Five cities in New York, Massachusetts and Maryland that don’t have Verizon’s FiOS service are slamming the company’s tie-up with cable operators, saying Verizon would have “little incentive” to expand its landline service to their communities if the transaction is approved. Elected officials and community groups from Boston and Baltimore, as well as from Albany, […]
Telecommunications
Cable vet Carlucci onboard as Alticast’s CTO of Americas
Interactive TV and middleware vendor Alticast has tapped cable industry veteran John Carlucci as its new chief technology officer for the Americas. Prior to joining Alticast, Carlucci was most recently CTO for Clearleap. His 20-year cable career includes stops at Time Warner Cable, where he was chief network architect and senior director of engineering, and […]
FTC report tackles privacy, suggests changes
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is calling on mobile companies to work toward improved privacy protections, including the development of shorter, more succinct privacy disclosures, according to a report released yesterday by the Commission that seeks to understand how to better protect consumer data and privacy. The report, which includes recommendations for businesses, as well […]
GreenTouch unveils hyper-efficient FTTH
The GreenTouch Consortium’s latest contribution to the energy-efficiency of future communications networks was designed for fiber-to-the-home, but it has implications for the wireless space, as well. The group’s Bit-Interleaved Passive Optical Network (Bi-PON) technology is purported to reduce the amount of power consumed by FTTH networks by 30 times compared with current technologies – a […]
Wowza backer takes a minority stake
Media server specialist Wowza Media Systems has attracted additional funding, with Summit Partners making a minority investment in the company. Wowza did not provide a value for the investment. It said only that the two founders continue to hold a majority interest in the company, and that Summit has placed Greg Goldfarb, one of its […]
Comcast opens doors on Xfinity Customer Center in Colo.
Standing in line for customer service is akin to deep cleaning by a dental hygienist; it’s to be endured, not enjoyed. But Comcast is taking steps to improve its customers’ experience on several fronts, one of which includes the transformation of many of its customer service centers across its footprint. The new customer service centers, […]
Verizon, cable ops shed light on AWS, marketing deals
Verizon Wireless and the four cable operators it is buying spectrum from have presented the FCC with a nuanced explanation of a marketing and cross-selling arrangement that was penned at the same time the companies agreed on a $3.9 billion sale of AWS spectrum. The marketing deal between Verizon and Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Bright […]
Whaleback picks Bright House to enable managed voice services
Whaleback Managed Services picked Bright House Networks to help provision its managed voice services to a health care facility in Tampa Bay. Whaleback announced today that Northside Mental Health Center, a non-profit organization serving Hillsborough County residents suffering from or at risk of mental illness, chose its CrystalBlue cloud-based managed voice services. Northside serves more […]
AT&T to FCC: ‘I told you so’ about T-Mobile layoffs
AT&T is linking the layoffs of 1,900 T-Mobile USA call center workers to the FCC’s decision to block the two companies’ merger, a scathing critique that prompted a quick response from the agency. AT&T said the cuts at T-Mobile were the very jobs it would have preserved if the buyout had gone through, citing past […]
All aboard the Buckeye Express: Buckeye bows 110 Mbps wideband tier
Buckeye CableSystem has launched a DOCSIS 3.0-based wideband tier with download speeds of up to 110 Mbps. The wideband service, which features 5 Mbps on the upstream, was rolled out late last month in various communities that Buckeye serves in Ohio, as well as in parts of southeast Michigan. The service costs $179.99 a month […]