NTCA's The New Edge » Dave Lowe

Internet Gadgets Play a Key Role in People’s Lives

Dave Lowe — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 15:48:16 +0000

A recent survey conducted by Burst Media found people are becoming more dependent on Internet-connected gadgets like smartphones, PDAs and electronic netbooks to interact with friends, make decisions regarding purchases, engage in online research and react to advertising messages. The survey reached 1,768 online, U.S. respondents age 18 and over.

Key findings from the report indicate: more than 25% of the respondents feel completely disconnected if they are not online for over a week or more, three out of five (61%) respondents use their gadget to browse Web content at least daily, and the vast majority of respondents believe new technology significantly impacts their daily life.

And 74% of the respondents said new technology gadgets significantly or moderately improved their daily contact with family and friends. Regarding online commerce, 56% of the respondents indicated Internet connected gadgets improved their shopping for products and services.

According to the report, men aged 21-34 tend to be the most active and engaged Internet-connected gadget users followed closely by women in the same age demographic. Not surprisingly, older men and women (ages 55 or older) report either light or non-use of their Internet-connected gadgets indicating they only use them when necessary.

Another interesting finding from the report indicates that of the respondents, only 8% of Internet-connected device owners say they rarely, if ever, connect.

FCC Approves Verizon Wireline Assets Sale to Frontier Communications

Dave Lowe — Mon, 24 May 2010 19:34:27 +0000

In a not so surprising move, the FCC has approved the sale of Verizon’s wireline assets in fourteen states to Frontier Communications Corp. today. This acquisition has been discussed in the trade press for some time due to review and approval processes by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Department of Justice (DOJ) and concerned individual state regulatory agencies. However, final approval rested with the FCC, which has deemed the sale to be worthwhile.

Residential and small-business access lines in Arizona, California, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Washington, Wisconsin and West Virginia will be affected by the sale.

ISPs Add Rural Broadband Customers at Double-digit Pace

Dave Lowe — Wed, 19 May 2010 20:08:35 +0000

According to comScore, a regional consultancy located in Reston, Virginia, regional ISPs have been adding rural broadband customers in the U.S. at double-digit growth rates over the past year. It seems like these regional ISPs have focused their efforts in rural markets in anticipation of larger carriers ultimately reaching near-capacity penetration rates in urban and suburban markets; leaving only rural markets for future growth – a trend not without historical precident. Further, and for the most part, these regional ISPs have facilitated this growth without the aid of government provided stimulus funds.

“Although rural markets have witnessed significant increases in broadband penetration during the past few years, these areas still lag behind the penetration rates of metropolitan areas. As the primary drivers of rural broadband growth, regional ISPs have the opportunity to increase their market share by delivering broadband to the millions of households still relying on dial-up services.”, said Brian Jurutka, comScore senior vice president.

Leading the group of regional ISPs who are reaching double-digit growth during the last year in rural markets is TDS Telecom located in Maine at 101% increases from the first quarter in 2009 as compared to the last quarter of 2009. TDS is followed by Windstream Communications in Arkansas, with a 57% increase for the same period. Frontier Communications located in Nebraska, Idaho and Alabama had subscriber increases of 28%, 27% and 26% respectively for the same time period.

Consumer demand for bandwidth intensive applications like streaming video and peer-to-peer file sharing appear to be driving broadband adoption in rural areas; not unlike as seen in urban and suburban settings.