Gigabyte March on Washington

The Supreme Court today heard agruments from the twos sides of the case that pits Brand X and the Cable companies over the definition whether the "bundling" of services such as Cable TV, Internet and Telephony provided by the Cable companies, should open up their networks to other providers.

It is speculated, that the case will boil down to the definition of "information service" or "telecomunications". In a news.com article written today, it stated that "Several of the justices appeared to scratch their head over why the two industries should be regulated differently".

According to News Channel 3 Palm Spring, CA - "Justice Stephen Breyer likened cable Internet access to telephone service, a parallel that would lead ultimately to competition".

As reported from Advanced Pipeline -

Vonage says it's been blocked; Company's terms of service "prohibits" use of certain high-bandwidth applications.

The company in this case is Clearwire. According to the article,  "Clearwire says it reserves the right to prohibit the use of a wide range of bandwidth-hungry applications, a list that apparently includes VoIP as well as the uploading or downloading of streaming video or audio, and high-traffic Web site hosting. According to the company's terms of service, Clearwire reserves the right to restrict access or terminate service to customers who don't comply with its rules."

What is interesting to me is the relationship Clearwire and Bell Canada have. A $100 million investment into the company is a clear indication of the Wi-Fi / VoIP combination.

The Washington Post reports this morning a new notice for proposed rule (NPRM) making aimed at whether to restrict blogs, e-mail and other online activities. The article also states that the "FEC" is focusing much of its attention on whether to apply federal contribution limits on online political advertising campaigns".

It also indicates that the six-member panel has not decided to impose, but is leaning against imposing, restrictions on independent bloggers or bloggers who work for political campaigns.

I suppose it should not come as a surprise that L3 pulled out at the last minute, of which would have required a mandatory decision by the FCC on March 22 on VoIP fees.

VON's favorite son and strongest advocate Michael Powell - has left the building! With Powell in place, there was much hope that the former Chairman would pull off another VoIP favor, but that was not going to happen. In Powell's last public keynote speech at the VON Spring 2005 conference, he made it clear things were not going to be as easy as they have been in getting VoIP all they ask for.

VON coalition founder Jeff Pulver had this to say about L3's 11th-hour pull out on his blog posting.

Vonage reports blocking again. At first they thought it was user error, but no, it must be Wi-Fi now doing the blocking.

Reporting from News.com 

Two broadband providers are causing problems for Vonage's Internet phone traffic, a spokeswoman said Monday, suggesting that a recent federal fine for blocking Vonage calls may not have had its intended impact.

A cable operator and what Vonage spokeswoman Brooke Schulz would only describe as a "wireless broadband provider" are the two alleged culprits. The problems include Vonage calls not getting through and Vonage home phone adapters not working, she said.

KMC is closing out its business as a CLEC. Reporting the news came from Telephony Online and Forbes. Century Tel and Telcove will be the two companies purchasing the assets of KMC's fiber and other network operations. I would suspect further consolidations as the coming trend, as the telecom industry specifically the Bell's position for market share.

As reported on Muniwireless.com

Anti-muni restrictions removed from Texas bill

Adina Levin reports that Section 54.202 of Texas House Bill 789 "no longer includes a ban on city-supported network services. The bill is back to status quo, which is a ban on cities providing phone service." You can read the most recent version of the bill here (PDF).

Adina says that legislators have been hearing from constituents and their phone calls, faxes, and emails are having an impact. However, she expects amendments to appear again on the House Floor, attached to other telecom bills such as HB 2637. Apparently SBC is continuing to lobby members HARD to prevent cities and towns from increasing high-speed internet choices for citizens.

The CEOs of SBC and Verizon deny that they are trying to stop municipalities from providing broadband to their residents. Read a snippet of the transcript from the US Senate hearing in which SBC and Verizon continue to spread their own version of the truth at http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/61506.

Via Networkingpipeline

Global Crossing has been awarded a $100 million contract to provide global IP-based network services for the British Council, a non-profit educational and international relations organization based in London. Firm will provide global IP-based network services for the British Council in 260 offices in 110 countries worldwide.