The FCC still has around $185 million out of the $300 broadband funds available from phase one of their Connect America Fund. As we’ve been noting, Frontier signed up quickly for the funds, agreeing to take $71.9 million to wire some 92,000 homes. However, some companies (like Windstream) have balked at taking full funding, saying that getting $775 per install wasn’t enough for their liking. AT&T and Verizon have refused funding entirely, as both companies [...]

CAMPBELL, CA — Excerpts released from market research firm Infonetics Research from its “Service Provider Capex, Revenue, and Capex by Equipment Type” report, predict that capex is on track to be up close to 4 percent this year led by Asia and North America. The report tracks telecom operator revenue and capital expenditures (capex) by operator type, region, and equipment segment and provides insight into telecom spending trends. “With three quarters of the data in [...]

Windstream Communications has settled charges with the state of Oklahoma over allegations that the company bribed a state school superintendent in order to keep a business deal in place. Back in August Windstream was indicted for giving a school superintendent two all-session tickets to the 2007 NCAA basketball tournament in Atlanta, in addition to paying for his lodging and local entertainment needs. This week Windstream announced they’ve settled with the state to dismiss those charges, [...]

att=2058377 Comcast has unveiled their new logo, which heavily incorporates the familiar NBC peacock. The logo popped up on the company’s website yesterday, and will soon be appearing on company business cards, trucks, and buildings. A Comcast employee familiar with the plans tells Broadband Reports that the Xfinity brand for individual telecom services won’t be changing. Comcast acquired NBC last year for $13.8 billion with the help of then FCC Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker, who [...]

We’ve noted several times that FCC Boss and Obama Harvard chum Julius Genachowski desperately hopes that his FCC legacy will be the man who saved wireless, though he’ll more likely be remembered for being a wishy washy politician who tried to please everybody, and in the process pleased nobody. Nothing highlights this more that a piece this week in the Washington Post, which politely insists the FCC boss has seen “mixed reviews” during his tenure [...]

As we recently explored, Verizon’s been crowing a lot to the press about their ability to essentially track what everyone is doing all of the time — then sell that information to marketers, city planners, venue owners, and whomever else wants it under a new division named Precision Market Insights. Verizon insists the opt-out process is easy, but our users have often found it cumbersome. Verizon also insists that the data is aggregated and anonymous, [...]

Suggesting a leak somewhere in AT&T’s supply chain, a second analyst this week is magically predicting that AT&T will be upgrading at least a few additional DSL customers to U-Verse. As we noted this week any significant landline upgrades would run contrary to AT&T’s character, and recent FCC filings suggest AT&T’s interested in actually shuttering the majority of their 18 million un-upgraded DSL users. George Notter of Jefferies & Company estimates that AT&T’s going to [...]

Microsoft continues to take heat on all fronts for enabling “do not track” as default in Internet Explorer 10. A letter to Microsoft from the Association of National Advertisers (which has numerous corporations as members, including AT&T and Verizon) insists that by enabling opt-out by default in the latest version of their browser, they’re effectively destroying the known universe. Requiring that customers opt in to online ads and tracking has long been loathed by multiple [...]

Telecompetitor directs our attention to the fact that the FCC still has around $185 million in unclaimed broadband funds available from phase one of their Connect America Fund. As we’ve been noting, Frontier signed up quickly for the funds, agreeing to take $71.9 million to wire some 92,000 homes. However, some companies (like Windstream) have balked at taking full funding, saying that getting $775 per install wasn’t enough for their liking. AT&T and Verizon have [...]

LITTLETON, CO – Business communications provider tw telecom announced the nationwide availability of Dynamic Capacity, a service that enables enterprise customers to scale their E-Line Business Ethernet bandwidth and capacity immediately, without service interruption, through a simple interface. Dynamic Capacity is available in about 16,000 tw telecom fiber-connected buildings in 75 major metro markets across the country. “Imagine Increasing Capacity in Seconds” ”Dynamic Capacity allows customers to immediately scale up their network capacity in response [...]