A Blueprint for Internet Infrastructure Success
In Washington, a new year has brought a renewed focus on ways to invest in America’s infrastructure, including broadband networks. While we are familiar with congested highways and crumbling bridges, our nation’s broadband infrastructure tells a different story. Since 1996 the cable industry has invested over $250 billion in capital infrastructure resulting in faster and better broadband for millions of consumers. As the nation’s largest broadband provider, cable’s advanced broadband networks are available to 93 percent of U.S. homes. While the hundreds of billions of private capital has
How GCI is Connecting Arctic Alaska to the Rest of the World
Imagine walking outside of your home knowing that you can’t get to your neighboring town, or even the nearest hospital, without hopping on a plane. That scenario is a reality for a great number of native Alaskans, especially those living in the remote regions of the state. But for many, high speed internet is about to make their lives much easier. With the recent construction completion of seven towers in the Arctic Circle, GCI, Alaska’s largest internet service provider, is about to bring a whole new level of connectivity to a part of rural Alaska. Construction of the towers is one piece of a
Internet Providers At the Top of Investment Heroes Ranking 2016
The latest Progressive Policy Institute Investment Heroes 2016 report is in, and for the third year in a row, ISPs are the biggest investors of capital in the United States. With a total of over $48 billion invested in 2015, ISPs are injecting billions of dollars into networks and equipment to meet customer demands in an ever-evolving digital world. Since its inception in 2012, the Progressive Policy Institute identified the top 25 companies that are investing in domestic long-term growth and productivity. For 2015, total capital expenditures equaled $177 billion, up from $172 billion in 2014
CEO Rocco Commisso on Mediacom’s 20-Year Success
Twenty years ago, Mediacom founder Rocco Commisso had a vision: to build a company that would provide customers in smaller markets and rural communities with the same level of cable and telecommunications services that their counterparts in the big cities enjoyed. Fast forward through two decades, 22 acquisitions, the Internet surge, and 600,000 miles of fiber, and Mediacom, the nation’s 8th largest cable operator, now serves over 1.3 million customers in 1,500 communities across 22 states, primarily in the Midwestern and Southeastern regions of the United States. Today, the company Commisso
Spotlight: Mediacom Is Bringing a Rural School In Alabama Up to Speed
For those who live and work in a metropolitan area, you probably don’t think twice when others around you stream videos, download hundreds of pages worth of documents, and share large amounts of data with others near and far. Living in or near a densely populated city has its advantages, and one of them is easy access to high-speed internet. But what about those far-reaching places that aren’t as easy to connect? How do they access fast broadband in a world that depends on constant connectivity? Mediacom, an Internet, phone and TV provider based in New York, has been a staple in rural America
The FCC Broadband Report You Didn't Hear About
If you follow broadband policy, you probably know that last week the FCC released its annual Broadband Progress Report (often referred to as the Section 706 Report) in which it concludes (erroneously) that broadband is not being deployed in a reasonable and timely manner. But did you hear about the other broadband report issued by the FCC last week, the one demonstrating how deployment and performance of broadband in the United States is far outpacing European broadband? Didn’t think so. In conjunction with the well-known Section 706 Report that reviews the progress of broadband deployment in
Three Charts That Show Broadband Deployment is Reasonable and Timely
Every year, the FCC is required by Congress to “determine whether advanced telecommunications capability is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonably and timely fashion.” This is officially called the Broadband Progress Report, a title that indicates it should report on growth, development and advancement of broadband in America. Any cursory and objective review of the statistics, even those from the Commission itself, should compel an overwhelming affirmative conclusion. Unfortunately, what should be an unbiased, data-driven assessment has largely been supplanted by an ends-driven
The Building Blocks of a Digital America
We sometimes take our connected lifestyles for granted – the ease with which we can stream a championship football game, play our favorite video game against a competitor in Japan from the comfort of our living room, or take an online professional development class to further our careers. But all of this is viable because of the myriad of Internet service providers, technology companies and businesses in our country that tackle the challenge of building a bigger and better network day in and day out. It takes a village, and cable companies have been among the leaders of building America’s
Why the FCC is Wrong On Broadband Deployment
In tonight’s State of the Union address, President Obama is likely to highlight the Administration’s success in expanding broadband access for millions of Americans. Yet, according to a document that FCC Chairman Wheeler released last week, in late January the FCC will draw a very different conclusion and find that broadband deployment remains inadequate. Why does that matter? Because, under a federal law called “Section 706,” the FCC is authorized to “take immediate action” – code words for regulation – if it determines that broadband is not being deployed to all Americans in a “reasonable
Once Again, ISPs Top Investment Heroes Ranking
According the latest Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) report U.S. Investment Heroes of 2015 issued today, ISPs (really, the cable and telecom industry as a whole) are investing more capital into infrastructure improvements than any other industry in America. In 2014, ISPs were the leader as well with $46 billion. In 2015, the number leapt to $48.7 billion, an impressive jump of nearly six percent. This is particularly significant as the United States continues to suffer through an investment drought. In fact, PPI cites capital per worker-hour has fallen since 2010. As the report says, “Given