So clearly I’m all over wireless for Thanksgiving – it’s due in large part to Tim Finnerty sending me so many helpful articles and the tryptophan is keeping me indoors.
First there’s an interesting piece on using cable’s model for promoting R & D; “Former Cable Labs chief Dick Green wants the government to promote the kind of collaborative research that resulted in the DOCSIS standard for cable high-speed modem data delivery and to find ways to incentivize research through government contracting.” I’m always a fan of investment and it feels as if investment is the only way that the US will finds way back on top of International ranking lists of any sort. Unfortunately, it seems as if the economy has left people a little gun shy for long term investment – but I read an article where investment in other countries has paid off and I’m reminded that we need to invest.
Maybe encouraging investment and collaboration through the government is a good way to get the ball rolling.
Almost to make the point, Comcast recently announced 361,000 net additions to its broadband subscriber base in the third quarter, roughly doubling the combined numbers reported by AT&T, Verizon Communications and Qwest Communications. They are working on an underground IPTV and video convergence project (called Excalibur) that should set them in good stead for the future of video (Side note: Apparently Excalibur is hiring!)
Also, there’s the whole foray into wireless, that I wrote about yesterday. For their part, Mediacom expects to launch wideband modem services in 11 markets total in December, with nine starting with a 50-meg tier, and the balance offering 100-meg services.
