Unfiltered

Financial firms that make loans to telecom companies will be closely watching developments involving Burlington Telecom, a municipally owned network in Vermont, and CitiCapital, which loaned $33.5 million to Burlington Telecom in 2007. The telco is behind on its loan payments and CitiCapital has threatened to take ownership of the equipment underlying the telco’s network. (more…)

Despite rumors that the FCC will indeed begin the process of imposing Net Neutrality requirements in its December 21^st meeting, Verizon Executive Vice President of Public Affairs, Policy and Communications Tom Tauke continues to advocate against that move. In an address at the Federalist Society’s National Conference in Washington on Saturday, the Verizon exec accused the FCC of unfairly singling out broadband service providers with its Net Neutrality efforts. (more…)

People who steal copper phone lines may or may not know that their actions leave other people in the community without 911 service —and if they do know, they may or may not care. But Frontier Communications is hoping would-be copper thieves will be deterred by some potentially more serious consequences. (more…)

We’re a few weeks past Halloween so maybe the analogy is out-of-season, but is net neutrality the “Freddy Kreuger” of telecom policy — fated to return again and again? Some interesting details emerged this week from the trade show stage at the Web 2.0 Summit, with Google head Eric Schmidt and FCC chairman Julius Genachowski trading barbs — and Genachowski promising that net neutrality “will happen.” (more…)

Hughes Network claims a new satellite scheduled for launch in 2011 will have more capacity than all current North American satellites combined, according to a story from DSL Reports. The new satellite reportedly will offer average download speeds of 5 Mb/s, with a premium service potentially supporting as much as 20 Mb/s.

DSL Reports is skeptical, however:

“Most satellite customers will have to see this kind of satellite broadband Utopia to believe it,” he wrote. “Satellite providers have been making these kinds of over-the-horizon promises for the better part of a decade, but limited capacity and their pesky inability to defeat basic physics have left them as little more than niche providers serving a captive rural residential market.”

It’s true that the market for satellite broadband is a captive one. But from a business standpoint, that’s a large part of its appeal.

The U.S. government has shown increased interest in making broadband service to all Americans—and for the most remote areas, it’s becoming increasingly clear that satellites are viewed as the most economical solution. Keep in mind that today’s one million satellite subscribers will swell by more than 40% when $100 million of stimulus funding that went to Hughes and three other satellite providers kicks in. And satellite providers could benefit further if the government decides to give them funding as part of the proposed broadband Universal Service program aimed at making broadband available to the 7 million or so U.S. households that can’t get it today.

As for satellite’s inability to defeat basic physics, I believe the DSL Reports author is referring to the latency inherent in most satellite systems. From what I hear, latency is noticeably worse with satellite broadband service than with most landline services.

The question for the government will be whether the cost savings of satellite compared with landline-based options will be enough to outweigh latency concerns.

The battle between people who want to see the scope of the Universal Service program expanded and those who want to curb the fund’s growth took on a new dimension late last week. A federal-state joint board proposed that the FCC should expand funding for the low-income Lifeline/ Link Up program, which like the High-Cost program is currently focused on voice. (more…)