analysis & commentaryCOMMENTARY FROM OUR STAFFTelepresence + Interoperability: A winning equation?At a time when most businesses seem to be cutting back, it’s hard to imagine major investments in upgrading video communications... Verizon shows FiOS can go with the flowVerizon's big news this week clearly was its planned divestiture of 4.8 million access lines to Froier Communications, which could bring the FiOS network past 17 million homes by the end of next year... Frontier COO on integrating Verizon assetsFrontier Communications’ $5.3 billion purchase of 4.8 million Verizon access lines in 14 states today came as some surprise... LTE phones in 2010? Not likelyIf you want a gauge the chances of long-term evolution handsets emerging next year, you only have to ask a simple question to the right people... IPTV installers also the best sales peopleIt's hard to find someone who doesn't have a tech support nightmare story to tell... Commentary: Building a next-gen work forceIs it possible to have a next-generation network and deliver next-generation services if you don't have next-generation workers?... Inventing the self-winding phoneOn its own, your phone charger may not be draining a large portion of the world’s energy resources, but the collective drain of the planet’s 4 billion–plus phones pack quite a punch... Are we already bouncing back?Based on first-quarter earnings reports, the recession seems to have peaked where telecom services are concerned. Companies such as Level 3 said they experienced a first-quarter slowdown but now are seeing the sales pipelines fill up... Pay TV needs a differentiatorThe market-leading telcos and cablecos reported solid first quarters for the year, despite the economic recession, the threat of cord-cutting, the competitive landscape and a host of other reasons that might’ve otherwise hindered them... Whom do you trust as your backup?Today’s Verizon Business announcement of a Remote Backup and Restore service is just one glimpse of what next-generation networks can logically deliver to enterprise customers — and for that matter, consumers... Fairpoint warningOver the long term, AT&T and Verizon will slowly recede from rural areas, giving rise to rural consolidators -- or so the story goes... Is Verizon ready for the iPhone?If the rumors are true that Verizon Wireless is negotiating a deal with Apple for the iPhone, then I have two words of caution for Verizon: Be prepared... Debunking some digital video mythsToo often in discussing the shift in video watching habits the assumption is made that one choice precludes another... Commentary: What is broadband?Among the many tasks before the federal agencies administering $7.2 billion in broadband stimulus funds is defining broadband for the purposes of distributing those funds... Commentary: TV's not going anywhere -- it's going everywhereConsumers are turning toward new forms of TV viewing, but they aren't yet giving up their traditional paid-TV service... Broadband stimulus: Is it really free money?When the country’s biggest broadband providers suggested that they may pass on applying for a piece of the federal government’s $7.2 billion broadband stimulus package... Meeting the data quotaData caps on mobile broadband plans are starting to become the norm... Eyeing the broadband stimulus skepticallyNot all telecom service providers are eager to get broadband stimulus funds, given the uncertainty that still surrounds the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act... CTIA: A look backCTIA Wireless got off to an ominous start this year... Clearwire’s new messageClearwire came out kicking at CTIA Wireless last week, showing that the upstart mobile broadband operator still has a lot of spunk despite its tiny WiMAX footprint... Let the Qwest speculation beginIt's been a while since there have been juicy rumors about acquisitions on the telecom front... Living in 2025Though I’m not so vain as to claim it’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for, perhaps to a little bit fanfare I’d like to announce that the focal piece of the interactive feature on the future of wireless communications is now complete... Simplifying FMC for businessesFixed/mobile convergence (FMC) hasn’t exactly taken off in the enterprise market, which is surprising given how dependent businesses are on wireless technology... Overthinking IPTVSometimes innovators can overthink things. At a trade show in 2007, I remember a vendor presentation demonstrating an IPTV app in which... Introducing the CTIA Live BlogInstead of distributing CTIA’s coverage among news stores, features, blogs and columns throughout the site, we’re consolidating all of our coverage into a single CTIA Live Blog.... Carriers should embrace the beatConsumers have demonstrated that their music libraries are nearly as indispensible as their mobile phones... Parsing Jeff Pulver’s next big thingIf you spent your weekend like I spent mine, watching a whole lot of basketball, maybe you’re ready for a little game with a friendly wager attached... End of an era?If you are holding the current print issue of Telephony magazine and turning pages to read the articles and columns, consider this: You have in your hands... Personalization: Interactivity’s better halfWidgets are poised to take over the television viewing experience, just as they did the mobile platform... The broadband stimulus scrambleUncertainty surrounding exactly how broadband stimulus funds will be awarded already is stimulating spending... |
advertisement CONTRIBUTED COMMENTARYWill Over-The-Top Kill the Video Star?It is impossible to escape intense discussion of "over-the-top" (OTT) video these days, as it has gone well beyond user-generated content on YouTube... How "Fast" is Broadband?A perennial issue confronting the industry is determining the actual "speed" of broadband services... What The Verizon Hub Should BeWhenever I look at new offerings from telcos that have a digital home/consumer electronics angle to them, I always ask myself: is this something that a CE vendor could do better?... The Real Storm Is Yet to Come, Can Wireless Turn the Tide?Have we hit the bottom of the downturn? Are we finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel?... SDPs and Killer App CultivationThe telecommunications scrapheap is piled waste high with would-be killer applications... National Broadband Policy needs concrete goals to succeedOn April 8, 2009 the FCC issued its Notice of Inquiry (NOI), “A National Broadband Plan for Our Future”... Migrating Security into the NetworkEvery day, the news validates that Internet threats have gotten more numerous and more sophisticated... Putting the Innovation in Product InnovationWith global markets mired in recession and profit margins sliding, many communications and high-tech companies may be tempted to cut back on product development and merely ride out the storm... How to beat the cap wrapTime Warner is getting a lesson in “squeaky wheel” politics... (Yet More) Mobile Applications Coming To You SoonDriven by the runaway success of the iPhone and the rapidly growing adoption of Google’s Android OS by handset vendors and mobile service providers, the number of mobile applications is exploding... RCS: The Next Step in Mobile Services EvolutionIn 2009, efforts are underway that will change the IMS service landscape... Capex-capadesWhat will carrier capex be in 2009?... Ask SteveA couple weeks ago I did a good deed. 50 people and I were waiting an abnormally long time for the next train downtown... IPTV and ITV: Two Worlds That Need Each Other Badly, If Only They KnewThe IPTV industry has been obsessed with two broadband TV universes... I’m 4G and You’re Not – So ThereI had the honor of presiding over a panel on 4G last year. We had representatives from various industry bodies and vendors... Two for one deal: Telecom can save billions while reducing energy consumptionAchieving energy-efficiency by applying communications and information technologies could save $950 billion on energy over the next 12 years... The Fallacy of Equating Broadband with High Speed Internet AccessFor many years policy makers, media, and industry influencers have used the terms “broadband” and “high speed internet access” as if they were synonymous... To Have Or To Have NotThe American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), dba the economic stimulus bill, contains $7.2 billion to start closing the gap between the broadband haves and the have-nots in the U.S.... “The Telecom World Is Not Flat…Yet”After reading Tom Friedman’s 2007 bestseller The World Is Flat, it is easy to get carried away with the optimism and possibility of a world without barriers... Does ZillionTV Need A Keyboard?Let’s face it, the whole content on the TV thing is getting interesting... Tiger Woods 2.0Truly compelling applications, which create a surge of interest in -- and ultimately demand for -- telecommunications services, don’t come along that often... The Business Case for LTEThe transition to LTE [Long Term Evolution] promises to fundamentally change the mobility ecosystem and enable new capabilities well beyond traditional voice and data services... The Big Opportunity for IPTV: Linear Addressible AdvertisingToday’s service providers are leaving money on the table. It’s hard to imagine that in today’s competitive and economic climate this statement could be true, but today, huge revenue streams from linear targeted advertising are going untapped.... The Next Wave of Telecom Industry Growth is Here - NowHow Telecom can drive the rebirth of a new world economy and help companies create new business models.... The diversification of killer appsVoice is the killer app. Speed is the killer app. Video is the killer app. There is no killer app. If I hear 'killer app' one more time, I’ll kill the messenger.... How Wireless Saved WirelineWith U.S. telephone companies in the throes of their year-end 2008 reporting, the emerging picture is a mixed bag. Access line losses are in free-fall, down another 9-10% for the year to around 130 million.... Optical Trends to Watch in 2009I’ve seen a lot of spectacular ups and downs in the optical networking arena in the 14 years I’ve been tracking it. 2009 promises to be another interesting year in this space. Here are 6 trends I see that will and won’t impact optical networking this year... Broadband crisis? Not yet.Much has been written about this apparent broadband crisis occurring in the United States. Not only are we supposedly falling behind other countries in terms of broadband penetration but apparently in speeds and pricing as well.... The economy won't be all that's disruptive about 2009For IPTV, the year is opening on a world where things aren’t quite as they seem. And I’m not referring to the economy.... Ask SteveSMBs can take solace in knowing that over the past 8 or so recessions SMBs have generally come out of recessionary times faster than large enterprises.... |
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