The Podium
Blog posts tagged with 'Consumers'
Monday, October 29
By Brad
Over at Fierce Telecom, Barry Umansky and Robert Yadon of the Digital Policy Institute have put together a great analysis of how broadband benefits consumers. From the intro:
The Digital Policy Institute believes that advancing the interests of consumers should be a major, driving force in government policymaking processes aimed at broadband expansion and enhanced connectivity. Our 21st Century digital infrastructure can be the conduit for many consumer benefits. As part of our review of those many benefits we’ve developed a Top 10 list that federal and state officials should consider when making choices that can affect the availability and capacity of broadband.
The full post is worth checking out. And for our own thoughts on the benefits of broadband (which Umansky and Yadon reference), check out “Top 10 Ways Broadband Saves American Entrepreneurs Money.”
Thursday, May 31
By Jamal Simmons
Tomorrow, as part of the National Conference of Black Mayors 38th Annual Convention in Atlanta, there will be a panel event titled “The Wireless Spectrum Crisis: Its Impact on Underserved Communities.”
This will be an important event on an important issue. The mobile broadband revolution — and I think it’s safe to call it a revolution at this point — has helped America make a major dent in its digital divide. Just take a look at some numbers from Pew:
Nearly two-thirds of African-Americans (64%) and Latinos (63%) are wireless internet users, and minority Americans are significantly more likely to own a cell phone than are their white counterparts (87% of black and Hispanics own a cell phone, compared with 80% of whites).
We can all agree it’s critical for America to keep this positive trend going — not just for the digital divide, but for our country’s economic rebound. But the threat of a spectrum shortage — one that could grind innovation to a crawl and hurt consumers with higher prices — has the potential to be a major roadblock.
This is something Minority Media & Telecom Council (MMTC) President and co-founder David Honig recently touched on during an appearance at the World Conference of Mayors Broadband Symposium in Alabama. Broadband & Social Justice’s Marcella Gadson covered Honig’s speech, and wrote:
“The relative affordability of mobile wireless broadband use versus costs for home broadband use sparked some to describe this phenomenon as the ‘minority wireless miracle,’” [Honig] stated. However, “Since African Americans are disproportionately relying on mobile wireless broadband for Internet access, they will be [disproportionately] affected if the supply of commercial spectrum is not increased.”
The spectrum crunch can be a hard issue to wrap your head around. After all, spectrum isn’t something we can see. But the effects of a spectrum shortage will be very visible, and with demand for mobile broadband threatening to soon outstrip the supply of spectrum for mobile use, conversations like tomorrow’s event in Atlanta are an absolute necessity.
IIA will have more coverage of the “The Wireless Spectrum Crisis: Its Impact on Underserved Communities” panel during and after the event. To follow along, use the hashtag #ncbmspectrum.
Friday, February 24
By Jamal Simmons
Today’s final article in David Goldman’s series on the spectrum crunch for CNN Money shows that he gets it — there is no “catch-all fix.” It is promising, though, that wireless carriers are actively seeking solutions to the spectrum shortage that will enable continued innovation in the industry and allow them to better serve their customers. These users’ quality of service on their iPhones, Androids, BlackBerries and tablets will significantly improve when wireless carriers, as pointed out by Goldman’s piece, bid on spectrum at auction and kick the build-out of networks into high gear.
Yet another benefit: this investment by wireless companies means more U.S. jobs. Wireless companies winning spectrum is a win for American consumers and the American economy — the FCC should act quickly to set these open incentive spectrum auctions in motion.
Monday, June 20
By Brad
Via Todd Wasserman of Mashable, a new report from Flurry finds that mobile apps are now demanding more attention from consumers than the traditional Internet:
Flurry compared its mobile data to stats from comScore and Alexa, and found that in June, consumers spent 81 minutes per day using mobile apps, compared to 74 minutes of web surfing.
A full summary of the report is available at Flurry.
Monday, April 04
By Brad
With regulatory scrutiny of the proposed AT&T-T-Mobile merger just getting underway, USA Today‘s David Lieberman sat down with AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson to talk about the deal, the regulatory process, and why the merger will be good for both AT&T and T-Mobile consumers. A sample exchange:
Q: What exactly can you do with T-Mobile that you can’t do alone?
A: In the last four years, the volume of (traffic on) these (wireless broadband) networks is up 8,000%. We believe that we’re going to go up, in five years, eight to 10 times from where we are today. We don’t have the spectrum position to accomplish that.
T-Mobile’s spectrum is very compatible with ours. In cities like New York, we put the two companies together, and we get a very quick lift in capacity of about 30%. That means fewer dropped calls, better service quality, and it gives us a path to do something that neither one of us could do independently, and that is deploy fourth-generation mobile broadband to 95% of the U.S.
The full interview is worth checking out.
Monday, May 03
By Bruce Mehlman
Research firm Frost & Sullivan has released a new report, “Net Neutrality: Impact on Carrier Investment and Economic Growth,” which examines the possible effect new regulations would have on consumers, the economy, and the FCC’s National Broadband Plan. From the report (which we’ve posted to our site):
After interviews with several carriers as well as several consumer advocacy organizations, we determined that net neutrality was likely to impact the following variables:
Innovation: Net neutrality impacts operator innovation by either providing incentives to develop products and services or to discourage those activities. Based on primary research conducted by this author, the assumption is that the more confusion or restrictions that are placed on an organization, the less likely it is to be creative and, by extension, innovative.
Prospective ARPU: Average revenue per user is a statement of the expectation that particular consumers, both individuals and commercial users, will generate a particular amount of revenue over time. The important point here is not whether the average user will actually generate such revenue, but whether the operator expects the user to do so. It is the expectation of return that motivates an investor to invest.
Non-access Service Revenue: Anything likely to discourage consumers or commercial entities, such as content providers, to subscribe to an operator’s service offerings is likely to decrease the total amount of non-access related revenue that can be generated.
OPEX: Operational expense is the overhead required to deploy, manage and maintain networks. Net neutrality, by potentially increasing the overhead associated with ensuring regulatory compliance or by reducing the efficiency of managing networks could increase OPEX.
CAPEX: Capital expense is the direct cost of deploying networks. In an environment where the revenues associated with services are denied or reduced for operators, CAPEX could be expected to decrease. Contrariwise, if QoS approaches are denied operators, CAPEX could increase as operators overbuild to address traffic growth.
Check out the full report, which should raise a major red flag for the excellent broadband team at the Federal Communications Commission. Rather than getting distracted by divisive new regulations with significant economic risks to consumers, the Commission should drive full speed ahead on those aspects of its Plan more surely focused on broadband adoption and deployment.
Tuesday, September 08
By Bruce Mehlman
This week’s national broadband plan workshop will cover “Broadband Consumer Context.” From broadband.gov:
This workshop will examine the broader context of the consumer experience from the perspective of the benefits it confers to consumers, the risks that may be associated with the benefits, and the obligations broadband connectivity may impose on consumers and institutions in an environment of pervasive data sharing and availability.
The workshop is scheduled for Wednesday, September 9 at 1:30 pm EDT. As always, more information—including how to watch the workshop via streaming video—can be found on the national broadband plan website.
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