Obama promises 98% of US residents to have next generation mobile broadband access in 5 years: [14th Apr 2011]

Despite major spending cuts in other areas, the Obama administration has insisted it will continue the roll-out of broadband aggressively. In an address at George Washington University the President said that the government will not sacrifice core investments which are needed to create jobs. New broadband access will be part of this investment along with medical research, clean energy technology and education. It is expected that 98% of US residents will have access to next generation mobile broadband in the next five years. This commitment was announced in February of this year.

T-Mobile has ditched plans to introduce a new mobile plan called the Even More Plus. This plan was announced this week along with the Even More plan which offered unlimited voice, text and data with a 2GB cap. Non contract users were to be able to have the Even More Plus option at just $60 per month compared to $80 for the contract option. This was even detailed in a press release. However a later press release failed to mention the less expensive plan and it has emerged that the plan was dropped at the last second. It seems that the provider had realized that the plan would not encourage users to have a contract with the company.

The FCC have announced that big wireless carriers will be expected to open their data networks to regional operators in areas where they don't have their own systems in place. It is hoped that these new rules will increase competition in a market where just two carriers have most of the business. The network access will have to be offered at reasonable prices and the FCC would resolve any disputes which occur. Currently similar rules exist to allow smaller providers to offer phone calls outside of their territories and it had been argued that the same needs to happen for data. Julius Genachowski from the FCC has pointed out that people expect to be able to use their mobile phone throughout the country regardless of who provides their service. It is hoped the new rules will lower prices. However it has been pointed out that the two main carriers will have less incentive to invest in their networks and they don't like government intervention in how they run their businesses. However Sprint has welcomed the news.

AT&T has made some strange claims this week in a bid to show how their takeover of T-Mobile is acceptable. Campaigns such as fake bloggers, consumer groups and research results are all used to show how the country supports an idea by companies such as AT&T. In this case the Hispanic Institute is being used to show how a merger will be good for minorities. They point out how the merger will increase growth in broadband and improve access for the Hispanic community. Similar outpourings have come from the Latino Coalition. It has even been suggested that AT&T have called civil rights groups around the country to ask them for support. Of course when it is considered that AT&T offers financial aid to these groups it is easy to see why they have come out in support.

Sprint is to launch a music service with tracks starting at just 69 cents. Sprint Music Plus will be powered by Real Networks and offers MP3 music and ringtones. The service is available for Android powered Sprint mobiles via the Sprint Zone app. This can also be used on a Blackberry and Java Feature phones. However it has been suggested that the fact the music can only be used on a small range of phones it is hard to see the appeal.