Integrating MMS/SMS capabilities gives MSOs a piece of the mobile market. Never before have consumers had so many communication options. Voice, email, short message service (SMS), multimedia message service (MMS), instant messaging and social networking are nearly ubiquitous. As more services show up on multiple platforms, consumers no longer view different media as separate services, […]
Telecommunications
Real-time services make their debut
It’s a real market opportunity for cable operators. Consumers can’t get enough of high-speed data, voice and the ever-growing inventory of video content available in the marketplace today. Based on growth projections for bandwidth usage in the United States, operators have a significant opportunity ahead. Cisco Systems recently estimated that the average user in the […]
UP Front – February 2012 – Latest Industry News and Insights
Numbers and letters: HTML5 While the cable industry has been establishing EBIF and tru2way as a common environment for writing and hosting applications, the Web-based HTML5 environment has the potential to be as useful, if not more so, based on expectations that it will eventually become almost ubiquitous. The value of HTML5 is that it […]
In Perspective – (Can’t get no) Satisfaction
MSOs’ deal with Verizon Wireless hurts competition. Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications and Bright House Networks plan to sell their spectrum to Verizon Wireless. If that goes through, the MSOs and the carrier intend to market each other’s products. The MSOs have strong, competitive triple plays. Bundle in one of the most attractive wireless […]
Memory Lane – A Remote Opportunity
Maybe the impetus for TV set replacement is resolving a visceral human need: Eliminating the remote. During World War I, the German Navy unleashed an inventive weapon designed to compromise enemy firepower while avoiding casualties. Naval officers steered motorboats loaded with explosives toward enemy ships using a novel remote control technology that operated via radio […]
Open Mic – Who owns the home network?
Staying relevant in the connected home. If there’s one safe bet in telecom, it’s that the percentage of households worldwide with connected consumer electronics (CE) devices will continue to grow at a healthy clip. That trend is already transforming the ways that consumers get video services. For example, by 2016, connected CE devices will handle […]
Comcast among latest round of investors for SnagFilms
Following up on a $10 million round of investment last year, SnagFilms has raised another $7 million in funds from its investors, which included Comcast Interactive Capital. Comcast, SnagFilms founder and chairman Ted Leonsis, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and former AOL chairman Steve Case’s Case Foundation followed […]
LightSquared GPS argument up for public comment
The FCC has opened part of LightSquared’s embattled wireless plans for public comment. The agency on Friday decided to accept comments on LightSquared’s claim that GPS receiver manufacturers were not entitled to interference protection from its signals as long as LightSquared operated within the FCC’s parameters. LightSquared has been fighting to get the FCC to […]
Alliance: Super Wi-Fi an ‘Inaccurate Moniker’
Last week, the city of Wilmington, N.C., went live with technology that allowed it to run video surveillance, water monitoring modules and limited broadband service off the empty spectrum that lies between television channels. The first-ever commercial launch of white space technology marked the successful conclusion of a year-long trial, with the Wireless Innovation Alliance […]
Motorola Mobility posts Q4 loss
Motorola Mobility announced fourth-quarter revenue of $3.4 billion while also swinging to a $70 million operating loss, which compares with a $72 million operating profit in the year-ago quarter. The GAAP net loss in the fourth quarter of 2011 was $80 million, or 27 cents per share, compared with net earnings of $80 million, or […]