Broadband Breaking News

Samsung builds Russian WiMAX network
Samsung Electronics has built a WiMax network in the Russian cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg for local operator Startel, it said Tuesday. More..

Internet traffic growth slowing, research firm shows
Despite prognostications that the Internet is about to collapse from the weight of traffic growth -- especially video -- international Internet traffic grew 53% between mid-2007 and mid-2008, down from 61% the preceding year, according to a market research firm. More..

Slow Ugandan broadband speed criticized
Some Ugandans who think they have a broadband Internet connection have actually only purchased broadband equipment and not the service, according to Edward Nsubuga, managing director of Data Fundi, an ICT consulting and systems integration company. More..

Sierra Leone telecom gets $30M boost from Indian gov't
The Indian government has provided US$30 million in aid to Sierratel, Sierra Leone's national telecom carrier, to revamp its landline services in Freetown, Kono, Port Loko, Kenema, Bo and Moyamba with new switches, said Sierratel managing director Alpha Sesay Thursday. More..

Kenya WiMax network gets $3.5M investment
AccessKenya has invested US$3.5 million to build a WiMax network targeting Kenyan homes with an initial deployment of 35 base stations in Nairobi and Mombasa. More..

Critics question Comcast broadband caps
Comcast's decision to put a 250-gigabyte cap on monthly bandwidth use for its residential customers may look like a generous number, but some critics suggested the cap may cause problems for users in the future. More..

Sprint's WiMax service to include local features
Sprint Nextel will put location-based services front and center on its Xohm WiMax service, offering a portal with widgets for local weather, traffic, events, reviews and other information. More..

Intel demos prototype in India of US$114 Atom device
Intel Thursday showed a prototype of a range of low-cost "nettops' that are to be introduced in the country over the next several months. The devices, will be offered in the country by domestic and multinational PC vendors and local system integrators. More..

Comcast sets monthly bandwidth limit for customers
Comcast, the largest provider of cable-based broadband service in the U.S., will limit residential customers to 250 gigabytes of bandwidth a month beginning Oct. 1, the company announced late Thursday. More..

AMD sells digital TV business to Broadcom
Advanced Micro Devices has agreed to sell its digital television business to Broadcom for $192.8 million, as the chip maker fights to return to profitability, the companies announced Monday. More..

Comcast: No new traffic-management plan yet
Comcast has made no final decisions on how to manage network congestion, despite news reports Wednesday that it will slow traffic for heavy users for up to 20 minutes during times of peak network use. More..

East Coast Web connections run laps around rest of U.S., study says
A new study claims that states on the East Coast have significantly faster median download speeds than the rest of the country, with the top states doubling or nearly tripling the national median speed. More..

Kenya banking on triple play to lower digitization costs
The Kenyan government is banking on technology convergence to lower the cost of migrating from analog to digital broadcasting, said Bitange Ndemo, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communication. More..

White spaces group: Mics don't interfere with TV
Wireless microphones were operating in spectrum occupied by television stations but didn't interfere with broadcasts during recent tests of new wireless broadband devices in Maryland, says a group pushing for government approval of the new devices. More..

Orange launches mobile broadband package
Orange at the weekend launched a new mobile broadband package, which includes a free dongle and a discounted ultraportable Asus laptop, as more people eschew their fixed-line internet connection and opt for the flexibility of mobile broadband. More..

Verizon launches emergency communications service
Verizon Business has launched a service designed to allow police, fire departments and other emergency responders to connect to each other on the same network, whether they are using traditional radio sets, mobile phones, fixed-line phones or e-mail. More..

Tata offers TelePresence rooms for rental
Indian telecommunications service provider Tata Communications plans to offer TelePresence services worldwide based on technology from Cisco. More..

Mobile telephony drives France Télécom revenue
France Télécom reported revenue up 1.5 percent for the first half of the year, with growth strongest in its mobile communications division. More..

Olympics, security holes, IT job dissatisfaction and more
Beijing Prepares for "High-Tech Olympics"; Endpoint Security Holes an Open Door for Attackers; IT Leaders Can't Get No Job Satisfaction; and more. More..

Alcatel-Lucent CEO and Chairman resign
Alcatel-Lucent's CEO Patricia Russo plans to step down before the end of the year, and Chairman Serge Tchuruk will quit on Oct. 1. Russo will stay on until the board finds a replacement, the company said Tuesday. More..

US poised for broadband explosion, says Gartner
The U.S. has fallen behind on broadband penetration, but that will change in the next four years, according to a report from Gartner. More..

Broadband to reach 77% of U.S. households by 2012, Gartner says
The United States will close its digital divide significantly within the next four years, with 77% of US households having a broadband Internet subscription, according to a new Gartner study.  More..

Groups urge FCC to keep the Internet open
The FCC needs to take steps to keep the Internet free of interference from broadband providers, such as the slowing of peer-to-peer traffic and the tracking of subscribers' Web habits, several witnesses told the FCC at a hearing Monday. More..

Comcast pitches IPv6 strategy to standards body
Comcast has developed an innovative approach for gradually migrating its customers to the next-generation Internet, and the ISP is promoting this approach to the Internet's leading standards body. More..

Aircell picks LTE to deliver in-flight mobile broadband
Airline communications provider Aircell has chosen Long Term Evolution (LTE) as its standard to give passengers in-flight access to 4G wireless services. More..