Can Google Make Money selling Broadband Access?

Google says its objective in building a symmetrical 1-Gbps fiber to home network in Kansas City, Kan., and then Kansas City, Mo. is a serious business initiative, “not a charity," says Kevin Lo, Google Access general manager.

"It’s not a nonprofit. It’s not a dot.org initiative,” said Lo. “We expect to make money at it. It’s a business we expect to be in.” Google’s high-speed gamble in KC


Perhaps the U.S. company whose commercial activities are most similar to Google Access is Sonic.net, an ISP that over time has concentrated mostly on broadband access as its business, though it now also sells voice services. Sonic 1-Gbps network

6 Million Homes Now Use Wireless As Only Broadband Service

By the end of 2011, six million U.S. households will depend on a wireless or mobile platform (including 3G or 4G) as their only means of accessing the Internet, according to Strategy Analytics.

That means seven percent of U.S. homes are wireless-only for broadband, up about 430,000 homes over 2010 levels.

These “mobile-only” customers typically connect to broadband using 3G or 4G-enabled smartphones or PC dongles, and are unable or unwilling to use a wired broadband service such as cable, DSL or fiber, Strategy Analytics says.

The firm says there are two primary markets for such consumers. First, there are users in remote or underserved areas where dependable fixed broadband is unavailable. Secondly, there are cost-conscious casual users who use relatively small amounts of data, and for whom mobile data rates are ‘good enough.

Strategy Analytics forecasts that cable operators will claim a bit more than 50 percent of U.S. household broadband connections over the next five years, while telco-provided Digital Subscriber Line subscriptions will gradually decline in favor of fiber to home and mobile-only connections. 6 Million Homes Now Using Wireless As Only Broadband Service

LightSquared Proposes to Operate at Lower Power

In an effort to mollify concerns about signal interference with GPS systems and users, LightSquared now has proposed operating at lower power for a period of time. To the extent that transmitter power is what causes the interference, the lower mobile tower transmission power levels should help. Just how much help that move will have, has to be tested.


Also, LightSquared only proposes to operate at lower power for a period of time, then would ramp power levels back up. Some might consider that an odd proposal. Perhaps the thinking is that GPS receiver manufacturers and end users would then have a transition period to wean themselves off devices that currently experience interference.  LightSquared proposes lower-power solution

Some might doubt this will help LightSquared. In principle, the new user has to demonstrate it does not interfere with other existing users. If interference again becomes a problem in the future, LightSquared could be barred from operating. Permanently lower power levels would seem to be a  different matter. 

Yelp More Important than Facebook?

Busy local and small businesses often have to make hard choices about which content marketing sites they have time to support with content efforts. Facebook might be "best" for most, but Yelp arguably is best for local businesses and restaurants, especially restaurants.

First of all, Yelp is all about local businesses, things to do, places to eat and be entertained. You can assume that when a user goes to Yelp, that user is trying to find someplace to go, or something to do, and wants information before making a choice.

In other words, the odds of converting a prospect into a customer arguably are higher than for a typical search.

Yelp combines social networking with community-generated reviews. Online since 2004, Yelp helps people find and share the best (and worst) of businesses. Yelp can help build exposure, allow businesses to monitor public opinion and research what potential buyers are looking for.

Yelp can support posting of discount offers, announcements and news about events.

Yelp might be more important than Facebook

Clearwire Raises $715.5 Million

Clearwire Corporation has raised $715.5 million in new capital, including a public offering of 201,250,000 shares of Class A common stock at $2.00 per share, raising net proceeds of $384.1 million, after underwriters' discounts and commissions.



In addition, Sprint has purchased 173,635,000 shares of Class B Common Stock and a corresponding number of Class B units in Clearwire Communications LLC, which will provide Clearwire with an additional $331.4 million in net proceeds. The total net new capital available to Clearwire following today's closings is $715.5 million.



"This equity raise is a critical step for Clearwire to achieve its long-term business plan of creating the first wide-channel TDD-LTE 4G network in the U.S.," said Erik Prusch, president and CEO of Clearwire.  Clearwire raises fresh capital


Some might have been skeptical Clearwire could raise that much, so quickly, or that Sprint would again up its investment in Clearwire. But all that has happened. 

Is Distribution King?

At various times, it has been argued that content, distribution, context or some attribute actually is the crucial bottleneck, choke point or nexus of value in the media business. 


Sometimes it has seemed that distribution was king; at other times content appeared to the gating partner in the ecosystem; while during the wildness of the Internet bubble it was argued that "context" was king. 


All absolute observations are likely wrong to some degree, no matter what the prevailing view. Some might argue that in some ways, especially where it comes to online video, that "ubiquity" is king. 


There is an argument to be made. Consider Netflix, which seems to have an for virtually every popular Internet-connected digital device you can think of.  Is distribution still king?


It is true that consumers now are more in charge of when and how they watch video content than ever before. That increasingly means that getting convenient gateways to content on the widest possible number of devices is an important strategy for distributors. In many cases, that means an app. 


As a result, the distribution companies that will win are those that recognize the need to be everywhere. 


When it comes to capturing consumers’ attention now, a piece of content is only as good as its distribution, some will argue. That is true. 


It also is true that even extensive distribution is of modest help unless the distributor has the "good content" most people want. So, as usual, you can make an argument that distribution is king, or that content is king. 

Facebook Represents 52% of Online Sharing

Facebook now controls a thin majority of online sharing, according to data released today by AddThis. Facebook makes up 52.1 percent of all sharing on the web for the year 2011 to date, up from 44 percent last year and 33 percent the year before.

The statistics were gathered through the ClearSpring-owned company's sharing plugin, which is used by more than 11 million sites.


Social sharing