Pennsylvania (PA) Broadband News

Welcome to www.PaBroadbandNews.com, a news site dedicated exclusively to the changing landscape of the state and national telecommunications industry. As lawmakers and officials at the state Public Utility Commission grapple with new technology, sweeping federal court rulings and an increasingly competitive marketplace for all telecommunications services, www.PaBroadbandNews.com will provide daily and weekly updates on industry developments.
Updated daily, the headlines feature will include links to papers and trade publications in Pennsylvania and around the nation on significant telecom developments.

Each Friday, we will provide a Weekly Update on competitive issues in the industry.

Click on our Links page to access our database of links to corporate, government and private Web sites.

Rural Phone Service Protected Under Provision in VoIP Legislation
A three-page telecommunications bill recently signed by Governor Rendell could end up being a savior for affordable rural local phone service. It did not start out that way. The legislation, SB 1000, keeps government regulators away from a growing Internet phone service, VoIP. But it also statutorily requires payments to local phone carriers that provide wireline service to thousands of rural Pennsylvanians. As originally written, SB 1000 contained no such guarantee.
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The Next Three Years: Likely Revenue Scenarios for Rural Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers
"The challenge...to rural ILECs is both short-term and long-term. Declining revenue streams need to be replaced by contributions from unregulated services...This must take place in an increasingly competitive and technologically changing environment..."
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Study: Pennsylvania Telephone Companies Hailed for Rural Broadband Deployment
Members of the Pennsylvania Telephone Association committed to the most aggressive broadband deployment plan in the nation under Act 183 of 2004, according to a study just released by the US Internet Industry Association.

"Today, many of the companies are already 100 percent deployed, and the rest are making tremendous strides in meeting the commitments made to the PUC as provided for in the law," the 'Deployment of Broadband to Rural America' study says. "In other words, all of the companies have either met or exceeded their commitments."
The entire study is posted here.
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House Consumer Affairs Committee Public Hearing on House Bill 539
Testimony of Steven J. Samara, Vice President, Pennsylvania Telephone Association
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Commitments Made, Commitments Kept
Universal broadband deployment throughout a state with geographical challenges, a significant rural population and a customer base that may or may not subscribe to the service is what incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) members of the Pennsylvania Telephone Association (PTA) were facing in 2003 when Chapter 30 of the Public Utility Code expired and a replacement statute was being discussed.
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Technology Council of Central Pennsylvania Technology and Telecommunications Summit June 7, 2007
Remarks of David E. Freet
President
Pennsylvania Telephone Association
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Antitrust Case Against Comcast Certified
A federal judge has certified a class action antitrust suit against cable television giant Comcast Corp. that alleges the company set out to establish monopolies in the Philadelphia and Chicago markets and then increase prices once it had eliminated all the competition.
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Local Phone Company Embraces Technology; Offers Latest in Broadband to Businesses/Consumers
When D&E Communications won the ‘Technology Company of the Year’ award from the Technology Council of Central Pennsylvania in 2002, it served as a reminder that top notch technology companies are found right here in Pennsylvania. Founded in 1911 to provide local telephone service, the company is now an integrated communications provider and has a history of being a leader in embracing new technology. Company spokesman W. Garth Sprecher noted that D&E’s leap forward started well before the 1996 federal law deregulating the telecommunications industry.

Also in this edition:

Cable competition benefits ignored
and more!

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Testimony Before the Committee on Legislation Special Session on Property Taxes Regarding: Telecommunications Provisions of SB 854
Presented by: Rikardo J. Hull, Esquire Hawke McKeon Sniscak and Kennard Counsel, Pennsylvania Telephone Association
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Senate Communications and Technology Committee Public Hearing on Act 183 and Municipal Wi-Fi Networks
In recent testimony before the Senate Communications and Technology Committee, Vice President of the Pennsylvania Telephone Association, Steven J. Samara, advised against opening up Act 183 to amendments. “Act 183 represents a delicate balance of interests and yet remains true to its goal of being good not only for our state’s local telephone companies but for consumers as well,” Samara said. The committee held a hearing on November 7 on Act 183 and municipal Wi-Fi networks.
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