European operators ‘playing possum’?
Fixed-line and mobile operators in Europe are facing quite a dilemma. On the one hand they are being pressured by European Commissioner Neelie Kroes to improve their network broadband speeds and capacity and that they are not investing enough to meet EU targets. On the other, their customers are wanting to use their internet connections [...]
Egypt applies ‘net neutering’ rules
Forget all about net neutrality, we’ve now seen the first real example of ‘net neutering’ with Egypt flicking the ‘kill switch’ on the internet. How terrible, how frightening, how undemocratic, how primitive in this day and age – I hear you ask? Hang on a minute, isn’t that what President Obama was on about last year. [...]
Let’s get ready to rumble
I had almost given up hope that someone was going take a stand against the FCC’s Net Neutrality rules that were announced purposefully in the midst of the holiday season. It took a while but Verizon has made the first move in challenging what was starting to look like a ‘fait accompli’. In fact, Verizon [...]
Britain is back with a bang!
Following hot on the heels of one of England’s greatest sporting triumphs, beating Australia on its home turf in cricket, is good old British Telecom thumbing its nose at those other ex-colonials, the Americans, and the net neutrality bunkum. In the best spirit of capitalism and free-trade, BT Wholesale has devised a specialized content delivery network [...]
Net neurosis reigns – if it ain’t broke, regulate!
FCC Chairman, Julius Genachowski, had his Christmas wish granted when ‘net neutrality’ rules were voted in this week 3-2. The net neutrality vote was hardly unanimous, being carried along party lines with Democrat and Republican Commissioners voting for and against, respectively. Yet, it seems the real debate may have only just begun with the Republican [...]
Mobile operator’s worst fear?
What happens if a mobile network cracks under the strain of a ‘data tsunami’? This was one of the most hotly debated topics at the recent ‘Monetizing Bandwidth’ roundtable held at TM Forum’s MW Americas last month. Although most attendees thought it was some way off, for one operator it has happened way sooner than [...]
WikiLeaks kicks net neutrality in the teeth
The great WikiLeaks scandal has less to do with the publication of state secrets sent as cables from US Embassies around the world and their supposed threat to national security and more with how the secrets got out in the first place. Whatever the motives of WikiLeaks ‘founder, Julian Assange, he has single-handily made a [...]
Did Comcast the first stone in data revenue stoush?
You might recall some time back I boldly suggested that one way CSPs could start generating revenues from internet traffic was to charge other ISPs or CSPs that were transiting their network, much like interconnect works in the voice world. A fascinating email has arrived in my mailbox from Dave Burstein, editor and publisher of dslprime.com. [...]
No neutrality in this war.
The biggest challenge facing attendees at MW Americas last week was which sessions to attend. Open discussion of topical subjects is the hallmark of TM Forum events and when our industry was clearly segmented into neat silos it was easy to stick to one stream and be happy. Today’s CSP is becoming anything but siloed [...]