Companies and Individuals Investing in Broadband's Future: [4th Dec 2009]

>>> The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has announced plans to improve access to broadband for libraries in the US. One plan involves using state broadband improvement plans and another plan is to offer help getting access to Federal broadband stimulus funds. Gates has announced partnerships with 14 states as part of the Foundation's Opportunity Online grant program. These states will receive technical assistance in developing funding proposals, which they will use to apply for funding from the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program. If they are successful, Gates will give matching funds.

The cable industry has proposed that the government consider giving some of the stimulus funds to a public-private partnership known as Adoption Plus, designed to encourage broadband use among middle school children who are currently eligible for the school lunch program. The hope is that hardware providers would step in to provide discounted or free computers to the school children and entry level broadband access would be provided by ISP's at 50% off. Several cable providers have already signed up and talks are under way with hardware providers. The FCC have agreed that school age children are one of the most important targets for the stimulus funds.


>>> The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) has released a Notice of Inquiry encouraging comment on spectrum assessment. The aim appears to be to repurpoose TV spectrum for broadband. The FCC have recently warned of a crisis in spectrum availability for broadband and is making efforts to close the gap for the future. The FCC have asked for comment on how the loss of free to air television might impact on the community and how television stations use their digital capabilities. Broadcasters oppose the plan, but the FCC argue that the spectrum is not being used efficiently.


>>> Cable provider, Comcast is trialling a new Internet usage meter in Portland, Oregon which consumers can use to monitor their Internet usage over the course of each month. Comcast have a cap on their service of 250GB per month, which they introduced to counter excessive file-sharing. They say this was due to it causing congestion on their network. The meter will allow customers to ensure they stay within their limit, which Comcast say is still very generous. The meter will be in use nationwide over the next few months.


>>> It has emerged that 75% of all broadband users have an account on Facebook. An open letter from the Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg revealed the information and also pointed out that the current 350m worldwide users of Facebook is just 100m short of the total number of broadband users in the world. Despite this, Facebook has only just experienced it's first positive cash flow since it began. Zuckerberg also revealed that the site will be making changes to its privacy settings and removing regional networks, allowing users to control who sees each piece of content they produce.


>>> Sprint has announced the launch of their 4G service in Seattle, Maui and Honolulu. The 4G service offers download speeds up to 10 times faster than 3G. This allows users to download songs or photos in seconds and to watch streaming movies or videos even when traveling. They expect that the service will improve communications for businesses and homes. Sprint now offer the 4G service in 27 markets in the US and will be extending it to more regions in 2010.


>>> Clearwire Corp experienced a rise in their share price this week after it was suggested that the growth of the company seemed more certain. The comment followed a round of financing designed to give the company capital to grow its wireless network. The company has said that it will receive $1.56bn from investors and issue $1.6bn and $920m in two separate debt offerings. Clearwire offers its mobile broadband via WiMax technology which competes with LTE. The latter is backed by big phone companies. The funding gives the company a head start against LTE in offering 4G technology.


>>> Wirelessmapping.com has released figures which show the current broadband take up rate in the US. They estimate the national broadband adoption rate to be 72.9% which flies in the face of industry estimates which put it at 10% less. The website used what they described as an "enhanced approach" to gathering the data. Using the new data it is possible to say that broadband expansions to areas previously thought to be too small in take up rates, may now be sustainable. This improves confidence for investors and strengthens the business case for moving into certain areas.


>>> Bill Bresnan, the founder and one of the pioneers of Bresnan Communications has died at the age of 75. Bresnan designed and built his first cable network in 1958, which eventually led to the development of the TelePrompTer cable television company. This was followed by further cable TV expansion. He was known as one of the countries leading contributors to technological advancement in the industry and had a major role in the first satellite transmission for the domestic user and also in the inception of fiber optics communication.