Ten most compelling Independent telco stories of 2010

I’ve told many people that there’s no job I’d rather be doing than reporting on the telecom industry. For nearly 20 years now, I’ve considered myself very fortunate to have found work that I really enjoy doing in a world in which so many people don’t seem to have been able to do that.

For my final column of 2010, I thought I’d recap what I found to be the most compelling Independent telco-related stories of the year. These are all stories that most reminded me why I enjoy being a telecom journalist—because there is always something new to discover. And from what I’ve seen about Connected Planet readers, it seems that many of you feel the same way about telecom.

I look forward to making more discoveries with you in 2011.

Broadband stimulus actually is creating jobs
The U.S. economy seems to be picking up, but our jobless rate is still too high, which made it refreshing to talk to some stimulus winners earlier this year, who detailed the jobs their projects would be creating.

GPON or active Ethernet?
GPON is still the predominant fiber-to-the-home option in the U.S. But with the advent of home-run wiring, active Ethernet is gaining ground. And even companies deploying GPON are beginning to view home-run wiring as the best way of future-proofing their networks.

Infrastructure innovations don’t have to be high-tech to be exciting.
Two of the most interesting technology innovations this year involve (at least in part) the humble physical layer.

Allied Fiber, for example, has designed the nationwide wholesale dark fiber network it is building in a way that, surprisingly, no one ever thought of before. Allied Fiber’s design uses a 432-fiber long-haul fiber duct next to a short-haul duct system with 216 fibers, with co-location facilities every 60 miles along the way. Carrier customers can tap into the short-haul fiber anywhere along the route, thereby gaining access to nationwide fiber at the nearest co-location point.

Meanwhile, Adtran has developed a new architecture that brings fiber to an optical network terminal at a neighborhood distribution point that is shared by up to eight customers, with power coming from the

The biggest problem with the National Broadband Plan
When the National Broadband Plan was released in March, small telcos were outraged that it set a goal of 100 Mb/s service to 100 million homes but only set a target of 4 Mb/s for the broadband Universal Service program it proposed. But considering that the vast majority of small telcos already have deployed broadband service at speeds of 4 Mb/s or more, the biggest problem for them is how—or if—they will receive ongoing support for those networks. Will a reverse auction be used? How will the program be funded? And will some carriers be left without support?

Universal Service already funds broadband
Everyone agrees today’s voice-focused Universal Service program is outmoded. But it’s important to realize the money isn’t being thrown out the window. The vast majority of Universal Service funding goes toward infrastructure supporting data as well as voice service. And although the program has led to some excesses, the comprehensive 2010 Telergee Benchmark study of small telcos revealed that the average small telco collects just $328 per line in USF funding per year.

A new way to maximize spectrum usage
Spectrum Bridge’s creative method for putting unused broadcast spectrum to use received the endorsement of the FCC this year—and that approach could well find its way into other spectrum bands, freeing up even more spectrum, which could have numerous benefits for rural wireless carriers.

The quintessential community anchor network
The concept of the community anchor network got a big boost from the broadband stimulus program, which recognized the importance of middle mile networks to connect remote rural communities with nationwide high-capacity networks. Community anchor institutions--such as schools, libraries, hospitals and public safety—are connected to the ring at relatively high speeds, and the hope is that last mile providers will then build the fiber network further out to support residential users. The University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development (UCAID) took this concept one step further with a plan to interconnect existing community anchor networks, thereby bringing 1 Gb/s service to numerous communities nationwide—a concept that seemed to shape one of the seven long-term goals of the National Broadband Plan.

The smart grid opportunity
Service providers are well positioned to provide at least some portion of the two-way communications networks that will underlie the smart grid networks that the nation’s utility companies plan to deploy. One group that seems particularly well positioned to pull this off is the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative, which already has telco and utility company members and is working to facilitate synergies between the two groups.

Two egregious problems we can’t seem to solve
There are two policy issues about which virtually all industry players agree. The first is that traffic pumping is a bad thing. The second is that wireless carriers shouldn’t receive Universal Service support at the same level as the incumbent landline provider (providing those carriers that truly require support have some other way of getting it.) Yet despite this near-universal support, nothing seems to be happening to address these issues.

Verizon breaks new ground with rural LTE strategy
Verizon’s plan to let rural wireless carriers build out some of its 4G spectrum or to market the Verizon LTE service in their territories is an important first step toward a higher level of cooperation and interoperability with rural wireless carriers. The next step is to get the major wireless carriers to agree to support roaming with their smaller rural counterparts.