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Alaska Comm Satellite Doubles Rural Schools' Speed![]() Alaska Communications' today unveiled a satellite-based broadband solution that will enable students, teachers and staff at rural Kuspuk School District to connect at more than double their previous speed when the new school year begins. The Anchorage-based service provider demonstrated the satellite system's ability to share live video feed and file transfers at up to 25Mbit/s, compared with the existing connection speed of up to 10Mbit/s, said Bill Bishop, senior vice president of business markets at the service provider Alaska Communications. The service provider became a satellite network operator in late 2017 when it began leasing transponder space in the C-band from Eutelsat Americas, a subsidiary of Eutelsat Communications. Instead of simply reselling space on the satellite, this more partner-like arrangement gives Alaska Communications more control over the design and pricing of subscribers' solution, Bishop said. "Entering the market as a satellite provider instead of a reseller gives us more flexibility and control over our product, which we will use to provide more value for customers," Bishop said at the time. "We can offer our customers competitive pricing and value added services we'll manage end to end. As a statewide provider, it's important to us to serve customers in remote areas, including the North Slope and Arctic regions." This speed increase matches the goal of Alaska's five-year economic development plan for 2017-2022. The Broadband Task Force, updated last year to reflect new technologies and broadband capabilities, seeks to increase access to 25Mbit/s speeds within Alaska by 20%, the report said. "As a district, we have an obligation to provide our students with every possible educational tool to prepare them for an ever-changing workforce," said Bernie Grieve, superintendent of Kuspuk SD, in a statement. "High-quality instruction with access to high-quality internet service is essential to helping students be better prepared to meet future workforce demands." Previously, the nine schools and main office making up Kuspuk SD received speeds of up to 10Mbit/s via a microwave network, part of a system that traveled about 550 miles and encompassed schools and healthcare clinics, according to a letter incumbent DRS Technologies wrote to Alaska Legislative Aide Brittany Hutchison during the Request for Information period. "The schools that we serve have been able to take advantage of the Broadband Assistance Grant to affordably get to 10Mbps of Internet capacity for their students," Vickie Kelly, Program and Business Development manager, Alaska, at DRS wrote. "Should the Legislature pass funding to increase the connectivity to 25Mbps, DRS does have the ability to provide that amount of capacity to each of the sites in those school districts." The district includes nine schools where about 31 teachers serve 410 students, making it large compared with Alaska's average district size of three teachers for 43 students, according to Public School Review. Related posts:
— Alison Diana, Editor, Broadband World News. Follow us on Twitter or @alisoncdiana. (Home page image of Aniak, Alaska: Wikipedia) |
Whether they enter the wireless arena, focus on fiber for backhaul, form an IoT department or team up with mobile operators, fixed-access providers can play a big role in the next iteration of 5G IoT.
With its multi-year investment in next-generation PON beginning to show a return, Verizon's Intelligent Edge Network is now a reality, CEO Hans Vestberg told attendees of the Verizon 2019 Investor Meeting today.
In just 12 months, there's been more than a 25% decrease in the digital divide population, according to the Federal Communications Commission. But is that really true?
Rural service provider Lumos Networks taps ADTRAN's 10G solution to sate its Virginia SMB customers' hunger for high-speed symmetrical fiber-based broadband.
In the American Broadband Initiative Milestones Report out today, 20 federal agencies pledge to simplify and accelerate the process for service providers to deliver broadband into America's countryside.
Partner Perspectives - from our sponsors
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By Eddy Vergauwen, Lead for Global Services Marketing at Nokia Fixed Networks ![]() ![]() ARCHIVED | February 14, 2019, 11am EST
Tune in to Broadband World News Radio on February 14 at 11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT / 4 p.m. UK when John Isch, Practice Director of the Network and Voice Center of Excellence at Orange Business Services, discusses use cases, ROI and misconceptions of software-defined wide-area networks, virtualization and cloud. ![]() Industry Announcements
![]() ARCHIVED
Wednesday, December 12, 2018
12 p.m. New York / 5 p.m. London Consumers are buying millions of IoT devices, from smart thermostats and security systems to intelligent entertainment setups and furniture. Yet many of these devices remain isolated because home users are uncomfortable connecting them to each other – or even their WiFi. After all, their WiFi network was probably designed only to handle a few laptops, a gaming system and a couple of smartphones. Now, demand on the network is surging and even though you're delivering 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps, that doesn't necessarily mean the broadband power is in the right place or reaches every corner of a home. Even if WiFi coverage is sufficient, typing is not on trend. Voice is far more natural, easier and faster. Using a TV keyboard is archaic when more and more households have access to cloud-based voice services, like Amazon Alexa. This webinar will explore how service providers can create a comfortable, truly smart home for consumers – simultaneously driving up margin and loyalty. ![]() |
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