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Bell Canada picks up new allies

Jim O'Neill — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 09:30:49 -0400

Things are getting messy north of the border as battle lines are being drawn in the net neutrality fight featuring Bell Canada.

The newly formed Canadian ISP Alliance (sounds so righteous, doesn’t it?) includes all the cable and telco big boys from the frozen north including Quebecor, Rogers, Cogeco, Telus, MTS Allstream, Shaw, Sasktel, Eastlink, Bell, and Bell Aliant.

They’re lining up with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and ITAC in an attempt to hold off a CRTA plan to revisit the 1999 new media exemption order, saying it doesn’t have the legal authority under the Broadcasting Act to impose a new levy on ISPs. While it may appear an argument about levies and net neutrality is comparing apples to oranges, the issue comes down to defining regulatory reach and, in the long run, could play a pivotal role in the industry’s ability to manage traffic.

For more:
See Michael Geist’s blog

Related articles:
Google adds its two cents to Bell throttling fray Google report
ISPs lose first round of battle with Bell ISP report
Net neutrality battle shapes up in Canada Net neutrality showdown report
Bell Canada throttling sparks uproar Throttling uproar report

Net neutrality goes public

Jim O'Neill — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:12:43 -0400

Net neutrality was once the purview of academics and policy wonks who warned about creating "haves" and "have-nots" in a two-tiered Internet world that was decidedly user unfriendly. With the brouhaha over Comcast's network management and Bell Canada's aggressive deep-packet inspection, net neutrality has become a hot topic beyond the world of telecommunications companies. It's become--gasp--public.

Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission chair Konrad von Finckenstein told an industry group last month net neutrality "is one of the polarizing issues of the day. It will have to be addressed and debated by all of us."

He's on target. Now, businesses--most notably Google--increasingly are jumping into the fray and coming down in a predictable scattering. Those that use the Internet as a pipeline, including Google, Skype, many ISPs, and Internet destinations, are all over Bell and Comcast for threatening the freedom of the Internet. In favor of "network management?" Surprise! The telcos and cable companies that have to deal with keeping the traffic flowing.

For more:
- See this Toronto Star story

Related articles:
Google jumps into Bell Canada fray Google report
ISPs lose first round of battle with Bell ISP report
Bell Canada's DPI raises privacy concerns Bell Canada report
Net neutrality battle shapes up in Canada Net neutrality showdown report

Google jumps into Bell Canada throttling fray

Jim O'Neill — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 08:37:47 -0400

Search-engine titan Google is throwing its considerable weight behind opponents of Bell Canada's P2P throttling practices, saying Bell is breaking Canadian telecom law and adding, "The Internet is simply too important to allow them to act as such a gatekeeper." Bell is scheduled to submit a report to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, which regulates telecom activity in Canada, on Thursday and says it will respond to Google's involvement in the brouhaha then.

Bell began throttling its own Sympatico Internet subscribers in November, then extended the practice to its wholesale customers in March, saying a small number of peer-to-peer users was threatening to cause slowdowns for its overall customer base.

"Bell claims its throttling of peer-to-peer applications is a reasonable form of network management (but) network management does not include Canadian carriers' blocking or degrading lawful applications that consumers wish to use," the company wrote.

Google's big-name (and potential financial clout) could also be used as throttling issues crop up more in the U.S., adding to fires telcos and cable companies will struggle to put out.

The CRTC expects to rule on the dispute in September.

For more:
- See the CBC News story at CBCNews.ca

Related articles:
ISPs lose first round of battle with Bell ISP report
Bell Canada's DPI raises privacy concerns Bell Canada report
Net neutrality battle shapes up in Canada Net neutrality showdown report
Bell Canada throttling sparks uproar Throttling uproar report
Comcast catches heat for throttling Comcast report

Japan-Russia undersea cable usage begins

Dan O'Shea — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:19:27 -0400

Japan's NTT Communications and Russian backbone network operator TransTeleComCorporation announced that they have begun commercial operations today on the Hokkaido-Sakhalin Cable System (HSCS), and undersea cable extended between Nevelsk, Sakhalin in Russia and Ishikari, Hokkaido, Japan. The cable, which has a capacity of 640 Gbps, has been under construction since early last year, and was finished last December. The route helps NTT Com establish its shortest possible route between Japan and Europe.

For more:
- see this press release at Light Reading

Related articles:
Google joined the Unity cable project linking the U.S. and Japan Google report
Telcos from the U.S. also joined the Europe-India Gateway project Telco report

Google aims to bridge PC, TV with software

Dan O'Shea — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:28:31 -0400

Google made barely a peep as it recently launched its new Google Media Server software, a solution that links PCs to TVs or TV consoles via home networks, but it could have significant impact on the ability for residential consumers to share online content between their desktops and their living rooms. That's because the software-based solution works without the aid of new hardware, such as some of the newly-developed set-top boxes aimed at aggregating access to TV and online video in the same device. Telephony reports: "Google's play is to leverage its Google Desktop and Google Search products to enable users to send photos, videos and music files from their PC to any [device enabled with the Universal Plug and play protocol], such as a PlayStation 3 or Xbox game console.

For more:
- check out this coverage at Telephony

Related articles:
Grand Central takes a Sunday stroll Grand Central report
Carrier nixes Google's 'number for life' Google report

Telarus bows first multi-carrier fiber route mapping tool

Tue, 27 May 2008 06:59:56 -0400

Utah-based Telarus, Inc. says it's developed in-house software that shows its agents where fiber is physically located. Used with Google's map application, agents can see the path fiber takes and help locate the availability of Ethernet broadband services for clients.

The company last year launched a "lit building locator" that helped pinpoint Ethernet availability. Telarus got help in developing the add-on to GeoQuote from American Fiber Systems, as well as Level3. All American Fiber Systems and Level3's domestic fiber routes are visible, with fiber footprints of other vendors coming online soon.

"With the knowledge of the whereabouts of fiber lit building and the fiber routes themselves, we hope to enable our own agents to make more sales of enterprise grade services as well as to attract veteran agents and partners who see value in the research tools we provide," said Patrick Oborn, VP of Marketing for Telarus. "At the end of the day we want people to know that Telarus is a company that welcomes new partners with open arms, even if they have direct contracts with vendors. Whatever their circumstance, we'll figure out a way to work together."

For more:
- See the Fiber Optics Online story

Clearwire gets bigger; so does its Q1 losses

Tue, 13 May 2008 06:59:57 -0400

Clearwire Corp. may be on the cusp of a planned WiMAX revolution with Sprint in the future but, like its primary partner in its new joint venture, is struggling in the here and now.

After market close yesterday Clearwire reported losses of $176 million, or $1.08 per share, nearly double its losses in the quarter a year ago, despite revenue that increased some 76 percent to $51.5 million. Clearwire said the losses were due to its expansion in seven large markets.

Not all the news was bad. The company said its subscriber base grew 72 percent from a year ago, ending the quarter with some 443,000 subscribers.

It's deal with Sprint, Google and cable TV partners is expected to close in the fourth quarter. Sprint just reported losses of $500 million in the quarter and saw 1 million subscribers get out of Dodge.

For more:
- Read the Associated Press story in BusinessWeek

All-star team re-ignites national WiMAX venture

Wed, 07 May 2008 06:59:57 -0400

Sprint Nextel, Clearwire, Comcast, Google, Time Warner Cable, Intel, Bright House Networks--'nuff said. Those firms--proven telecom industry giants, with the exception of Clearwire (okay, maybe Bright House, too), though Clearwire was founded by industry giant Craig McCaw--are reviving the national WiMAX joint venture that had earlier been pursued by Sprint and Clearwire. They collectively are investing about $3.2 billion in the venture, and the resulting equity breakdown will have Sprint owning 51%, Clearwire 27% and the remaining companies about 22%. Some sort of teaming between Sprint, Clearwire and the cable TV companies had been rumored for some time, since before the cable TV firms recently executed their Pivot partnership with Sprint. Google had been rumored to have interest as well.

Some observers are already seeing the joint venture as a master-stroke by Sprint CEO Dan Hesse and a move that could help save seriously damaged Sprint. However, there also have been rumors this week that Sprint could sell Nextel, and/or that Sprint itself could be acquired by Deutsche Telekom, so there could be more moves yet to play out. Or maybe not. In any case, other observers see the new mega-venture as a huge benefit to Clearwire, which previously has been modestly successfully at expanding broadband fixed wireless into a few dozen markets, but now gains huge investors and partners for what would have been its next move--a WiMAX upgrade. And, oh yeah, the new venture will be called Clearwire, so essentially, McCaw has sold the telecom industry its future for the second time in his career.

Sprint and Clearwire both will benefit from this super-venture, but what about Google? The Internet giant has had a good week that is only half over. First, it watched Microsoft's bid to acquire Yahoo!--the best bet for either company to mount a better competitive assault against Google--fall apart. Now, it is buying itself a piece of the wireless future, but will pay much less for it, and will take on less risk, than it would have if it bought its own spectrum and built its own network. And yet, it will have a major hand in shaping an open 4G network. Google may be the biggest winner.

For more:
- read this story at The Wall Street Journal
- here's what Om Malik is saying at GigaOM

Related articles:
- Reports of a Sprint/Clearwire/Comcast/Time Warner joint venture first emerged in late March. Sprint/Clearwire/Comcast/Time Warner joint venture report
- Pivot fell to pieces late last month. Pivot report

It's Verizon vs. Google Part Deux

Tue, 06 May 2008 06:59:53 -0400

In a move seemingly inspired by those 'True Love Waits' abstinence pledges, Google is petitioning the FCC to obtain a guarantee from Verizon Wireless promising the operator will honor its commitment to open access.

A Google filing Friday raises concerns that Verizon isn't fully dedicated to the open-access restrictions instituted by the FCC over the nationwide C block of 700 MHz spectrum the federal agency auctioned in March--the provisions mandate the C block winner (i.e., Verizon Wireless) allow consumers carte blanche authority over the devices and applications that run on the spectrum, and it seems Google fears Verizon won't uphold its end of the bargain.

For more, read Jason Ankeny's column in FierceDeveloper

ALSO NOTED: Verizon's Petri retires; BigBand cuts 25 jobs; and much more...

Mon, 05 May 2008 06:59:51 -0400

> Daniel Petri, group president-International, at Verizon will retire Aug. 1 after 37 years with the telco. Report

> Video gear maker BigBand Networks reported a slimming net loss, but also cut 5% of it workforce. Article

> Microsoft backed-off from increasing its bid to acquire Yahoo!, but now both firms remain in Google's shadow. Article