by Sarah ReedyMarch 2nd, 2010
It may not be ready to let users transform the iPhone into a TV remote control as Verizon (NYSE:VZ) recently did, but Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) is willing to give its cable TV subscribers what they really want: remote digital-video recording (rDVR) on the iPhone.
Comcast’s first mobile app was introduced to the iPhone and iPod Touch last fall to let consumers view and use the features of their Comcast Digital Voice, Cable and high-speed Internet services in one central location. According to Cathy Avgiris, Comcast’s senior vice president and general manager of communications and data services, the app reached more than 100,000 downloads in less than one week, but remote DVR was a feature that consumers were still asking for. Read the rest of this entry »
Related Topics: All Stories, Mobile Apps, Video, Wireless |
by Rich KarpinskiMarch 1st, 2010
Maybe I was premature in dissing Google’s experimental gigabit effort. The search company’s Washington counsel late last week said the company could spend “hundreds of millions dollars” to get the experimental gigabit-speed broadband networks off the ground. Of course, when a lobbyist speaks, which is what Google’s Richard Whitt is, the message they send is often meant more to influence policy than to truly address business strategy (which was our first take on Google’s plans anyway). But the fact that Google appears to be pledging more dollars is significant.
Read the rest of this entry »
Related Topics: All Stories |
by Kevin FitchardFebruary 25th, 2010
When Nortel Networks decided to auction itself off in pieces, its name was of the items on block. But now with its last business unit slated to go to Genband, Nortel hasn’t found anyone interested in taking up the moniker despite its long history in the industry. Read the rest of this entry »
Related Topics: 3G/4G, Broadband/FTTX, Business Services, Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC), IMS, IP/NGN, LTE, Residential Services, Wireless |
by Kevin FitchardFebruary 25th, 2010
While AT&T (NYSE:T) and Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ, NYSE:VOD) belt it out over whose network is more widespread and reliable, Sprint’s (NYSE:S) latest round of advertising is playing the speed card. It announced a new marketing campaign today that centers on the much higher capacities its new 4G service can offer over 3G networks–including presumably its own. Read the rest of this entry »
Related Topics: 3G/4G, Mobile Apps, WiMAX, Wireless |
by Rich KarpinskiFebruary 25th, 2010
On the heels of the announcement of a broad scale trial of the next version of the Internet Protocol, IPv6, Comcast said this week it will begin testing new extensions to the core DNS protocol that could alleviate network-crushing denial of service attacks.
Specifically, Comcast said it is implementing DNSSEC – or DNS Security extensions – for the Websites it oversees, including comcast.com, comcast.net and xfinity.com, by the first quarter of next year at the latest. Read the rest of this entry »
Related Topics: All Stories |
by Kevin FitchardFebruary 25th, 2010
MetroPCS (NYSE:PCS) didn’t say much about its 4G rollout in its Q4 earnngs conference call today, but from what little CEO Roger Linquist did say we can gather Metro plans to extend the same budget prepaid business model that’s served it so well for 2G voice into the new 4G mobile broadband service.
“The world is moving toward broadband services,” Linquist said. “We believe there can be a renaissance in the no-contract wireless service segment as 4G becomes readily available.” Read the rest of this entry »
Related Topics: All Stories, LTE, Mobile Apps, Residential Services, WiMAX, Wireless |
by Kevin FitchardFebruary 24th, 2010
Judginm it year-end earnings report, Clearwire (NASDAQ:CLWR) spent 2009 converting its pre-WiMax fixed wireless customers into mobile WiMax customers, but as its nationwide 4G build-out ramps up its mobile broadband customer base is beginning to blossom. Read the rest of this entry »
Related Topics: 3G/4G, Mobile Apps, Residential Services, WiMAX, Wireless |
by Joan EngebretsonFebruary 24th, 2010
If you’ve used traditional teleconferencing, one of the first things you notice about the public Cisco TelePresence system at the W Chicago City Center Hotel is that you never see yourself.
I asked a question at the press event yesterday that marked the opening of the Starwood Hotels first two TelePresence meeting suites (the other is in Sydney, Australia, with eight more planned worldwide). As I spoke, I realized that, although people in four other locations worldwide were watching me, the screen at the Chicago facility instead showed one of the other sites. Read the rest of this entry »
Related Topics: All Stories |
by Rich KarpinskiFebruary 23rd, 2010
The service provider industry is well aware of a key business metric: ARPU, or average revenue per user. The idea of ARPU is just what it sounds, how much revenue can you wrench from each individual user by selling add-on services or subscriptions.
While ARPU remains a key stat as the telecom industry morphs into the “cloud industry” (read: Mobile’s future is in the clouds — ie, networks plus managed services — another key metric is being floated about as well: ARPS, or, average revenue per server.
Read the rest of this entry »
Related Topics: All Stories, BSS/OSS |
by Joan EngebretsonFebruary 23rd, 2010
The Obama administration appears to have learned a lesson from its failures on health care reform—developing a plan is only part of the solution; you also have to sell it.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is expected to seek support for the National Broadband Plan in a speech at the Brookings Institution today, highlighting why the broadband plan is essential to helping Americans overcome barriers to subscribing to broadband at home. The speech is likely to draw heavily upon new research conducted for the FCC by Princeton Survey Research Associates in late 2009 and released today. Read the rest of this entry »
Related Topics: All Stories |
