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  2. July 2016

July 2016

CenturyLink's copper replacement plan could spur protests by consumers, CLECs

CenturyLink is replacing its aging copper-based wireline facilities in seven cities, potentially setting itself up for a wave of protests from consumers and competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) that use existing facilities -- similar to those faced by Verizon and AT&T as they transition their legacy networks.
Two of the states where it will replace copper with fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) facilities are Minnesota and Washington, which are part of a broader initiative CenturyLink has taken to support 1 Gbps speed services for residential and business customers. In 2014, CenturyLink announced that it will extend its FTTH service footprint to residential and business customers in select locations in 16 cities. As part of replacement strategy, CenturyLink is deploying a FTTH overlay architecture that the company says will enable it to support more of its customers transitioning to broadband services. "Growth in the area requires CenturyLink to install Fiber Based Access to its customer," CenturyLink said in a Federal Communications Commission filing. "The copper loops will be replaced by fiber loops as customers migrate to higher speed Broadband Internet Access (BIA)." CenturyLink added that unbundled copper loops "may not be available to an individual address after the planned completion/retirement date." Outside of Minnesota and Washington, CenturyLink filed separate copper retirement notices in six other states: Alabama, Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

FBI completes Clinton email probe, recommends no criminal charges

FBI Director James Comey said that his agency will not recommend criminal charges against Hillary Clinton for her use of a private e-mail server as Secretary of State, but called Clinton and her staff “extremely careless” in handling sensitive data.

Director Comey said the FBI investigations into thousands of e-mails by Clinton determined that “no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case.” The findings now go to the Justice Department. The announcement — which came only about 72 hours after FBI agents interviewed Clinton — in some ways lifts the cloud that has been hanging over Clinton’s presidential campaign for months. But it will almost certainly spark criticism that the outcome of the high-profile probe was a foregone conclusion, influenced heavily by political considerations. Director Comey said Justice Department prosecutors also must make a final determination, though he was unequivocal in stating his view. “We are expressing our view to Justice that no charges are appropriate in this case,” he said.

Internet Access -- An Incomplete Promise

[Commentary] The US has failed to deliver on universal high-speed, wired Internet service. The consequences for America's disconnected are a litany of troubles: economic decline population loss, less access to education, and poorer quality medical care. History is likely to judge the United States very harshly in how it met its Internet telecommunications infrastructure challenge. If the nation and its leadership had engaged in proper planning and budgeting a generation ago for the construction of ubiquitous fiber to all American premises, by now, the nation would be fully fibered and reaping the complete promise and value of the Internet. Instead, the previous two decades were squandered on inaction.

[Fred Pilot is from California and writes the Eldo Telecom blog.]

[June 1]

AT&T, CWA begin negotiations covering 2K Internet workers

AT&T and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) have begun the negotiation process for a new contract covering 2,000 of the telecommunication's Internet workers nationwide.

Lisa Bolton, VP of CWA telecommunications and technologies in Bedminster (NJ) said that similar to other contract negotiations, workers covered under the contract are looking for a contract that provides job security, affordable health care and retirement benefits. "AT&T is a very successful company, leading the telecommunications and video industry. Our members have helped build that success," Bolton said. "It's our turn, and it's time for AT&T to deliver a contract that gives workers at NIC our fair share." AT&T Internet is just one of several contracts the telecommunication company is in the process of negotiating with the CWA.

Smartphone Penetration Among Children is Surging, Not Just Teens Anymore

It’s no secret that teenagers love their smartphones, but it’s worth noting that smartphone penetration among children continues to surge. According to an eMarketer report, 88.3% of teens aged 12 to 17 will have mobile phones this year, and among that population, 84% will have smartphones. But the trend is moving downward (in age speak), with smartphone penetration among children surging as well.

According to the report, roughly 50% of children aged 0 – 11 will have a smartphone by 2020, up from 41% in 2016. The age group with the current highest smartphone penetration of 95.2% is adults aged 25 – 34, followed closely by adults aged 18 – 24 at 94.9%. By 2020, the 18-24 age group will surpass all other categories, with 99% penetration. Smartphone penetration among children is currently at 41%, followed closely by adults aged over 65 at 44%. Interestingly enough, smartphone penetration among seniors aged 65 and higher will grow faster than children (and any other age group), reaching 55.4% by 2020, a growth rate of 25%.

Amsterdam birdhouses give free Wi-Fi

Amsterdam is usually associated with tree-lined waterways, cyclists and fresh air. But the Dutch capital actually has a surprising pollution problem. The city was given a D+ ranking for air quality by an environmental study in 2015, thanks in part to its failure to implement a low emissions zone for private vehicles, as other European cities have done. Now one local designer has a plan to tackle the problem: Joris Lam has designed a series of tree houses that light up and emit free Wi-Fi when air pollution levels fall to a healthy level. Tree Wi-Fi, as it's called, aims to incentivize people to make more environmentally friendly choices. "I wanted to make something that measures air pollution locally and also makes the issue visible in an understandable, human-centric way," Lam said.

Brexit: The first major casualty of digital democracy

[Commentary] What are the implications of Brexit for democracy? Arguably, Brexit represents the first major casualty of the ascent of digital democracy over representative democracy. This claim deserves an explanation.

Many technology optimists have assumed that globalization would lead to the democratization of information and decision-making, and also greater cosmopolitanism. Citizens would be better informed, less likely to be silenced, and able to communicate their views more effectively to their leaders. They would also have greater empathy and understanding of other peoples the more they lived next to them, visited their countries, read their news, communicated, and did business with them. Or so the thinking went. But there has been little to justify such panglossianism. There is some evidence for a correlation between greater information, political democratization and economic progress, in that all three have advanced steadily, if at different paces, over the past two decades. But that correlation is weak. Instead, digital democracy -- the ability to receive information in almost real time through mass media and to make one's voice heard through social media -- has contributed to polarization, gridlock, dissatisfaction and misinformation. This is as equally applicable to the countries in which modern democracy took root -- in the United States and Europe -- as it is to India, the biggest and most complex democracy in the developing world.

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