Research

The future demand for data and the role of gigabit networks are central issues in the context of Next Generation Access (NGA) network roll-out. Based on a generic model, which allows to predict unconstrained future broadband demand in different regions and countries, the authors compare the results for Germany, the UK and the Flemish region, and discuss reasons for the different outcomes.

When the telecommunications industry was liberalised in Europe and North America in the 1980s and 1990s, it inherited a legacy of monopoly providers whose footprint was national or multi-regional in its character. The regulatory framework, particularly that adopted in EU member states, reflected this pattern of relatively homogeneous deployment achieved, in part, by decades of cross-subsidised pricing and universal service goals.

The roll-out of 10G will allow the emergence of more secure, lower latency broadband connections with dramatically faster speeds that eventually will be capable of delivering near symmetrical download and upload speeds of up to 10 Gbps. In addition, 10G networks will be the backbone of continued technological innovation, enabling a range of applications and use cases, as well as improving existing solutions in industries such as agriculture and telemedicine, bringing significant economic benefits.

The Report assesses industry compliance over the past two years with sections 255, 716, and 718 of the Communications Act of 1934. These sections require telecommunications and advanced communications services and equipment, and Internet browsers built into mobile phones (collectively, covered products and services) to be accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities. The Report also addresses accessibility barriers to new communications technologies, and the effect of the accessibility-related recordkeeping and enforcement requirements under section 717 on the development and d

The House Judiciary Committee’s Antitrust Subcommittee released the findings of its more than 16-month long investigation into the state of competition in the digital economy, especially the challenges presented by the dominance of Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook and their business practices. After outlining the challenges presented due to the market domination of Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook, the report walks through a series of possible remedies to (1) restore competition in the digital economy, (2) strengthen the antitrust laws, and (3) reinvigorate antitrust enforcement.

On the heels of AT&T saying it will no longer take new orders for its DSL service, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) criticized its lack of fiber.  According to a report CWA did in conjunction with the National Inclusion Alliance (NDIA), AT&T has deployed fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) to 28% of the households in its footprint as of the end of June. By contrast, the report said AT&T has targeted more affluent, non-rural areas for its fiber upgrades. Houses with fiber have a median income that's 34% higher than those with DSL only.

This essay reveals the critical role that trafficking of enslaved Africans played in making our nation’s earliest media financially viable.

AT&T has made fiber-to-the-home available to fewer than a third of the households in its footprint. Across rural counties in AT&T’s footprint, only 5 percent of households have access to fiber. For 28 percent of the households in its network footprint, AT&T’s internet service does not meet the FCC’s 25/3 Mbps benchmark to be considered broadband. AT&T prioritizes network upgrades to wealthier areas, leaving lower income communities with outdated technologies -- households with fiber available have median income 34 percent higher than those with DSL only.

New America’s Open Technology Institute recently published The Cost of Connectivity 2020, a new study showing that the cost of broadband service is higher in the United States than in Asia or Europe—and that US consumers are in the grips of a broadband affordability crisis. This research is consistent with our past submissions to the Commission regarding the dismal state of competition in the broadband marketplace, which has all the hallmarks of an oligopoly. 

In its 2020 Broadband Pricing Index (BPI) Report, USTelecom shows decreasing cost and increasing value of broadband service in the United States. USTelecom entered the research into open Federal Communications Commission proceedings refreshing the record on Lifeline and network neutrality in light of the DC Circuit’s Mozilla Decision.