Looks like industry has come to recognize that there is value in those slivers of 700mhz space. Several groups are not angling to grab hold of it if they can. –

Sprint Nextel Corp. and T-Mobile USA Inc. urged the Federal Communications Commission to embrace a plan to allocate vacant TV channels — known as white spaces — on a fixed-licensed basis for wireless backhaul services. The move injects a new element into an already fiery debate between high-tech groups that want the propagation-rich spectrum for Wi-Fi and a broadcasting industry fearful of interference to digital transmissions.

“Because backhaul comprises a significant cost for wireless carriers, and incumbent local exchange carriers’ special-access charges are exorbitant, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile must find more affordable alternatives to the ILECS’s special-access offerings,” the No. 3 and No. 4 carriers told the FCC. “Despite this need, the amount of spectrum in the lower bands that is realistically available for the provision of wireless backhaul services has declined dramatically over the years. As wireless carriers expand the development of their 3G and 4G wireless networks, the need for reliable and cost effective backhaul will increase.”

Using the white space for wireless backhaul is useful. But there could be higher and more profitable uses.

Linky.

Making a plug and play upgrade to their routers, AT&T has gone to 40GBPS with existing fiber, and has announce the intent to scale to 100MBPS in the near future. So much for the doom and gloom predictions about the “end of the internet” we’d been seeing lately in the mainstream media.

AT&T continues to upgrade their MPLS (Multi Protocol Label Switching) backbone to 40Gbit/second, today announcing they’ve selected the Cisco Carrier Routing System (CRS-1) for upgrades. According to the company, traffic over their network has doubled during the past two years, and they claim they’ve lit the nation’s first coast-to-coast network connections over new-generation IP/Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) technology. (from Broadband Reports)

If AT&T expects to be a player in the content delivery business, I suggest they do the 100MBPS upgrade sooner rather than later. The availability of independently produced and distributed programming is about to explode.

Note to our readers: the photograph at the top left is one of AT&T’s first generation routers.

Recently there has been a bit of a race to add capacity by the big carriers. Some in the blogosphere like Broadband Reports that are declaring this a sign of the end of the “glut”. There is also so much chicken little style reporting about the end of the internet and future traffic jams.
My turn to add a perspective. Having been personally involved in helping to build the “glut” in the late 90’s, I can give you a better picture of the so called glut. The real glut is in fiber in the ground. It began in the 90’s when wavelength multiplexing was far more primitive than today, and when there was a race to secure right of ways for fiber. New companies like were born out of owning night of ways like rail lines, oil pipelines, and the like. There was a wait for optical fiber and the prices were high. Every company in the game knew they were overbuilding capacity, but there was a fear that a competitor would take to right of way of they did not. The race ended when multiplexing technologies began to take hold, and the most useful right of ways were wired. Quite a few companies disappeared, with their buried assets left unused. The carriers that remained lit up fiber as needed, with lots of capacity to spare. Recently there has been an active after market for this unused or dark fiber, but not to the extent that is is rare or scarce.
The recent network upgrades by the big carriers that have been in the news have been mostly plug and play. That means they are using existing fiber, and in many cases are just improving the carrying capacity of fiber that was already handling traffic.

I’m not trying to say that there is not a need for new capacity. Some backbone segments are running short of existing dark fiber, and there are many under served and completely unserved secondary loops that should be built. Most importantly, with very few exceptions that last mile is under served. Our current crop American business and government leaders have been extremely short sighted in building for the future to the point of complete incompetence. Having said all of this, there is still quite a bit of dark fiber in the ground waiting for someone to light it up.