Tech wrap: ITC joins Apple-Samsung spat
The International Trade Commission agreed to investigate Apple’s complaint that mobile phones and tablets made by rival Samsung violate its technology intellectual property. The intensifying patent dispute threatens to strain a lucrative supply relationship: Apple in 2010 was Samsung’s second-largest customer, accounting for $5.7 billion of sales tied mainly to semiconductors, according to the Asian consumer electronics company’s annual report.
Google faces a total of nine antitrust complaints which EU regulators are now investigating, two sources said. Up to now, The European Commission has only confirmed four cases against Google. The increased number of complaints underscores Google’s dominant position but does not necessarily mean bad news for the company, said Simon Holmes, head of EU and competition law at law firm SJ Berwin.
“Google’s strong position means there are lots of interests involved. But there is nothing wrong per se in having a strong position,” he said.
Broadband speeds on average are within 80 percent of what major Internet service providers advertise, a big improvement from two years ago, according to an FCC study. I suggest that the study, while attempting to arm consumers with a comparison tool in order to make more informed choices, masks regional disparities in broadband speeds that were brought to light last week.
For an extra $25 per year, fans of Electronic Arts sports titles will be able to download video games three days before they hit stores, a move that should boost EA’s digital sales. EA’s new program called “Season Ticket” will let consumers get access to five sports games–its soccer, golf, hockey, pro-football and college football titles. Users will be able to download the games over the Internet on Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony Corp PlayStation systems three days before they are out in stores.
Russia’s interior minister called for limits on the Internet to prevent a slide in traditional cultural values among young people, raising fears of controls over the vibrant Russian-language Web. Rashid Nurgaliyev, who did not indicate which sites he felt should be curbed, said that Russia’s youth needed looking after to prevent young people from being corrupted by “lopsided” ideas, especially in music, that may undermine traditional values.
from Ask...:
How fast is your broadband?
The FCC report released today on advertised broadband speeds praises Internet Service Providers like Verizon that are bridging the gap between how fast your Internet connection can be and what they actually deliver.
Fiber-to-home services scored top marks for averaging 114 percent of advertised download speeds during peak hours of congestion. Cable services met 93 percent of advertised speeds during the same hours, while DSL met 82 percent.
But the aggregate data in the FCC study on broadband speeds masks regional disparities.
A recent study of millions of broadband users by Pando Networks found that download speeds vary widely on a state-by-state basis.
The quickest: Rhode Island. Broadband users there average 894 KBps, three times as fast as the slowest, Idaho, which scored 318 KBps. 894 KBps works out to downloading one 5-minute, 30MB video in around 34 seconds. That's not exactly blazingly fast.
The Pando data was also aggregated and relied on some business users as well as home users, whereas the FCC study focused solely on broadband speeds delivered to residences.
Some other interesting figures from the Pando study: -The NE and Mid-Atlantic states contained 8 of the 10 fastest states -The rural Midwest and Mountain-West states have 9 of the 10 slowest -The neighborhood of Andover, a suburb of Boston, whose residents earn a median income of $114,000, enjoyed the top download speeds of any other in the U.S. at 2,801 KBps -Pocatello, Idaho, with a median income of $34,000, scored the slowest downloads at 251 KBps
Telcos are winning the cable TV battle but are they losing the broadband war?
The latest quarterly numbers from AT&T and Verizon Communications points to steady addition of TV customers which they are very likely winning from the cable companies as well as satellite players. AT&T said it posted its first ever billion-dollar revenue quarter for its U-Verse services (which includes Internet). It added 209,000 U-Verse TV subscribers and now has 2.5 million in total. Meanwhile Verizon said it added 174,000 FiOS TV subscribers and now has 3.2 million in total.
Together the telcos, wh0 only launched their competing services less than five years ago now have a more than 5 percent share of U.S. pay-TV homes.
So well done to the telcos! Or is that the whole story? Analysts at Bernstein Research point out that both phone companies lost a combined 65,000 Internet access subscribers (after netting out additions from U-verse/FiOS and losses of DSL customers).
This comes as Wall Street continues to expect cable companies to continue to grab market share in broadband subscribers even as they lose basic cable TV subscribers. After looking at the telcos’ numbers this week, Collins Stewart analyst Thomas Eagan more than doubled his expectations for cable’s share of broadband additions when they report over the next fortnight in a short analyst note.
“We had expected that the cable operators would take 43% share of the broadband adds in 2Q10. It appears now, however, that the cable operators might take more than 90% of the broadband net adds.”
So as your phone company looks more like your cable operator and your cable company starts to look more like your phone guy who will be the long term winner here? Many analysts expect that more and more video will be distributed via the Internet in the not too distant future via services like Hulu and Apple iTunes. So, while the operators are busy fighting their corners, maybe being a top US Internet service providers will come back into fashion after all. We’re not sure, but we’re fairly certain it won’t be AOL.
from The Great Debate UK:
Digital Britain stuck in the Dark Ages
-Ted Higase is managing director Europe, Middle East and Asia at Global Crossing. The opinions expressed are his own.-
The government-proposed Digital Britain initiative is living in the dark ages, especially if its authors expect UK businesses to believe that a transmission of two megabits per second is "superfast".
Having adequate underlying infrastructure is critical to the success of Digital Britain and that requires investment and commitment to ongoing innovation. Internet foundations must be robust enough to deal with demand for business use in particular, but a successful Digital Britain needs to be about gigabits not megabits.
In the same breath, before businesses begin to jump on-board the Digital Britain bandwagon, they must understand the race to gain a competitive advantage isn't won purely on speed. The service must also be up to scratch with adequate provision to ensure the systems can cope and with alternative measures available should a problem arise.
One of the benefits that an improved communications network should provide businesses is the ability to work more flexibly, where remote workers can access networked information more effectively.
But by the time the scheme is rolled out, the changes will already seem outdated and some of the benefits unambitious. Fundamentally the customer is not interested in the speeds, only in the services they can use and in today’s climate the opportunity to cut overheads via remote or home working relies on the ability to provide employees access to rich media applications.
Video conferencing and the use of technologies like Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) are a much hyped benefit of faster broadband and offer the potential of cost savings, enhancements to business performance and reductions in the time and money spent when employees are out of the office environment. Thus, the UK economy will receive a much needed boost.
Glad you have posted this article. It is a great worry to us all, especially in rural areas that we are never going to be able to compete with other countries, or use Ecommerce, Educational sites, Online healthcare and many other fantastic innovative applications in digitalbritain. The current plan to removed DACS, run new copper and bond pairs together (BET) proposed by the incumbent telco (openreach) is a scandal, especially when they want government money to do it. The simple fact is that govt don’t get IT and don’t understand it is actually cheaper to run fibre than obsolete copper. There are very powerful clever people running the copper cabal, and articles like yours might make other clever powerful people wake up and fight back to save our next generation.
We need fibre to every home, to provide ubiquitous connectivity for everyone who wants it.
Broadband and internet access is a utility. It has so much potential to enrich lives and bring us into the digital age, but only when it works.
and for half of the UK it doesn’t.And it won’t on bonded copper either.
chris
Digital Britain vision lacks political roadmap
The UK government’s grand reworking of digital policy, due out Tuesday, has something for every one to chatter about — from funding for a further broadband buildout to reworking television licensing fees to how the country faces up to the issue of media piracy.
But final publication of the Digital Britain report on Tuesday follows the marked deterioration of the economic environment as well as the collapse of the political muscle needed to marshall the report’ more ambitious changes through Parliament.
Stephen Carter, the former U.K. cable executive, named as U.K.’s Minister for Communications, Technology and Broadcasting only nine months ago, plans to leave the government soon after releasing the report.
The current political crisis has Gordon Brown’s government running scared even from the restructuring of the post office. It’s hard to see the Prime Minister creating a major digital legacy for his administration starting from here.
Sanford C. Bernstein has repeatedly argued that British policy is “inching toward a managed economy” in communications. The investment firm makes a rather extreme case that the hobbled fixed-line operator BT Group could win at the expense of successful satellite TV provider BSkyB. It’s hard to see how.
The hefty interim report (click here for 86-page PDF file) calls for, among its 22 action points, a universal service commitment to broadband. But no analyst who closely follows the subject is prepared to make a commercial case for broadband buildout to underserved areas. The closest thing to business case is for high-definition video delivered over landlines. But less costly alternatives exist in most populated parts of Britain, either from satellite or terrestrial providers.
That’s why the government is involved in the first place. While cheap, plentiful broadband may sound like a great vote-getter heading into the next election, the issue is just as likely to produce a backlash when voters tally up the potential costs. At 2-megabits per second, January’s interim Digital Britain report did little to answer the broadband industry’s complaints that Britain has fallen behind in terms of the competitiveness of Internet speeds.
Comcast super-fast Internet: More speed, less cash?
Comcast is cutting the price of its super fast 50 megabits Internet access service to $116.95 a month in most markets, less than year after launching the service at $139.95.
In fact, now that Comcast has started bundling the service with its phone and video services, subscribers will be able to get the so-called ‘Wideband’ even cheaper that $116.95. Wideband will effectively be priced at $99.95 if it is bought with one of those other services from the largest U.S. cable operator.
The new pricing strategy kicks off nationally on June 15.
Comcast has been aggressively rolling out its version of the wideband cable technology and says it now reaches around a third of the homes its systems pass in the United States.
Many Wall Street analysts think super-fast Internet access could be the killer app for cable companies rather than their traditional dominance in video. The cable operators meanwhile are concerned that programmers are giving away TV shows for free on Hulu and other websites. Their key concern is the fear of ‘cord-cutting,’ meaning that many users will end up canceling their cable TV service.
But the analysts point out that cable operators will continue to have some leverage as they’re well positioned to offer the kinds of Internet speeds that subscribers will need to deliver high-definition video pictures.
Guys, don’t complain. I’m spending over NZD $120 a month to have supposedly 24/0.8mbps internet (but i live very close to the exchange and get 12mbps max)with 30gb limit with a phone line. I constantly get disconnected or it becomes very (i mean very, sometimes worse than a dial-up connection) slow at ‘high traffic’ times. I almost never get continuous streaming for a Youtube clip (have to wait a while to load it).
from Summit Notebook:
AT&T: Netbooks key to expansion beyond cellphones?
AT&T says it sees a lot of promise for the netbook and the connection fees that come with the devices as a growing source of revenue as consumers look to take broadband connectivity on the road. But will consumers be as enthusiatic to sign another contract for the service? Click below to hear AT&T's President of Mobile & Consumer Markets talk about what he sees as the future of the netbook.
AT&T: Netbook popularity on the rise from Reuters TV on Vimeo.
US media gets a new guardian at FCC
After much speculation and guess-work, President-elect Barack Obama has chosen his former Harvard Law classmate Julian Genachoswski as nominee for chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.
Genachowski, who has been Obama’s technology advisor, had been on most people’s guess-list for a new “chief technology officer” post with the incoming administration — though some outlets had called it last week on his FCC appointment.
So who is Genachowski? Well, most outlets believe he should understand the future of media as he’s held several posts at Barry Diller’s Internet media business IACI and he’s previously been a chief counsel for former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt, the chairman under former President Bill Clinton.
That experience will help with two big upcoming Internet-related issues. The first is Obama’s ambitious plan to invest in broadband technology expansion as part of his economic stimulus package.
The second more challenging issue is Net neutrality, the idea of an open and level Internet for all players regardless of their size. The FCC chair will be trying to manage the expectations of Internet service providers, content companies and everyday consumers.
But top of the list of his Genachowski’s to-do list will be ensuring the congressionally mandated conversion to digital television on Feb. 17 goes smoothly. Obama aides have backed an idea to delay the planned transition to avoid millions of televisions going blank.
(Photo: Reuters)
Comcast FCC decision: the reactions
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission today ordered the largest U.S. cable TV operator Comcast Corp to change how it manages its broadband network. The regulator concluded that some of Comcast’s tactics unreasonably restrict Internet users who share movies and other material.
The 3 to 2 decision supported by two Democrat commissioners and the Republican chairman, is precedent-setting. It could kick-start a long-simmering ‘net neutrality’ debate between advocates, who believe Internet access should always be open without interference, and some Internet service providers, who believe they should be allowed to manage Internet delivery in order to provide the best service to all users. The FCC seemed to support the former group.
“Subscribers should be able to go where they want, when they want, and generally use the Internet in any legal means,” FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said in a statement.
Here are some reactions:
We are disappointed in the Commission’s divided conclusion because we believe that our network management choices were reasonable, wholly consistent with industry practices and that we did not block access to web sites or online applications, including peer-to-peer services. We also believe that the Commission’s order raises significant due process concerns and a variety of substantive legal questions. We are considering all our legal options and are disappointed that the commission rejected our attempts to settle this issue without further delays.
Sena Fitzmaurice, Comcast senior director, Government Affairs
I believe today’s FCC action sends a strong message to the industry that the Commission intends to take Internet freedom principles seriously and will act to protect the integrity and openness of Internet commerce and communications. Vigilance by regulators and policymakers, coupled with a commitment to act when necessary, is vital to thwart the emergence of new bottlenecks to competition and innovation. I commend Chairman Martin, as well as Commissioners Copps and Adelstein, for their recognition of this fundamental tenet of realistic telecommunications policymaking.
Network Operators are foisting this fiction of an overloaded internet so they can limit competition, and because the hundreds of billions of dollars they were given to build out the network was never spent that way. If Congress re-enacts Local Loop Unbundling in a form that the courts can’t overturn, then we’ll have the same cheap and speedy OPEN internet they do in Korea, France, Great Britain, Japan, and many other countries who are ahead of the US in broadband/fiber deployment and buildout. It’s time these regulatory whores stopped crying foul when they get their hands slapped for behaving badly. They’re the ones who are all for regulation that grants them near monopoly market powers but are crying foul when they do something OBVIOUSLY to cut out the competition from Netflix and other video content providers, and then BLAME IT ON “illegal” filesharers (how convenient!)
Watch what the next move is– they go to Usage Based Pricing, but “exempt” their own pay per view movies from the usage. Same result– they kill the competition.
The only way to stop this is to open up the lines to competition.
Uncle Walt bends FCC chairman over his knee
Walt Mossberg, the world’s most powerful technology product reviewer, opened the final session of the D: All Things Digital conference with an angry tirade against the s-s-s-low state of broadband in the United States.
“WE ARE VERY SLOW,” Mossberg complained of U.S. Internet access speeds.
The target of 61-year-old Uncle Walt’s wrath was Kevin Martin, 42, the boyish-looking chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, who was punished on-stage before an audience of high-tech industry insiders.
Mossberg: “You are the head of the FCC. How have you allowed this to happen? I AM DEAD SERIOUS. HOW HAVE YOU ALLOWED THIS TO HAPPEN?
Martin: “I am not sure I am solely responsible. I am also not sure the charts capture the whole story. I think you do have to put in the context some of the demographics of the United States and some of the countries we are competing against.
Mossberg: Does that explain why we pay $12.50 per megabit in the United States as opposed to $3.09 in Japan and $3.70 in France? Why are we paying four times as much?
Martin: Yes it does. Because it costs a lot more to build out in more rural areas and people who live further apart… We have a history of averaging some of the cost to make it affordable for people in Montana.
Martin should have seen it coming. Mossberg has been on a crusade over slow broadband speeds for some time, including a call to stop calling slower-speed DSL “broadband.” It’s just one of the many things that annoy him about how computer and consumer electronics industries treat their consumers. Other pet peeves include junk programs pre-installed by PC makers Mossberg calls craplets and any device that doesn’t aspire to Apple-scale product design genius.
Here are the stats that Mossberg and Martin were debating:
Just “[b]ecause it costs a lot more to build out in more rural areas and people who live further apart” doesn’t mean the service in cities and suburbs has too be so inferior. The averaging of costs may seem like a good excuse under a shallow cursory look, but it falls apart with examination.
