature to its Apps package – which already includes online spreadsheets, word processing, email and other tools targeted to businesses – that will let people build Web sites where they can post anything from contact information to presentations to videos. Google says this will make it easier for workers to collaborate on projects. Setting up sites like this has traditionally required help from the information-technology department. Google boasts in its press release that workers can set up a site “without having to burden IT for support.” We love that phrase: It’s a bit like showing a teenager how to sneak out of the house and calling it a way to go out without burdening parents by letting them know. It also speaks volumes about Google’s strategy for breaking into businesses. The company is intentionally bypassing tech departments, which might object to Google hosting their business’s sensitive information. Instead, the company is appealing directly to the average worker, who doesn’t want to have to wait months for IT to have the time and money for their project. So while it will probably fill IT pros with visions of sensitive corporate data flowing out of their businesses, Google’s business model isn’t dependent on winning techies over. Google hopes that it will be enough to appeal to workers’ desire to collaborate now. FULL STORY_Wall Street Journal 2/28/08 Vietnam to invest $1 billion on broadband Vietnam's largest telecommunications company plans to invest US$1 billion (euro670 million) to upgrade the country's broadband Internet network and keep pace with economic growth. Vietnam Post and Telecommunication Group will expand and improve the network over the next two years, said Bui Quoc Viet, spokesman for the state-owned firm. The improved network will provide faster connections for Vietnam's nearly 19 million Internet users, he said. Roughly one-fifth of the country's 85 million people use the Internet. Full Story AP/Yahoo_ 2/25/08 Domain name for Asia up for grabs Microsoft bids $44.6 billion to buy Yahoo Microsoft Corp made a bid to buy Yahoo Inc for $44.6 billion, seeking to join forces against Google Inc in what would be the biggest Internet deal since the Time Warner- AOL merger. Yahoo would give Microsoft dominance in Web banner ads used by corporate brand advertisers. It also attracts more than 500 million people monthly to sites devoted to news, finance and sports, and Yahoo Mail is the No. 1 consumer e-mail service. Speculation of a tie-up has swirled in the markets for more than a year, as investors looked to Microsoft to team up with Yahoo against an ever more powerful Google, which owns about two-thirds of the global Web search market. But critics say Microsoft and Yahoo have very different corporate cultures and worry about a clash like the one that marred AOL's $182 billion purchase of Time Warner Inc in 2001, which is seen as the worst merger in recent history, with many of the promised synergies never materializing. Full Story Reuters_ 2/1/08 Third undersea Internet cable cut in Mideast An undersea cable carrying Internet traffic was cut off the Persian Gulf emirate of Dubai, officials said Friday, the third loss of a line carrying Internet and telephone traffic in three days. Ships have been dispatched to repair two undersea cables damaged on Wednesday off Egypt. FLAG Telecom, which owns one of the cables, said repairs were expected to be completed by February 12. France Telecom, part owner of the other cable, said it was uncertain when repairs on it would be repaired. Stephan Beckert, an analyst with TeleGeography, a research company that consults on global Internet issues, said the cables off Egypt were likely damaged by ships' anchors. Officials said Friday it was unclear what caused the damage to FLAG's FALCON cable about 50 kilometers off Dubai. Full Story CNN_ 2/1/08 FCC auction opens door to open access A sudden spurt of bidding has turned what was shaping up as a bust into the most robust auction of wireless spectrum the federal government has ever conducted, salvaging hopes for a new generation of mobile networks that are open to any device and any service. The weeklong auction cleared a crucial stage on Jan. 31 as the combined bids for the five swaths of spectrum being sold reached $15.64 billion, which is 14% more than the record $13.7 billion raised in 29 days of bidding during the Federal Communications Commission's last auction a year and a half ago. Most of the blocks, each of them broken into multiple biddable chunks, have now drawn the minimum bids set by the FCC, including one of the two blocks being sold with unprecedented requirements that their eventual owners open their networks to devices and services from other companies. FULL STORY_BusinessWeek 2/1/08 Two communications cables in the Mediterranean are cut Two undersea telecommunication cables were cut on Tuesday evening, knocking out Internet access to much of Egypt, disrupting the world’s back office in India and slowing down service for some Verizon customers. One cable was damaged near Alexandria, Egypt, and the other in the waters off Marseille, France, telecommunications operators said. The two cables, which are separately managed and operated, were damaged within hours of each other. Damage to undersea cables, while rare, can result from movement of geologic faults or possibly from the dragging anchor of a ship. Hundreds of undersea cables often owned and managed by international consortiums keep telecommunications running worldwide. A surge in phones and Internet connections in Asia and to new financial hubs like Dubai has increased traffic on many of these cables. Most disrupted communications were quickly rerouted through other cables. FULL STORY_New York Times 1/31/08 Top bids $2.78 bln as US wireless auction opens $200 million cable brings Australia 'faster and cheaper broadband' A new undersea internet cable would break open Australia's broadband market, bringing faster download times and lower prices, federal Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said today. The $200 million Pipe Networks PPC-1 cable will rival Telstra and Optus pipelines, linking Sydney to the Pacific island of Guam to provide a third international broadband link to Australia's east coast. It is due to open in June next year and Pipe Network executive director Lloyd Ernst today said PPC-1 was undercutting its competitors' prices by 50 per cent. Full Story Sydney Morning Herald_ 1/14/08 Comcast welcomes FCC traffic management inquiry Cable-modem service provider Comcast said Wednesday that it would welcome a U.S. Federal Communications Commission investigation into its broadband traffic management practices. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Tuesday, said the commission would investigate complaints that Comcast was blocking some peer-to-peer (P-to-P) traffic. An Associated Press investigation published in October found that Comcast was slowing traffic connected through the popular BitTorrent file-sharing program. A Comcast spokeswoman said Wednesday that the company had not yet received information requests from the FCC. Comcast, in a statement, also defended its practice of sometimes slowing P-to-P traffic during peak traffic times. Full Story IDG News Service/PCWorld_ 1/9/08 TV Converter Boxes Offer Escape From Analog TV; 'untethered' households heading for a blank screen
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