Wednesday, March 23, 2011

FCC State of Telecom in June 2010

Highlights from the FCC's Internet Access Report from form 477 data on June 2010. The key stat: "Growth of fixed broadband service appears to have flattened at 1% in the first half of 2010, to 82 million connections." FLAT.

60% of US Internet connections were slower than the FCC benchmark for broadband (4MB x 1MB) but that includes dial-up.

And the FCC's Local Telephone Report:Interconnected VoIP grew by 21% between June 2009 and June 2010. 28% of all residential wireline connections were interconnected VoIP as of June 2010. An estimated 77% of interconnected VoIP subscribers received service through a cable provider.

The FCC also "conditionally" approved the CenturyLink-Qwest merger. One of the conditions: Offer qualifying households broadband starting at less than $10 per month and a computer for less than $150, and keep the window open for five years for qualifying consumers to sign up.

Significantly increase the capacity of the Qwest network, bringing broadband with actual download speeds of at least 4 Megabits per second (Mbps) to at least 4 million more homes and businesses, and at least 20,000 more anchor institutions, such as schools, libraries, and community centers. So if you chase E-Rate in Qwest regions, you will be competing directly against the FCC powered order. Luck for you that history says the ILEC will ignore it. History shows that the FCC does enforce conditions.

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