CLEAR LAKE, SD — ITC, a South Dakota telco serving 15,000 customers, is putting its new IPTV customers onto Innovative Systems’ APMAX middleware solution. According to Ren Preheim, ITC’s network operations manager, “We are putting our new customers on the APMAX middleware in our current FTTH projects, and at present we are seeing fewer operations issues than we do with our legacy system.” With an initial cap and grow strategy, ITC will analyze set top [...]

LONDON – The deployment of smart grids based on PON, (passive optical network, the most widely used type of FTTH technology) fiber communications will provide a $1.5 to $2 billion opportunity to FTTx PON component and equipment vendors, according to global analyst firm Ovum. In a new report, the independent telecoms analyst firm forecasts that the major driver for the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) to pursue fiber could be a plan to become [...]

TULSA, OK – Direct investment in North American fiber to the home (FTTH) deployment will grow to $4.7 billion annually by 2017, or a total of $18 billion during the next five years, according to the market research firm RVA LLC. The firm, which has tracked the deployment of all-fiber networks for more than a decade, predicts that annual revenues derived by FTTH providers from ultra high bandwidth applications and services beyond the “triple play” [...]

NEW YORK — Google and The Chelsea Improvement Company, a nonprofit neighborhood redevelopment corporation, have announced they have partnered to provide free public WiFi internet access in southwest Chelsea, which will provide free Internet access to hundreds of thousands of people each year. It will become the first wired neighborhood in Manhattan and the largest contiguous WiFi network in New York City. Free WiFi is now available outdoors, roughly between Gansevoort St. and 19 St. [...]

LOS ANGELES — Google’s brand recognition, along with the prospect of higher Internet speeds, has enticed 30 percent of possible subscribers in its Kansas City metro area footprint, coined “fiberhoods,” to pay a $10 pre-registration fee, according to original research from Ideas & Solutions! Inc., a consultancy that specializes in guiding media and technology companies. In addition to those pre-registrants, the “Google Fiber Matters: Consumer Demand Study” found another 30 percent of the qualified population [...]

BEIJING — China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has announced a new set of regulations intended to drive fiber to the home (FTTH) construction and provide an equal playing field for China’s broadband operators, according to Marbridge Consulting, a China-focused market research and business consulting firm specializing in the telecommunications and IT sectors. The two new national construction regulations, “FTTH Equipment Regulations for Housing and Residential Development Projects” and “FTTH Construction and Inspection [...]

EL SEGUNDO, CA – Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) in Canada is rapidly gaining momentum at the expense of incumbent cable and satellite services, with IPTV’s share of pay-TV subscriptions in the country rising to nearly to 10 percent in the third quarter of 2012. IPTV accounted for 9.6 percent of Canadian pay-TV video subscriptions in the third quarter, according to IHS Screen Digest Television Intelligence, from information and analytics provider IHS. This is up from [...]

PORT WASHINGTON, NY – More than 425 million devices are connected to the Internet in U.S. homes, according to a new Connected Intelligence report from global information company, The NPD Group. The Connected Home report found that while computers are still the primary connected device, numerous others are diminishing the computer’s relevance to the broadband content marketplace. This trend is being fueled by devices such as gaming consoles and Blu-ray Disc players adding to the [...]

LONDON — Almost every smartphone shipped today has an embedded rear camera and one in three smartphones have a front-facing camera, according to the latest report on imaging technology in mobile devices from ABI Research, which provides in-depth analysis and quantitative forecasting of trends in global connectivity and other emerging technologies. The number of media tablets with two cameras is even greater. Purchasers expect to be able to take photos with their devices and the [...]

LONDON — BT Openreach announced a technical trial and pilot for its GEA-FTTP 220/20 Mbps product variant. The trial will run the entire month of February 2013 followed by the pilot in March. The new GEA-FTTP product variant offers downstream speeds of 220Mbps and upstream speeds of 20 Mbps. This product will be available during the technical trial at the below exchange areas, within the current FTTP enabled area. Bradwell Abbey Chester South Exeter York [...]