Broadband

The Federal Communications Commission is a step closer to approving the $37 billion joint venture between Comcast and General Electric's NBC Universal.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski gave his blessing today to the new joint venture, which was announced a year ago. He circulated an order among the four other FCC commissioners stating that he believes the venture, which will be controlled by cable giant Comcast, will be in the public interest, paving the way for the full FCC to approve the marriage between the two companies.

That full FCC approval isn't expected until January. The deal must also … Read more

Comcast today said its proposed deal to acquire control of General Electric's NBC Universal won't get regulatory approval by the end of the year, as the company had hoped.

The cable giant issued a statement saying that even though the Federal Communications Commission and Department of Justice have made "substantial progress toward approval," it simply doesn't have enough time this year to complete the transaction, which was announced at the end of 2009.

"Because of the lead time required to prepare for a close, it now appears that we will not be able to … Read more

The Federal Communications Commission today officially adopted controversial Net neutrality rules, but the fight is far from over as the FCC's authority to create and enforce these rules may still be in question.

With the support of the Democratic FCC chairman, Julius Genachowski, and two other Democratic commissioners, Michael Copps and Mignon Clyburn, the agency passed the rules in a 3-to-2 vote. The two Republican commissioners, Robert McDowell and Meredith Attwell Baker, voted against the rules.

While Democrats and Republicans on the commission differ on the need for these rules, all four seem to agree that the commission's … Read more

The Federal Communications Commission is set to vote on official Net neutrality rules tomorrow, which the agency claims will provide consumers, service providers, device makers, and application developers clear rules of the road for the Internet.

With the support of all three Democrats on the FCC, the regulation is set to pass. And the vote will mark the next step in what has been a politically charged debate between telephone and cable companies and consumer groups advocating for a free and open Internet.

The five-member commission, which is made up of three Democrats and two Republicans, has been working on … Read more

The public spat between Level 3 Communications and Comcast continues, as Level 3 now urges federal regulators to impose conditions on Comcast's merger with NBC Universal.

On Thursday evening, Level 3 sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission and U.S. Department of Justice, asking the agencies to impose conditions on Comcast's impending merger that would require Comcast to allow Level 3 and other Internet backbone providers to interconnect their networks with Comcast's network for free. The company also asked that Comcast be required to connect to Internet backbone providers "on nondiscriminatory, fair, and reasonable … Read more

European telcos say companies like Google, Apple, and Facebook should pay to help them keep up with growing demand for data on their networks, according to an article published by Bloomberg today.

France Telecom-Orange, Telecom Italia, and Vodafone Group would like to charge content providers fees linked to usage to help cover the cost of upgrading wireless broadband networks.

France Telecom-Orange Chief Executive Officer Stephane Richard discussed the issue at the "Le Web" conference in Paris Wednesday. Richard said the current mismatch between revenue and investment for Internet infrastructure providers is not sustainable.

"Service providers are flooding … Read more

In case you didn't hear it loud and clear the first time, Level 3 is once again accusing Comcast of setting up a toll booth on the Internet in violation of Net neutrality principles.

Earlier this week, Level 3 set off a public relations war with cable and broadband giant Comcast as it described an ongoing commercial dispute between the two companies. To sum it up, Comcast is asking Level 3 to pay a fee for sending additional traffic over the Comcast broadband network. The additional traffic, which will more than double the amount of traffic that Level 3 … Read more

If you hadn't noticed from all the advertisements on TV, the age of 4G wireless is here.

Verizon Wireless will be the latest company to launch its shiny, new 4G network. Starting Sunday, roughly 110 million people in 38 cities will have the opportunity to subscribe to this new generation of wireless service from the nation's largest cell phone operator.

But Verizon isn't the only wireless carrier with a next-generation wireless network. T-Mobile USA and Sprint Nextel also have new networks they are aggressively marketing. And AT&T, which has upgraded 80 percent of its network … Read more

As competition in the 4G wireless market heats up, Clearwire has finalized a deal to create more funding so it can continue building its nationwide 4G wireless network.

It also has released a new product.

The company said today it plans to sell more than $1.1 billion in a debt offering. The company has spent months negotiating and looking for ways to inject more money into the business. The company said last month that without new funding it might not be able to continue building its nationwide WiMax 4G wireless network.

Clearwire is majority owned by Sprint Nextel, the … Read more