Rumor: Broadweave on UTOPIA?
I received word from a reliable source at a service provider that Broadweave may be considering joining UTOPIA. This information was passed along from a company that both of them do business with. According to this company, Broadweave has stepped up its outsourced call center operations in preparation for adding new customers on UTOPIA’s network.
UTOPIA and Broadweave have had an acrimonious working relationship in the past stemming from the entanglement between UTOPIA and iProvo regarding the head-end assets. This was no doubt hurt further by ex-CEO Steve Christensen’s forceful and demanding management style. The question is if the upending of upper management is enough to mend the relationship to the point where this rumor becomes fact.
If true, this would be a really good (and smart) move for Broadweave. They’ve hit a brick wall with adding customers on iProvo and are under a “do or die” deadline of February when the reserve runs out of cash. The rumors that they will soon be booted from Traverse Mountain also persist, though nothing new has developed. Getting access to the tens of thousands of UTOPIA homes passed and preserving some of their Traverse Mountain customers could give them the revenue needed to pay off the iProvo bonds and better leverage their head-end and NOC facilities.
Of course, we should also ask if Broadweave would be good for UTOPIA. Customer service complaints still persist and the company may not have the cash available to market to new customers unless EsNet makes additional investments. Broadweave has also failed to deliver video to Traverse Mountain despite the acquisition of a head-end, something I understand to be one of the main reasons for that development’s discontent. There’s also the matter of going from a geographically condense market to one spread over a 120-mile stretch, something that could drive their install costs up.
We should also wonder if Broadweave joining an open network like UTOPIA would signal that they’re ready to give the wholesale model another shot in Provo. Apparently closing the network wasn’t enough to staunch the flow of red ink as they claimed it would. Outside providers have money to spend on snapping up new accounts while Broadweave is charging around $600 for installs (and, I should note, not offering a discount on monthly service as a result). It’s entirely possible that a reciprocity agreement with UTOPIA providers to give them access to the network could result in higher overall revenues even at the expense of retail customers. Research from The Yankee Group suggests that an open provider model generates more revenue than adding lots of extra services, revenue that Broadweave needs.
So what do you think? If this happens, will it be good for Broadweave, UTOPIA, both, or neither?
Broadband Bytes for 2009-07-25
- (@elforesto) Qwest upgrading already-limited ADSL2+ to VDSL for 40M/20M connections. http://is.gd/1GSmB #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) BPL getting another chance at the FCC. http://is.gd/1GSpk #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) FCC broadband boss thinks your comments suck. http://is.gd/1GSrJ #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Streaming is driving mobile data growth, not P2P. http://is.gd/1GStm #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) New FCC chair talking a lot, saying very little. http://is.gd/1GSup #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Forcing incumbents to tell us where they do and do not offer broadband. http://is.gd/1GSws #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) More Sprint/Clearwire 4G rollouts. http://is.gd/1GSxN #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) VoIP and cell phones are still killing landlines. http://is.gd/1GSz9 #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Qwest pushing better integration with DirecTV. They better hope the relationship doesn’t sour. http://is.gd/1GSAT #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Roku adding more streaming options to its $100 STB. http://is.gd/1H3Ao #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Looks like I’m not the only one calling Qwest’s 40Mbps service a paper release. http://is.gd/1H4fs #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Online gaming supplanting retail game sales. http://is.gd/1HJJi #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) RUS throws broadband loan guarantees under the bus. http://is.gd/1HRCe #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Comcast still focusing DOCSIS 3.0 on markets with FIOS and overbuilders (read: not Utah). http://is.gd/1HRFL #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Rural telcos aren’t losing value as fast as the Big Three (AT&T, Verizon, Qwest). http://is.gd/1HRMW #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Zer01 may be too good to be true. NetworkWorld smells scam in the air. http://is.gd/1HRTs #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Registrars ignoring ICANN rules for domain name transfers. http://is.gd/1I1Vh #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Cities getting shorted by broadband stimulus rules. http://is.gd/1IZgx #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) TVs now outnumber humans in the US. http://is.gd/1JsrI #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Comcast usage meter nowhere to be found. Maybe it should be on a milk carton? http://is.gd/1KspV #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Qwest has a split personality on broadband speed. http://is.gd/1KHdt #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Morotola wants to boost DOCSIS upstream speeds. http://is.gd/1KIgL #freeutopia #
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Broadband Bytes for 2009-07-18
- (@elforesto) Q&A with Michael Copps. http://is.gd/1vgJo #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Routing flows or routing packets? http://is.gd/1wzTP #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Verizon is trying to forget their copper past. http://is.gd/1xjMC #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Verizon wants its own mobile app store. http://is.gd/1xFhW #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Paid mobile TV needs free-to-air mobile TV to survive. http://is.gd/1yIf2 #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) FCC auditing its broadband data. After years of placating ISPs, it’s about time. http://is.gd/1yIhf #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Samsung streaming Blockbuster OnDemand. http://is.gd/1yIiY #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Increased broadband adoption from 2001-2008 created over $32B in consumer benefit. http://is.gd/1yIkM #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Some deserved criticism for RUS/NTIA NOFA. http://is.gd/1zcUN #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) HBO and Cinemax join Comcast’s online video effort. http://is.gd/1zTbF #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Verizon integrating more Internet features into FIOS TV. http://is.gd/1zTa2 #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Embarq/CenturyTel celebrate merger with fewer upgrades. Yet another rural telecom fail. http://is.gd/1zTe1 #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) VDSL2 line bonding coming next year, AT&T rejoices, Qwest wishes it could afford the upgrades. http://is.gd/1zTfo #freeutopia. #
- (@elforesto) Telecom slowly embracing more open networks. http://is.gd/1zXla #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Broadband advocacy gets a religious slant. http://is.gd/1A8GF #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) New bill introduced to spur more broadband deployment. http://is.gd/1A9VY #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Hulu says “the content providers made me do it” with the PS3, just like with Boxee. http://is.gd/1B35D #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Blockbuster celebrating a decade of digital fail. http://is.gd/1BsDs #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) XBox Live to start selling full titles. Any bets on what the bandwidth usage will be like? http://is.gd/1BOxN #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Missouri wants YOU… to build fiber. http://is.gd/1ChbD #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Pirate Bay has a business model: give us your computing power, we reduce your monthly fee. http://is.gd/1Cmjn #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) The point of the cloud: monetizing commodity-priced bandwidth? http://is.gd/1COlA #freeutopia #
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Broadband Bytes for 2009-07-11
- (@elforesto) Niche Market + Internet Access = Profit http://is.gd/1o1Ws #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Mobile DTV due Real Soon Now(TM). http://is.gd/1oU4H #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Verizon decides to give people *more* bandwidth than what they’re supposed to get. http://is.gd/1pdjI #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) DoJ to go all Sherman Anti-Trust on Baby Bells and their wireless divisions. http://is.gd/1piZE #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Hulu adds ABC programming to the site. http://is.gd/1pj0y #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) UTOPIA is now on Twitter. Go follow @UTOPIAnet now. #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) RUS says that rural broadband gets top priority. http://is.gd/1qmtZ #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Internet radio dodges a royalty bullet. http://is.gd/1reDc #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) NTIA looking for volunteers to help screen broadband grant applicants. http://is.gd/1rI19 #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) The global state of broadband growth. http://is.gd/1rRpF #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Comcast doing trials of DNS redirection with easy opt-out. 3rd party DNS not affected. http://is.gd/1splz #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Sprint outsourcing network management. They actually understand the dumb pipe future. http://is.gd/1ssoi #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) US Internet is officially slower than SLOVAKIA at #33. We should be embarrassed. http://is.gd/1sE0V #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Watching online video? There’s a 20% chance you cut back on TV to compensate. http://is.gd/1t34t #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Sprint demands WiFI on all new smartphones. http://is.gd/1t3FL #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) From FCC to high-paid lobbyist. http://is.gd/1tEP5 #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Bye bye, DSL. FTTH sends its regards. http://is.gd/1tEQK #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) BT drinking the FTTH Kool-aid. http://is.gd/1tESX #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Cox gets it, puts more efforts into video on demand offerings. http://is.gd/1tQ7L #freeutopia #
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Unlimited Calling, Limited Price: Google Voice Unlocks the Gates of Cheap Unlimited
I’m telecommuting this week and next and forced to use my own phone line for all of my business-related calls. My cell phone plan includes only 550 minutes of airtime per month. My Vonage line, which I took with me, includes just 500. So why aren’t I sweating about using up all of my minutes?
FUD Alert: Utah Taxpayers Association Continues to Bend and Cherry-Pick the Truth
It shouldn’t be any surprise that the Utah “Taxpayers” Association can’t quite bring themselves to stick to facts, instead resorting to the time-tested tools of fear, uncertainty, and doubt to prop up their weak cases. In the July newsletter, the UTA decides once again to lay into UTOPIA and directly address some of my points on defining UTOPIA’s success. Unsurprisingly, they very much missed the mark yet again.
Broadband Bytes for 2009-07-04
- (@elforesto) We’re all content providers now. http://is.gd/1h9vS #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Media companies, innovate or die. http://is.gd/1h9wP #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) AT&T dead last on wireless reliability. The joke’s on you, iPhone users. http://is.gd/1i6BQ #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Pirate Bay launches a YouTube competitor. http://is.gd/1i7eX #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Cablevision wins the networked DVR case when the Supreme Court rejects the final appeal. http://is.gd/1ibMy #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Europe to get universal cell phone chargers. http://is.gd/1iex4 #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) FCC ruling could allow more cable operators to deploy SDV. http://is.gd/1ieEM #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) TV ad revenue to drop $2B by 2013. http://is.gd/1igu3 #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Comcast doing WiMax in Portland via ClearWire. Atlanta, Chicago, Philly coming soon. http://is.gd/1ioTK #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) 82% of those who have it rank fiber-to-the-home as their #1 amenity. http://is.gd/1iG7W #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) A plan to free up even more unused wireless spectrum. HAMs everywhere are drooling. http://is.gd/1iG9L #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Holy pieces of cow. The Pirate Bay sells out. http://is.gd/1jcjy #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) FCC puts a stop to gaming forbearance requests. http://is.gd/1jdmc #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Joost throws in the towel on web video. http://is.gd/1joxb #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) AT&T doubletalks on wireless streaming video. http://is.gd/1joz6 #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Verizon: “It’s got what homebuyers crave. It’s got fiber optics.” http://is.gd/1jqlx #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Cox, Comcast, and Time Warner will all miss the tru2way deadline. http://is.gd/1jvXh #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Sprint will beat AT&T to the femtocell punch and include 3G/EVDO data. http://is.gd/1koZW #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) AT&T ups the feature set on U-Verse TV like whole-home DVR. http://is.gd/1kp7e #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) GigaOm asks if the free market can provide broadband for all. http://is.gd/1kI0w #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Broadband stimulus defines broadband at an embarrassing 768Kbps. What? Is this 1996? http://is.gd/1m6F1 #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Got a few million lying around? You too could bid for failed Hawaii Telcom. http://is.gd/1nizJ #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Broadband caps in NZ kill online video site. http://is.gd/1niAz #freeutopia #
- (@elforesto) Need to lay fiber in small places? Pick up a model submarine like the Italians. http://is.gd/1niMr #freeutopia #
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