Broadband

Dish and Ntelos forge broadband pact

May 24, 2013 1:20 pm | by Associated Press | News | Comments

Satellite TV provider Dish Network and regional cellphone company Ntelos said Friday that they have agreed to develop a fixed-mobile broadband service within Ntelos' coverage area. The area in question covers customers in Virginia, West Virginia and parts of Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Kentucky.

MEF unveils new service operations committee

May 24, 2013 12:17 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

The Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) recently formed its services operations committee, which was designed to define, streamline and standardize processes for buying, selling, delivering and operating MEF-defined services. Allan Langfield, senior director of product development at Comcast Business, and Shahar Steiff, AVP business operations at PCCW Global, were tabbed as the co-chairs of the service operations committee.

FCC kicks off Phase II of Connect America Fund

May 23, 2013 1:32 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

The FCC announced Phase II of the Connect America Fund, extending the program designed to encourage the extension of broadband networks to reach unserved and underserved Americans, mostly in rural areas. The announcement was hailed by phone companies, but was met with disappointment by the smaller cable operators who typically provide services in the areas targeted by the fund.

Cox steps up to aid Oklahoma tornado victims

May 23, 2013 12:56 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

Cox Communications and parent company Cox Enterprises have stepped up to the plate to help customers that were impacted by the tornado that hit the Oklahoma City area on Monday. Cox is offering its TV Everywhere app outside of customers' homes in the affected area.

TWC promotes Picciolo to SVP of technical operations, residential

May 23, 2013 12:49 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

Effective immediately, Time Warner Cable executive Deborah Picciolo was promoted to the newly created position of senior vice president of technical operations, residential. In her new role, Picciolo reports to John Keib, executive vice president, chief care and technical operations officer.

Clearwire board likes new Sprint bid

May 22, 2013 1:52 pm | by Ben Munsen, Wireless Week | News | Comments

Clearwire’s board of directors is recommending its shareholders vote in favor of Sprint’s revised bid to buy out the wireless wholesaler. Only hours before Clearwire’s shareholders were scheduled to vote Tuesday on Sprint’s offer to buy the nearly half of Clearwire it doesn’t already own, Sprint boosted the offer. Sprint’s new bid of $3.40 per share represents a 14 percent premium over the previous offer of $2.97 per share.

Consoles from Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony compared

May 22, 2013 1:49 pm | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

The new Xbox One debuts nearly eight years after the Xbox 360 went on sale. It follows last fall's debut of Nintendo's Wii U and a preview in February of the upcoming PlayStation 4 from Sony. Each machine has a set of features designed to draw gamers away from rival consoles, but the one thing all three have in common is that they are about more than gaming and include entertainment services such as television, movies and music.

Microsoft touts Xbox One as all-in-1 entertainment

May 22, 2013 1:36 pm | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

The new console wants to be the one system households will need for games, television, movies, sports and other entertainment. People will be able to connect their cable or satellite set-top box and watch TV through the Xbox One. It will have its own channel guide and allow viewers to change channels by voice command.

Broadband adoption up in Q1

May 21, 2013 2:03 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

Broadband adoption continues to increase, with the biggest Internet service providers in the U.S., estimated to have attracted a net of 1.1 million additional subscribers in the first quarter of 2013. Meanwhile, the most recent quarter’s results indicate total video subscribership may actually be shrinking.

Canby Telcom preps authenticated broadcast TV

May 21, 2013 1:52 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

Canby Telecom will provide over the top (OTT) delivery of local broadcast channels to authenticated Canby Telecom subscribers via Roku boxes. The operator is using the Elemental Live video processing systems from Elemental Technologies to adapt traditional MPEG-2 broadcast channels to multi-bitrate Apple HTTP Live Streaming (HLS).

Netflix's Hastings: People don't love linear TV

May 20, 2013 2:06 pm | by The Canadian Press | News | Comments

Speaking in Canada, the Netflix CEO says his biggest challenge there is competition from the likes of Videotron, Rogers and perhaps the combination of Bell and Astral should that merger happen. Netflix recently published an 11-page letter to shareholders entitled "Netflix Long Term View," outlining how the company believes it will thrive in the years ahead at the expense of conventional broadcast TV.

Spirent takes Casa’s CCAP on a test run

May 20, 2013 12:34 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

Casa Systems tapped Spirent Communication’s test platform to put its next generation cable modem termination system (CMTS) and integrated converged cable access platform (CCAP) products through their paces. The Spirent TestCenter was used to validate routing performance, asymmetric throughput, latency and packet loss of Casa Systems’ C10G and C3200 platforms.

Britt: McCain's bill should open a discussion

May 17, 2013 1:38 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

Time Warner Cable chairman and CEO Glenn Britt threw his support behind updating the rules and regulations that govern communications services providers, and also reiterated guidance on some of the company’s business priorities for the next year and beyond.

Rogers Business Solutions extends network with Cologix

May 17, 2013 12:53 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

Rogers Business Solutions completed a point-of-presence (PoP) deployment within Cologix's new data center in downtown Toronto. Through its PoP, Rogers Business Solutions can now offer connectivity services on its network to enterprises and carrier organizations globally.

Report: Carrier Wi-Fi heats ups

May 17, 2013 12:47 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

The carrier Wi-Fi market continues to burn brightly as mobile operators are using it to offload the heavy traffic from their 3G and 4G networks. According to a recent report by Infonetics Research, carrier Wi-Fi equipment revenue, including carrier Wi-Fi access points and Wi-Fi hotspot controllers, increased 53 percent worldwide in 2012 from 2011.