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Weekly Update October 12, 2012

Legislative and Political

Negative attacks fill airwaves in Thompson-Baldwin race

There has been nothing subtle about the ad wars between Tammy Baldwin and Tommy Thompson. The anti- Baldwin ads scream “Liberal!” The anti-Thompson ads scream, “Lobbyists!” That’s our US Senate race in a nutshell, or at least the TV version. Here’s a look at how the Thompson-Baldwin race has played out on television, based on data gathered by Kantar Media CMAG, a D.C. firm that tracks political ads: In the 30 days that ended on Oct. 2, 92% of the ads aired in this contest were “negative,” which means they contained attacks on the opposing candidate. That’s in keeping with what has been the most negative presidential election in recent memory, according to a recent study by the Wesleyan Media Project. In the first three weeks after the party conventions, only 8% of presidential ads were “positive,” compared to 29% for the same period in 2008.

Baldwin up by 3 points in Senate poll

Democratic Senate candidate Tammy Baldwin has a 3-point lead over Republican Tommy Thompson in a new poll released on Monday by Public Policy Polling. Baldwin, a congresswoman from Madison, leads the former governor by 49% to 46%. PPP has done three polls since Labor Day and all three have shown Baldwin with a 3- to 4-point lead. The survey included 979 likely voters between Thursday and Saturday and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1%. PPP is a Democratic pollster.

Biden, Ryan at odds on almost everything in debate

At odds early and often, Joe Biden and Republican Paul Ryan squabbled over the economy, taxes, Medicare and more Thursday night in a contentious, interruption-filled debate. “That is a bunch of malarkey,” the vice president retorted after a particularly tough Ryan attack on the administration’s foreign policy. “I know you’re under a lot of duress to make up for lost ground, but I think people would be better served if we don’t interrupt each other,” Ryan said later to his rival, referring to Democratic pressure on Biden to make up for President Barack Obama’s listless performance in last week’s debate with Mitt Romney. There was nothing listless this time as the 69-year-old Biden sat next to the 42-year old Wisconsin congressman on a stage at Centre College in Kentucky.

Biden rallies Democrats at UW-La Crosse day after debate

Vice President Joe Biden on Friday picked up his attacks on his Republican White House challengers where he left off in Thursday's debate. Biden's speech at UW-La Crosse echoed his remarks in other campaign appearances and the televised debate. Biden outlined what he called "fundamental differences" between President Barack Obama's agenda and that of former Gov. Mitt Romney, highlighting foreign policy and women's rights but largely focusing on taxes and the impact on the middle class. Biden led off with Afghanistan, saying he and Obama will withdraw troops in 2014, with no exceptions.

Regulatory and Industry

Wisconsin Firms Worry about Broadband Funding

The expansion of lightning-fast Internet service is slowing to a crawl in some of Wisconsin’s rural areas because of new concerns over the future of federal funding that helps pay for those projects. The Wisconsin State Telecommunications Association says about half its member firms are delaying or scrapping rural-broadband projects since recent changes have put their federal funding in jeopardy. The Federal Communications Commission has limited the use of the Universal Service Fund, which rural Internet providers rely upon for subsidies.

Letter to President Obama from Larry Sevier CEO/General Manager Rural Telephone & Nex Tech

Rural Telephone/Nex-Tech, Lenora, Kansas, is in the final months of completing its $101 million broadband expansion project in western Kansas, as a successful applicant in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) program. While we are proud to provide broadband service to individuals, businesses and institutions in a 9,300 square mile sparsely populated rural area, we have ambivalent feelings concerning our future ability to build and maintain broadband and modern telecommunication services in light of the recent FCC policy decisions that will drastically impact our company and other high-cost rural providers like us.

Construction Underway on TDS Broadband Stimulus Projects in Ala., N.H., Va.

TDS Telecommunications Corp. (TDS®) says construction is underway on four more American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) stimulus projects. The projects will expand broadband Internet services to more customers in Alabama, New Hampshire, and Virginia. In Alabama, {TDS’ Peoples Telephone Company} TDS has hired Gibson Technical Services out of Ga. to do the outside construction work. The project is scheduled to be completed, by fall 2013, and accessible to about 1,200 customers in areas around Centre, Cedar Bluff, and Collinsville, Ala.

Bye Bye Telephone Numbers, It Was Nice to Know You

For many years now, we’ve seen a trend of replacing actual telephone numbers with contact names or even pictures, at least as it relates to the physical process of dialing on cell phones, or even some business and home handsets. Consumers are getting used to pulling up a contact name and dialing directly from their contact list, eliminating the need to actually punch in a seven or ten digit phone number. Of course, the actual phone numbers aren’t disappearing. The North American Numbering Plan is still quite functional. What is changing though is the application of how telephone numbers actually get used by end consumers, and the trend is to bypass the actual process of dialing legacy phone numbers.

Star Star Numbers Offer an Alternative, Not a Deathblow, to the Phone Number

The landline is on its way out of our lives, displaced by the cellular phone. Moreover, the very phone call is on the decline too. Smartphones take the lion’s share of credit for this demise, as well as changing the landscapes of computing and commerce. Even text messaging is losing ground to messaging through apps such as Twitter, Facebook, Google Talk and Apple’s iMessage. Which leaves us with the question — do we really even need phone numbers anymore? Could we one day live without them? And what alternatives will rise up to take their place? A company called Zoove believes it has an option with “star star” vanity numbers, which Sprint is now selling to its customers at a fee of $3 per month. Zoove and Sprint are hawking the numbers an easier to remember option.

Broadband and Internet

DSL Renaissance Underway?

In the past few years, we’ve seen much momentum with FTTH. The FTTH Council recently reported that 9 million homes in the U.S. now subscribe to FTTH and it is available (homes passed) to 21.3 million homes. Yet, from both a global and a U.S. perspective, DSL is still the broadband workhorse for telcos. Much of the FTTH momentum of the past few years can be attributed to the $7.2 billion broadband stimulus program. Additionally, there is significant FTTH activity in the municipal broadband movement. But has FTTH construction peaked in the U.S.? The leading North American FTTH carrier, Verizon, has announced their FiOS plans are just about complete, with no new additional FiOS builds to come.

Genesis Technical says it can deliver 400 Mbps over existing copper

Genesis Technical Systems said that its new technology, DSL Rings, can deliver 400 Mbps speeds over existing copper infrastructure "at a fraction of the cost of fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) or fiber-to-the-premise (FTTP)." A news release issued today in advance of Broadband World Forum 2012 (Oct. 16-18,in Amsterdam) said that the technology is "generally backhaul agnostic and works with both conventional copper, using standards-based DSL technology, and FTTCab (fiber to the cabinet) or fiber-to-the-neighborhood" and "can also provide backhaul for femtocells to offload congested mobile networks." "DSL Rings facilitates telco customer acquisition, win-back and retention by offering better, faster services; more bandwidth; and lower cost per unit than current methods of delivering broadband services over copper," company President-CTO Stephen Cooke said in the news release.

Broadband Forum holds VDSL2 G.Vector plugfest

A group of chipset vendors developing VDSL2 G.Vector products participated in one of the first interoperability testing events of the ITU-T's G.Vector specifications held in late September at the University of New Hampshire's Interoperability Lab. For existing telcos looking to leverage their existing copper-based networks in order to deliver higher speed broadband services to consumers and businesses, G.Vector can increase subscriber data rates by canceling crosstalk in real-time between VDSL2 enabled wire pairs.

Cellular and Wireless

The realities of spectrum – Challenges, regulation, T&M and exploratory band searching

Consumer demand for faster-performing advanced services is driving a war in not only between the broadcast and broadband industries, but also between commercial providers and government users for space on the nation's airwaves. The roll out of 4G LTE services is adding fuel to the fire, creating a nearly insatiable desire for scarcer spectrum. In response to these challenges, providers are looking for options such as moving to new bands, which is opening up a whole new can of worms. Frontier to Resell AT&T Wireless, But Won’t Have the iPhone

Frontier Communications will offer two Android devices — the HTC One X and Samsung Galaxy Sill — as part of its plan to resell AT&T Wireless services in several markets announced today, Frontier President of Wireless & On- Network Video Don Banowetz said in an email to Telecompetitor. Customers will be able to get the HTC One X at no charge in exchange for a two-year commitment, Banowetz said. But for now, he said, the iPhone is not part of the offering. “As our trial progresses, we’ll look at additional platforms,” said Banowetz. Initially AT&T Wireless service is available from Frontier only in Everett, Kirkland, Lynnwood, Redmond and Bothell, Washington; Minneapolis South Metro and Orange County, N.Y. “We are contemplating additional market expansion once we prove the concept’s merit,” said Banowetz. “Success criteria include unit sales, broadband inclusion and incremental revenue.” Banowetz said economic and demographic factors, sales distribution availability, leadership teams and other factors were considered in choosing the five markets.

F.J. Pollak's TracFone: The most successful wireless provider you've never heard of

It is an MVNO of all of the major nationwide wireless carriers, as well as some regional carriers. It offers a full range of products, from super low-cost voice phones to full-featured Android smartphones. It's available almost everywhere, from Walmart to Target to RadioShack. It has been guided by the same executive since it was founded almost two decades ago. With 21.3 million subscribers, it's the nation's fifth largest wireless provider, though it spends virtually nothing on advertising. It's TracFone Wireless, and analysts generally agree it's one of the smartest wireless players in the market. "They were able to figure out there is a market for low-ARPU prepaid," explained Recon Analytics analyst Roger Entner. "The secret of success is that they have a maniacal focus on eliminating unnecessary expenses."

Verizon to blow past year-end 4G target, covering 417 markets

Verizon Wireless said today that it would surpass its year-end goal of blanketing 400 markets with 4G LTE two months ahead of schedule. On October 18, the company will have covered 417 U.S. markets with its super-fast wireless network, extending its overwhelming lead over the other carriers. Its 4G LTE was the focal point of the carrier's presentation at the MobileCon wireless trade show this week. Despite the speedy work, it's sticking with its target of completing the full upgrade by the end of next year, in which its 4G LTE coverage will be comparable to its current 3G network coverage.

IPTV and Video

Digital Home: Pursuing Video Harmony in a Multiscreen World

As the amount of video playback devices in the home proliferates, service providers need to look beyond delivering raw bandwidth, and focus on delivering the right bandwidth to the right devices. As multiple devices jockey for bandwidth, service providers will be challenged to ensure smartphones, tablets, big screen HDTVs, and game consoles can all live in video harmony.

Slingbox takes on its mobile rivals

The landscape for television has undergone remarkable changes in the eight years since the Slingbox was invented. The first of its kind Slingbox had come to represent "place-shifting," the liberating idea that with a computer or cellphone, you could watch live "local" TV channels or programs you recorded on your home DVR, even if you happened to be thousands of miles away. But "anywhere, anytime TV" no longer seems quite as miraculous as it did back then. Think Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, MLB.com, HBO Go, 60 Minutes and all the other apps and services that are easily accessible on your smartphone or tablet. Think Apple TV, Boxee, Google TV, Roku, TiVo, Simple.TV, Western Digital and all the various set-top boxes.

AOL pushes video library onto YouTube

AOL used New York Advertising Week 2012 to announce that it is putting its video library of almost 20,000 titles on YouTube. "[O]ur entire original video content library will be distributed across 22 curated channels and monetized on YouTube," Ran Harnevo, AOL's senior vice president of video, wrote in a company blog. "Viewers will be able to enjoy nearly 20,000 videos from their favorite AOL brands like The Huffington Post, TechCrunch and Moviefone; original series Beyond the Battlefield and Little Women, Big Cars; and vertical content on topics Style and Home."