Fiber to the Beach House?
MCNC‘s Jean Davis talks with Lightreading about fiber growth across North Carolina.
View the link HERE.
Wheeler Proposes Tech-Neutral Special Access Approach
FCC chairman Tom Wheeler wants special access service regulation to be tech neutral, whether it is being provided by incumbent telcos (ILECs), competitive telcos (CLECs) or cable operators, and he has the reform framework ready to roll—it was circulated to the other commissioners April 7.
The goal is to promote more competition, competition, competition (the chairman’s mantra) for business services, which could include price regulation on cable service where it does not face competition.
Special access lines are dedicated connections used by businesses and institutions to deliver voice and data traffic, including for ATMs and credit card transactions. The regs have been applied to the larger ILECs—Verizon, AT&T,, CenturyLink and Frontier—but the chairman thinks they should apply across the board where more competition is needed. FCC officials speaking not for attribution signaled the FCC had concluded there was more competition in high-bandwidth (above 50 meg) services and less in low-band.
Link to article is HERE.
Greensboro issues Broadband RFP
On Thursday, March 24, the cities of Greensboro, Burlington, and High Point, along with Guilford County, UNC Greensboro, NC A&T State University, and the Piedmont Triad Regional Council (PTRC) have become the latest NC partnership to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) for enhanced broadband capacity. This collaboration, known as TriGig, asked Internet service providers to submit proposals for next-generation broadband infrastructure. See the press release HERE. See the RFP HERE. Download the RFP HERE.
Broadband Is More Than Infrastructure
“Access to high-speed broadband Internet is becoming vital for businesses and economic development, and most cities recognize its importance. Broadband adoption and use, which were once commonly overlooked, are equally important for economic development and are now beginning to get their fair share of attention.”
Link to article: Broadband Communities
Why Fast, Affordable, Modern Broadband is Critical for Rural NC
The Coalition for Local Internet Choice (‘CLIC’) summarizes the critical importance of truly modern broadband for rural North Carolina. View the article HERE.