Charter Boosts Speeds

In markets where Charter Communications has deployed DOCSIS 3.0 technology, about 95 percent of its service area, the company is increasing Charter Internet Express download speeds from 12 Mbps to up to 15 Mbps, and increasing upload speeds from 1 Mbps to up to 3 Mbps.

"Charter Internet Plus" download speeds are being increased from 18 Mbps to up to 30 Mbps, and upload speeds are being increased from 2 Mbps to up to 4 Mbps.

Those changes are being made with no increase in cost. In 2010, for example, cable companies outgained telcos about two to one for net additions (new customers less departing customers). 2010 net broadband additions

The speed boosts are the cable company's fourth speed increase in the last three years.

Facebook Collects Data from any Visits to Pages with "Like" Buttons

Computing guru Richard Stallman, creator of the GNU Project and founder of the Free Software Foundation, points out a feature of Facebook that most of us do not know about.

Facebook does massive surveillance, he argues. If there is a "Like" button on a page, Facebook knows who visited that page and it can get the IP address of the computer visiting the page, even if the person is not a Facebook user.  Privacy issues

Telefónica to Introduce Europe-Wide Mobile Wallet Service

Telefónica's new Digital unit and Giesecke & Devrient have reached an agreement to establish a single European-wide platform for Near Field Communication services, with Giesecke & Devrient providing the trusted service manager platform, including  over-the-air transfer and personalization of NFC applications.


Telefónica's wallet application, to be available in Europe over the next few months will also be made available to third-party service providers, including financial institutions, transit operators, and loyalty partners.

Microsoft Will Buy Netflix, LinkedIn In 2012, IDC Predicts

It's the time of year for predictions, and technology research firm IDC has a few predictions of its own, including the forecast that Microsoft will buy Netflix to give it a foothold in online video entertainment and LinkedIn to get into social networking. 


Those moves would be part of a flurry of mergers and acquisitions in 2012 by companies seeking to increase their presence in cloud computing, social networking and online content. The 
IDC predictions about Microsoft and Netflix actually also were made by IDC 12 months ago.


Chief analyst Frank Gens said it makes even more sense now, given Netflix’s diminished market value and expected losses next year from growing content licensing bills. Microsoft Predicted To Buy Netflix, LinkedIn in 2012

“In 2012, part of Microsoft’s challenge is to counter what Apple and Amazon have done and what Google is building up, a really strong media and content marketplace,” Gens said.


By offering movies, music and other content, Apple , Amazon  and Google  are aiding their mobile device ecosystems, including tablets and smartphones. “Without a media and content cloud, the competitiveness of Microsoft’s mobile platforms could be greatly diminished,” Gens says.


In many ways, that observation also illustrates the changing nature of the consumer electronics business as well. To a greater extent, the value of a device hinges on the content resources available to users of the devices. 

Market More Competitive if AT&T Gets T-Mobile USA?

Most people looking at the proposed AT&T purchase of T-Mobile USA might conclude that the deal would reduce competition in the U.S. mobile market. Others might argue it would be more efficient, if not more competitive.

Some people might argue that the apparent failure of the bid is "a potential missed opportunity for consumers to benefit from more carrier competition." Precisely why that might be the case is not explained. Even without AT&T-Mo, we still have no competition

One argument about the "limited state of competition" in the U.S. mobile market is that the existence of incompatible air interface standards (CDMA and GSM) means consumers cannot move their devices freely among the leading carriers, thus limited competition. That argument is fine, as far as it goes. In that vein, one might also note that the carriers do not all use the same spectrum bands, either.

But that problem is going away, since all the U.S. mobile providers have settled on Long Term Evolution. Whether we will see a dramatically different competitive environment, just because all users have LTE handsets, remains to be seen, when LTE is firmly established.

One countervailing argument to the "handset freedom" argument is complicated, but might explain why "competition" will not be dramatically different once all carriers have moved to a single air interface standard. Consumers could buy unlocked handsets and then use several carriers, even now, with the market using different air interfaces. But few consumers choose to pay full price for handsets, especially as we now are moving to a smart phone market where the full retail price of a new device can be $500.

Most consumers simply choose to limit their freedom by signing service contracts that reduce the cost of new handsets to no more than $200. After two years, they typically want to replace those older models with the latest new models in any case, so they once again have to decide whether paying full retail or exchanging a contract for a subsidized phone makes more sense.

To the extent that competition is limited, it is voluntary. Consumers would rather get the cheaper devices, even if the price is a service contract.

That is not to say there are no competitive issues, or potential competitive issues, in any part of the U.S. communications business. But device portability and air interfaces do not seem to be the biggest issues.

Do Data Hogs Cause Peak-Hour Congestion?

It is an unquestioned fact that a small percentage of broadband users, on virtually any network, use vastly more data than typical users do. The top one percent of data consumers account for 20 percent of the overall consumption, for example.


In the absence of mechanisms--or demonstrated end user demand--to price by value, rather than on a flat rate, most service providers rely on simple monthly data caps to attempt to regulate usage overall. 


But that doesn’t necessarily affect peak-hour usage, some will argue. One issue is that users vastly prefer “buckets of usage” with predictable recurring costs, to metered pricing. So peak-hour pricing would introduce some element of pricing uncertainty, which consumers presumably would not prefer. 


Presumably a better tactic would be creation of “additional fee” services that provide quality of service at peak hours, for users willing to pay. Some will object to such policies as creating a “two-tier” Internet. Others will simply say it offers consumers choice. 


But are heavy users the  problem?


The question might seem silly. If the big problem for an access provider is peak hour congestion, then heavy users would seemingly have to be part of the analysis. But the question some would ask is “who are the heavy users, at peak hours?” That might be a different question than “who are the heavy users, over a billing period?”

Some argue that bandwidth caps do not necessarily alleviate congestion problems. Do data hogs cause congestion? If not, then it makes more sense to use other pricing and value mechanisms to shape demand. Do Data Hogs Cause Peak-Hour Congestion?


A new analysis by analyst Benoît Felten suggests the answer is highly nuanced. Felten argues that about 78 percent of peak-hour congestion is caused by the heaviest users. 

Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Sell Spectrum to Verizon

SpectrumCo, LLC, a joint venture between Comcast Corporation, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks, is selling Verizon Wireless its 122 Advanced Wireless Services spectrum licenses covering 259 million POPs for $3.6 billion. What might be noteworthy is the strategic change of direction. The cable companies purchased the AWS spectrum at least in part as a potential foundation for wireless service.

The sale, and the agreement by the owners to resell Verizon Wireless services instead, suggests the cable operators once again have decided that they could not create independent wireless operations.

Moreover, given the business relationship cable companies have had with Sprint since at least 1994, the move also suggests that the cable operators are breaking with the idea of Sprint as a strategic partner. Since cable companies have been among the potential buyers of Sprint Nextel, the latest moves would seem to indicate no interest in that area.

Cable TV operators have been spending money to get into the wireless business for decades, with little success. In 1994 Sprint, Tele-Communications, Comcast and Cox Cable formed a joint venture to build a nationwide network to provide wireless service.

However in 1998, Sprint assumed control of the business and bought the cable companies' interest in the company.

In 2005 Comcast, Cox, Time Warner and Advance/Newhouse formed a joint venture with Sprint Nextel to provide a quad-play cable TV, high-speed data, landline and wireless service to their customers. But the quad-play idea never panned out and Pivot never grew beyond the initial 33 markets Sprint launched in November 2007.

Sprint said that Pivot was being hindered by provisioning issues. Time Warner later said that demand for Pivot services was "tepid." Pivot users eventually were given the option of switching to Sprint's regular service.

In 2008, Sprint and Clearwire announced that they would combine their WiMAX businesses and create a new company that would include a $3.2 billion investment from Intel, Google, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks and Trilogy Equity Partners.  Cable wireless history

Recently, Cox Communications decided to shutter its own wireless business as well.

Comcast owns 63.6 percent of SpectrumCo and will receive approximately $2.3 billion from the sale. Time Warner Cable owns 31.2 percent of SpectrumCo and will receive approximately $1.1 billion. Bright House Networks owns 5.3 percent of SpectrumCo and will receive approximately $189 million. Comcast, Time Warner Cable sell spectrum to Verizon