Level 3 aims to make long-tail content cost-effective
By: By Carol Wilson
Level 3 Communications today announced a new aspect to its Content Delivery Network that makes it more cost-effective for content owners to distribute a broader array of content, including the so-called “long-tail” niche content that has its own challenges...
CenturyTel plans 700 MHz broadband wireless overlay
By: By Kevin Fitchard
CenturyTel threw itself into the broadband wireless sector today, announcing it would use the 700 MHz licenses won at auction last month to create a broadband wireless overlay network feeding less densely populated areas in its existing wireline footprint....
CTIA: Performance Technologies powers Pocket in Texas
By: By Carol Wilson
LAS VEGAS--Pocket Communications, a prepaid wireless carrier covering San Antonio and south Texas, is preparing to build on its success by expanding its network using Performance Technologies’ SEGway X401 signaling gear, the two companies announced here at CTIA...
768 kb/s still isn't enough
By: By Carol Wilson
Telecom industry professionals think the current Universal Service Fund should be used to expand rural broadband, according to a recent Tellabs survey, and they believe location and economic status should not determine the extent to which broadband is available...
SureWest adds home monitoring to triple play
By: Ed Gubbins
SureWest Communications announced a new remote monitoring service Tuesday that allows users to keep tabs on their home while they’re away, using live video and alerts....
The foibles of 700 MHz
By: By Kevin Fitchard
The auction goes on and on, but the potential winners are already weighing the spectrum's benefits -- as well as its limitations...
Middleware snags stalling HD, DVR rollouts
By: Dawn Bushaus and Sarah Reedy
Shortcomings in middleware are causing headaches among some rural telcos, interfering with their plans to offer high-definition (HD) video and digital video recorder (DVR) services....
More PBT control planes coming soon
By: Ed Gubbins
Though Soapstone Networks took the lead in addressing the market for a control plane to manage Provider Backbone Transport (PBT) networks, it won’t be alone for long. ...
Ericsson says ready to supply 700 MHz gear
By: By Kevin Fitchard
Ericsson today said it plans to produce network infrastructure and device-side chips for the 700 MHz frequencies in both the High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and Long-Term Evolution (LTE) flavors, giving it a product for any of the eventual Auction 73 winners--no matter who they are...
Leap preps for AWS launch
By: By Kevin Fitchard
Cricket Communications will begin selling its first phone with an Advanced Wireless Services chip Saturday in Tulsa, Okla, as its corporate parent Leap Wireless prepares its to turn up in the coming months its first network using the new frequency bands in nearby Oklahoma City...
New CEO Gerke vows to build on Embarq’s innovations
By: By Carol Wilson
As the newly named CEO of Embarq, Tom Gerke plans to focus on continuing the momentum Embarq has built selling new products, such as 10 Mb/s Internet access, a video sales portal and fixed-mobile convergence, and continue the company’s recent history as an innovator...
Exclusive: Reed Hundt on the 700 MHz auction, P2P throttling
By: By Ed Gubbins
SAN DIEGO--Former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt formed Frontline Wireless with plans to build a nationwide emergency communications network using spectrum auctioned off by the FCC. Among other things, Frontline has proposed that the FCC apply open access requirements to the spectrum. Reed spoke with Telephony in an exclusive interview at the OFC NFOEC optical trade show this week...
Comptel: Hatteras lands another NW CLEC
By: By Carol Wilson
NASHVILLE--For a North Carolina company, Hatteras Networks is getting quite a reputation in the Pacific Northwest. The Ethernet-over-copper gear maker today announced its fifth CLEC customer in that region in Quantum Communications, an Oregon-based local CLEC...
USF stakeholders may see fund cuts
By: By Ed Gubbins
As the FCC works to overhaul the Universal Service Fund, some changes could have important consequences for a number of rural carriers...
Knology studies triple-play customer loyalty
By: By Sarah Reedy
As Knology fights to climb out of the red this year, the rural triple-play provider will spend much of 2008 striking a balance between competitive pricing and increasing average revenue per user on its bundle. The company has learned in recent years that bundled services don’t just increase customer ARPU, they increase customer retention...
New box brings open IPTV home
By: By Carol Wilson
A Dutch company is trying to bring IPTV to the masses over the Internet via a business model that uses corporate sponsorships to subsidize distribution of a key piece of hardware that ties together Internet video with existing video products...
Alltel advocates for the consumer
Alltel Wireless, the country's fifth-largest wireless provider, prides itself on being the good neighbor of telecom and the customers' advocate...
USF tug of war
By: By Joan Engebretson
As providers try to hang onto limited Universal Service Fund money, only the FCC can break the deadlock -- but where it will throw its weight is anyone's guess...
RLEC M&A to rise in 2008
By: By Ed Gubbins
Rural carrier consolidation is expected to heat up this year, according to Jeff Gardner, CEO of Windstream Communications...
New face in space
By: By Ed Gubbins
After building the ground infrastructure for satellite broadband provider WildBlue, ViaSat believes it's learned enough about the business to voyage into space itself...
Dossier: Thomas Dorr, U.S. Department of Agriculture
In speaking with vendors and rural telcos in this market, they say it is easier to get Rural Utilities Service funding for fiber buildouts than copper. Is this official policy now? Read more of The Independent's interview with Dorr....
Building a better bill
By: By Mark Donahue
Touting scalability and simplicity, Mid America Computer Corp. has been on a tear lately, announcing agreements with Independent telcos and other service providers to use its billing solutions...
Updates from the writers
We've kept our eye on a number of developing stories we've written about in previous issues of The Independent. Read some of the updates here...
Bell Labs: Reviving an icon
By: By Kevin Fitchard
As the research arm of a monopoly, Bell Labs invented the communications world as we know it. But in today's competitive market, this venerable institution must redefine itself to survive...
Broadband for all
By: By Ed Gubbins
As the FCC proposes significant changes to the Universal Service Fund, it will consider for the first time the notion of applying USF to broadband deployment -- which I'm sure will bring no end to the political and philosophical debate over what extent rural broadband should be subsidized...
