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Here's why U.S. Cellular is getting out of the Chicago and St. Louis markets.
The markets U.S. Cellular is dumping have slightly higher value, with subscribers paying an average of $60.91 per month, compared with $53.92 per month in the core markets it's keeping. But it's the subscriber churn — the old customers who leave and have to be replaced — that matters here. The churn among traditional cellphone customers, excluding those who prepay, was 3.35 percent in the areas that U.S. Cellular is selling to Sprint Nextel Corp., compared with 1.67 percent turnover in the markets it's keeping.
US Cellular divested some of its problems, too
New America Foundation
Monday, March 11, 2013
1:00 -2:30 p.m.
From Wikileaks to the aftermath of the Middle East and North Africa uprisings, the thorny ramifications of ubiquitous global information flows are confronting today's policymakers. Two key phenomena have emerged as the new hallmarks of international relations: heightened transparency and increased volatility. They require us to refocus the lens through which we view international affairs, and present both challenges and opportunities for traditional nation-state representatives, as well as freelancers.
A new collection of essays, Diplomacy, Development and Security in the Information Age (Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Georgetown University), explores these themes. Featuring contributions on issues ranging from cybersecurity to diplomacy and fragile states, the collection points toward a foreign policy strategy of resilience, credibility and adaptability in order to harness opportunities in the information age.
Please join New America's Open Technology Institute as we discuss Diplomacy, Development and Security in the Information Age and explore how to navigate foreign policy in the information age.
Featured Panelists
Lorelei Kelly
Research Fellow and Smart Congress Pilot Lead, Open Technology Institute, New America Foundation
Gerald Hyman
Senior Adviser and President, Hills Program on Governance, Center for Strategic and International Studies
Joseph Siegle
Director of Research, Africa Center for Strategic Studies, National Defense University
Jim Herlong
Independent Cyber Strategy and Intelligence Analyst
Discussant
Tim Maurer
Program Associate, New America Foundation
Moderator
Shanthi Kalathil
Editor, Diplomacy, Development and Security in the Information Age
To RSVP for the event, :
http://www.newamerica.net/events/2013/foreign_policy_information_age
For questions, contact Stephanie Gunter at New America at (202) 596-3367 or gunter@newamerica.net
Speaking at the TED Conference in Long Beach (CA) Danny Hillis referenced an incident in 2010 when massive amounts of Web traffic were suddenly rerouted through China Telecom after a DNS root server was intercepted, something that was said to be an accident. “We’re setting ourselves up for a disaster like in the financial system,” Hillis said, because the Internet is a “system basically built on trust and expanded way beyond the limits.”
“The Internet is actually an emergent system. We don’t fully understand it, like the weather and like the economy,” said Hillis, the founder of Thinking Machines and Applied Minds whose work on the Google-acquired Metaweb helped start the company’s “Knowledge Graph.” “It’s changing so quickly that even the experts have no idea what’s going on. It’s different now than it was an hour ago,” Hillis said at TED. “We don’t know the consequences of what an effective denial of service attack on the Internet would be. So what we need is a plan B.”
“We Need a Plan B for the Internet,” Warns Internet Pioneer Danny Hillis
One of the Internet’s founding fathers is set to revive a heated cybersecurity debate over whether to preserve anonymity and the use of pseudonyms in online chat forums and social networks like Twitter.
Vint Cerf, Google’s chief Internet evangelist, is expected to make the case for keeping people’s identity anonymous — particularly on certain Web services — when he delivers the keynote address at the RSA cybersecurity conference. The theme of his address to the RSA cybersecurity conference was outlined in an abstract description released by conference organizers, and it stands out among the other technical-focused speeches planned for the event. Cerf’s keynote illustrates the growing importance of the debate over striking the right balance between the limits countries want to place on cyber aggressors and protecting people’s free speech and privacy rights online. Tension over the issue has been building for years between free speech advocates and those who say tougher steps are needed to boost cybersecurity on the Internet.
Web anonymity battle starts anew
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller says he will make studying the impact of indecent media on children one of his key priorities in the new Congress.
Also on the list is studying the impact of violent media on kids. He has introduced a bill to that effect in the wake of the Newtown mass shooting. Also on the list of priorities are 1) overseeing the emergency communications network he motormanned and which is being funded through broadcast incentive auctions; 2) closing the digital divide for both wired and wireless broadband and in schools and via E-rate; and 3) safeguarding consumer privacy, including "an investigation into the business practices of companies that collect and sell consumer data."
Chairman Rockefeller Details Senate Commerce Committee Priorities for 113th Congress Senate to Look at Impact of Indecency on Kids (Broadcasting&Cable)
According to a new International Telecommunications Union report, communications technology demand and uptake are growing globally, driven in part by a steady decline in price.
The report predicts there will soon be as many mobile cellular subscriptions as people on the planet. It predicts that number of those subscriptions will surpass seven billion by early 2014. Asia now claims more than half of all those subscriptions. By the end of 2013, ITU predicts, overall global penetration will have topped 96%. The report looks at regions, though there are some individual country stats as well. The U.S. fixed wireless and wired broadband service is tops in the Americas in high-speed broadband subscriptions (which ITU defines as at least 10 Mbps downstream) at about 58%, but that puts it in 14th place globally, according to ITU.
ITU: Broadband Uptake Grows as Price Drops
The National Association of Broadcasters, National Cable and Telecommunications Association, American Cable Association, Motion Picture Association of America and others have all signed on to the campaign to promote the TV and film ratings systems as easy-to-use parental content control tools. The campaign will include PSAs, theater advertisements, a redesigned website, and a broadcaster education initiative on mental health. The messaging focuses on three things, the three that MPAA chief Chris Dodd emphasized in a speech two weeks ago at the National Press Club: Choice, control, and education.
Entertainment Associations Team on Parental Control Messaging TV, Movie Industries Launch Campaign Addressing Violence (AdWeek) Hollywood Launches Educational Campaign About Violence in Media (The Wrap)
The price of mobile devices and services will need to come down to connect the next billion people.
That's according to the CEOs of four major companies in the wireless arena: Nokia, Qtel Group, Bharti Airtel, and Mozilla. "As an operator, we have to package services to the lower segment of the economy," said Nasser Marafih, CEO of the Qtel Group, during a keynote address at this week's Mobile World Congress. Qtel announced a new brand, Ooredoo, which will cover various wireless carrier brands throughout the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Much of the growth over the next few years will come from the regions where Ooredoo (Arabic for "I want") operates.
How the wireless industry will connect the next billion people
Amazon is changing a policy on affiliate links to free Kindle books, and the changes are likely to have a big effect on the way some self-published authors achieve success online.
In the last few years, entire websites aimed at promoting free Kindle books have sprung up. Their business model is primarily referral fees: When a visitor to one of these sites clicks on a link to Amazon to download a free e-book, but then buys other products on Amazon within 24 hours, the original site gets a percentage of those unrelated paid sales. Amazon is now cracking down on this.
Authors face change as Amazon tightens affiliate policy on free Kindle books
While most people conversant in technology are familiar with the term "Internet of Everything", do we yet have a common understanding of what it could mean to our daily lives?
Data found on the Internet can be called an “Internet of Information,” while online social networks can be classified as an “Internet of People.” As more objects in the world are equipped with sensors and wireless antennas, there is a growing “Internet of Things.” The Internet of Everything refers to the fact that someday, everything and everyone will be connected to a common backbone, which is the Internet we know today. Though not a new concept, a Wichita State University professor is promoting the development of the Internet of Everything at his institution and around his community. As the cost of sensors drops, creating an Internet of Things becomes more attainable.
What is the Internet of Everything?