1. Monthly archive
  2. August 2016

August 2016

Vodafone and Liberty Global win EU approval for Dutch merger

Vodafone and Liberty Global have secured approval from Brussels for their plan to combine their Dutch businesses, clearing the way for the companies to create the Netherlands’ second-largest mobile and cable operator.

British telecoms group Vodafone agreed to sell its Dutch consumer fixed line business in exchange for being allowed to go ahead with the joint venture, in a sign of the tough line Brussels has adopted on tie-ups that it fears could harm competition in the telecoms market. The deal marks the first time Vodafone and Liberty will have united a part of their mobile and fixed-line telecoms empires, after on-off discussions over the past two years failed to result in a wider agreement to merge their operations. Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s competition chief, said that “the commitments offered by Vodafone [would] ensure that Dutch consumers will continue to enjoy competitive prices and good choice.”

Benton Editorial

Benton and Rhinesmith Continue Digital Inclusion Research Partnership


Hillary Clinton's 100-day plan will push tech buttons

While Hillary Clinton was short on details July 28 about her gung-ho, “first 100 days “ jobs building plan, the expansion of broadband accessibility, next generation wireless technology and and computer education will loom large. So pledged Sara Solow, domestic policy adviser for Hillary for America, at events earlier that day and throughout DNC Week in Philly.

She underscored the campaign’s concern with “the homework gap” and committed to upgrading the National Broadband Plan written in 2010. The Clinton Campaign is opposed to “arbitrary caps” suggested by some Capitol Hill Republicans on the Lifeline service enabling low income families to get Internet service. And Clinton wants a re-write of the Broadband Plan “focused on our broadband deployment throughout the country,” said Solow. “By 2020 every household in America should be hooked up to high-speed internet sufficient to meet family’s needs.” To get there, “we should look at wireless solutions, we should look at microwave wireless solutions, we should look at satellite solutions too.” Cities and towns should be leaders in the cause – “fiber ready” and “more open to third and fourth broadband providers” which could include reforming exclusionary policies about burying and hanging lines.

NTIA’s Seventh Quarterly Report on the Transition of the Stewardship of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority Functions

On March 10, 2016, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) delivered to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration the Internet multistakeholder community’s proposal to transition the U.S. Government’s stewardship role for the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). Upon receiving the proposal, NTIA worked with U.S. Government agencies to review the proposal and ensure that it met the criteria outlined by NTIA in March 2014. On June 9, 2016, NTIA announced that the proposal met its criteria. Specifically, NTIA found that the proposal has broad community support and:

  • Supports and enhances the multistakeholder model;
  • Maintains the security, stability, and resiliency of the Internet Domain Name System (DNS);
  • Meets the needs and expectations of the global customers;
  • Maintains the openness of the Internet; and
  • Does not replace NTIA’s role with a government-led or intergovernmental organization solution.

NTIA also evaluated the proposal against relevant portions of an internal control framework, as recommended by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, 4 and found that the proposal adheres to internal control principles. In addition, a panel of corporate governance experts reviewed the ICANN accountability enhancements and concluded that the plan is consistent with sound principles of good governance.

Illinois Counties Wait for iFiber Network to Expand Beyond Anchor Institutions

Competition for high-speed internet is so close that Adam Wykes can literally stand atop a fiber optic cable running through the village near the Butler Park water tower. It's getting it out of the ground that's the problem. The issue: Money. Three years after the $68.5 million iFiber broadband network was completed, Wykes is among the impatient. The nearly 900-mile fiber optic pipeline through nine northwest Illinois counties brought the promise of high speed connections to rural towns and more competition among providers in larger markets like Cherry Valley, where Comcast and AT&T are major players. But so far, the main users of iFiber are 500 schools, governments, police and fire departments, libraries, community colleges, health care providers and other community anchor institutions. Wykes wants iFiber for the people. He’s lobbied Cherry Valley Village Hall, started a petition to garner public support and reached out to service providers to see what it would take to tap into iFiber.

Local lawmakers, residents eager for solution to broadband woes in Adirondacks

A narrow road runs parallel to the Adirondack Northway near Poke-O-Moonshine Mountain, the severe-looking peak located just south of Chesterfield. Dotted with pockets of homes and a summer camp, the road gives way to a series of arteries that snake between towering pines before eventually leading to Auger Lake. The site, about 22 miles south of Plattsburgh, is remarkable in both its beauty and frustration. For the past five years, Robin Gucker has been fighting an uphill battle: securing a steady internet connection.

She estimates the cluster of parcels has “poor or no service 90 percent of the time” through the provider, Frontier Communications, which offers DSL service through a phone line. This lack of reliable service, said Nancy Gucker Birdsall, director of the nearby North Country Camps, has caused significant headaches, affecting everything from communicating with parents to the submission of financial invoices.

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