There are two aspects of the wireless industry of significance to the U.S. economy– the supply side and the demand side, the report authors write in the study’s overview. “On the supply side, the wireless industry is responsible for increasing U.S. GDP, employment and government revenues. On the demand side, the wireless industry improves the productivity of U.S. businesses through wireless voice and data services.”

Highlights of Recon’s “The Wireless Industry: The Essential Engine of US Economic Growth” include:

• The US wireless industry is responsible for 3.8 million jobs, directly and indirectly, an increase of more than 200,000 over the past six years; this accounts for 2.6% of all US employment.

• The wireless industry retained $146.2 billion in GDP in the US (and generated $195.5 billion in economic activity globally) in the 12 months from July 2010 to June 2011.

• At $195.5 billion, the wireless broadband industry would rank as the 46th largest economy in the world, as measured by GDP.

• The wireless industry is now larger than the publishing, agriculture, hotels and lodging, air transportation, motion picture and recording, and motor vehicle manufacturing industry segments and rivals the computer systems design services and oil and gas extraction industries.

• The wireless industry and its direct and indirect employees paid $88.6 billion in taxes, including federal, state and local fees and taxes.

• The consumer surplus, the difference between what end users are willing to pay and what they have to pay for services, was $502.7 billion in 2010.

• According to Kantar Media, telecom has been the second largest advertising category in the United States for the last several years running and has two of the four largest advertisers in the country.

• European Union wireless penetration continues to outpace the U.S., with the EU reaching 126.2% at the end of 2009 and the US reaching 102.4% penetration in June 2011.

Though just 2% of US tablet sales took place in rural markets in 2011, iGR forecasts that tablet purchases by rural area residents will account for 11% of total U.S. tablet sales by 2016.

Since Apple’s 2010 introduction of the iPad, tablet sales have grown to reach 28.1 million as of year-end 2011, iGR notes. In conducting its research on the tablet phenomenon, it’s found that rural U.S. consumers are some 20% less likely to own a tablet as compared to their urban or suburban counterparts.

Three factors will drive growing rural tablet sales and usage in the US in the next five years, according to iGR’s “U.S. Regional Tablet Market Forecast, 2011-2016“:

• Increased availability of tablet devices at lower price points and across venues (e.g., wireless carriers, big box retailers, electronics retailers,etc.)
• Improved tablet quality and thus capability
• Growing adoption of tablets into many a U.S. user’s lifestyle both at work/school and at home

“iGR has consistently found that younger, well off college graduates tend to buy tablets,” said Iain Gillott, iGR president and founder, a market research consultancy focused on the wireless and mobile industry. “But also those in urban (including suburban) regions tend to buy more tablets as compared to their rural counterparts. Over the next few years, as consumers find more uses for tablets in their work and personal lives, iGR expects the growth of tablets in rural markets to outstrip sales growth in urban and suburban areas.”

At least one smart home product or service will be found in more than 8% of U.S. homes by the end of 2012, the most popular being “self-controlled and self-monitoring systems like video cameras, motion sensors, lighting and thermostats,” according to, “Smart Home Systems and Services Forecast: United States.”

“The proliferation of both fixed and mobile broadband connectivity, coupled with service provider need to develop additional revenue generating units (RGUs) to offset declining growth in traditional businesses, is driving adoption of a broad array of smart home systems and services,” Bill Ablondi, director of Strategy Analytics’ Smart Home Strategies advisory service, commented.

Smart home hardware sales in the U.S. will generate $4.8 billion in 2012, up from $3 billion in 2011. Strategy Analytics foresees this growing to $13 billion come 2017. Smart home services and installation revenues will total $2.8 billion in 2012, double 2011′s $1.9 billion, with revenue forecast to increase nearly six-fold, to $11.3 billion, in 2017.

The home systems and services report also covers emerging opportunities in other smart home services, such as digital health systems and smart appliances.

On the national level, cable companies proved much more successful than telcos when it came to adding new broadband subscribers last year: the top cable companies netted 75% of 2011 broadband additions. The top broadband providers’ total subscriber base now totals 78.6 million, according to Leichtman’s research.

“Despite a high level of broadband penetration in the US, the top broadband providers added 88% as many subscribers in 2011 as in 2010,” president and principal analyst Bruce Leichtman commented. “At the end of 2011, the top broadband providers in the US cumulatively had over 78.6 million subscribers, an increase of nearly 25 million over the past five years.”

Other key findings included in the report include:

• The top cable companies added 2.3 million broadband subscribers in 2011 — 98% of the total net additions for the top cable companies in 2010
• The top telephone providers added 750,000 broadband subs in 2011 — 68% of the total net additions for the top telephone companies in 2010
• In the fourth quarter of 2011, cable and telephone providers added 765,000 broadband subscribers — with cable companies accounting for 82% of the broadband additions in the quarter.

Among the rural electric co-ops awarded funds was the Ahoskie, NC’s Roanoke Electric Membership Corp., which will receive a $16.8 million guaranteed loan to fund electric system improvement projects to enhance grid reliability. Loan proceeds will also be used to finance deployment of smart grid technologies and improve transmission lines.

Dixie Electric Power Association of Mississippi will receive a $29 guaranteed loan to build or improve 301 miles of transmission line and make other system improvements. Included is $8.9 million earmarked for installation of automated metering.

“President Obama is taking an all- of-the-above approach to meet our energy challenges by developing new domestic energy sources, expanding oil and gas production, and reducing our overall reliance on oil through fuel efficiencies and renewable energy development,” Secretary Vilsack said.

“By supporting electrical system improvements, the Obama Administration is not only improving the reliability of America’s electric grid, it’s creating jobs and promoting business expansion. These investments in smart grid technologies give rural electric utilities and their consumers one more tool to better manage their use of electricity, improve efficiency, increase reliability of the electric grid and lower overall costs.”

The RDA’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) is providing the loans. Details of recipients and loans are as follows:

• Florida: Gulf Coast Electric Cooperative, Inc. – $19,922,000. Funding will be used to build and improve 274 miles of distribution line and make other system improvements. The loan amount includes $2,397,027 in smart grid projects.
• Georgia: Georgia Transmission Corporation – $74,051,000. Funding will be used to construct new lines and substations and make upgrades to existing lines and substations. The loan amount includes $5,305,823 in smart grid projects.
• Upson Electric Membership Corporation – $3,925,000. Funding will be used to build and improve 94 miles of distribution line and make other system improvements.
• Mississippi: Dixie Electric Power Association – $29,079,000. Funding will be used to build and improve 301 miles of distribution line and make other system improvements.
• Magnolia Electric Power Association – $30,000,000. Funding will be used to build and improve 251 miles of distribution line and make other system improvements. The loan amount includes $5,414,200 in smart grid projects.
• New Mexico: Southwestern Electric Cooperative, Inc. – $6,646,000. Funding will be used to build and improve 65 miles of distribution line and make other system improvements. The loan amount includes $699,560 in smart grid projects.
• North Carolina: Roanoke Electric Membership Corporation – $16,820,000. Funding will be used to build and improve 106 miles of distribution line and make other system improvements. The loan amount includes $156,100 in smart grid projects.
• Ohio: Darke Rural Electric Cooperative, Inc. – $5,620,000. Funding will be used to build and improve 69 miles of distribution line and make other system improvements. The loan amount includes $637,360 for smart grid projects.
• South Dakota: Codington-Clark Electric Cooperative, Inc. – $9,013,000. Funding will be used to build and improve 87 miles of distribution line and make other system improvements. The loan amount includes $965,953 in smart grid projects.
• Tennessee: Tennessee Valley Electric Cooperative – $6,912,000. Funds will be used to build and improve 406 miles of distribution line and make other system improvements.

Hitachi will acquire convertible bonds with stock acquisition rights to Silver Spring equity as part of the alliance agreement. The two companies will also undertake joint R&D for new smart grid products and solutions. Additional details were not provided.

Hitachi and Silver Spring have been working together since Spring 2011 on a smart grid demonstration project on the Hawaiian island of Maui. “Hitachi has strengths in both the power systems and information and telecommunication systems fields and has leveraged this advantage to develop smart grid systems,” explained Hitachi vice president and executive officer Yutaka Saito.

“We are convinced that we can promote our smart grid business and create new offerings for utilities globally with Silver Spring Network’s industry-leading brand and product line-up and extensive track record.” Silver Spring’s chairman, president and CEO Scott Lang sees value and benefits resulting not only in Japan, but globally.

Hitachi is ramping up global development of its Social Innovation Business, a keyword phrase for providing “social infrastructure underpinned by advanced information technologies.” The strategy is focused on three management themes: global, the environment and fusion.

Smart grid technology and solutions, in turn, have been an outgrowth of this strategy, with Hitachi having put together a substantial track record in the field. This includes products and solutions for monitoring and controlling electricity distribution grids, front-end systems for collecting meter information, and back-office systems for facility management and billing.

Silver Spring, meanwhile, is in the midst of a massive smart grid systems expansion being undertaken by ComEd in Illinois. Silver Spring on Feb. 16 announced it had finalized agreements with ComEd to deploy its Smart Energy Platform to network nearly 4 million homes and businesses and Distribution Automation devices under Illinois’ recently enacted “Energy Infrastructure Modernization Act.”

Strong holiday season sales of digital video media receivers, including Apple TV and Roku, helped 2011 sales of the Over-the-Top (OTT) Internet video devices approach 13% of U.S. broadband households, matching Parks Associates’ forecasts for the year. Parks expects that more than 14 million digital video media receivers will be sold in 2012, indicative of strong, growing demand for non-traditional video access.

Some 31% of US broadband households regularly watch TV programs or movies via Internet-connected TVs, according to a recently conducted survey included in Parks’ “Value of Video: Shifting Consumer Dollars.”

“In the 2011 holiday season, 4% of households bought one of these inexpensive, single-function devices, which enable households to view over-the-top (OTT) video from Internet-based services such as Amazon Prime Instant Video and Netflix,” said Kurt Scherf, VP, Parks Associate principal analyst. “Nearly 20% of these holiday-season buyers are over 45 years of age, so these devices have achieved relatively broad appeal among multiple consumer segments.”

There were 2.8 million Apple TV units sold in its fiscal 2011 year, Apple reported recently, and another 1.4 million are on the books for this past holiday quarter. Sales of Roku’s set-top video media players also were strong last year, with 1.5 million units sold, Scherf noted.

“While this trend does not yet frequently equate to canceling pay-TV services, it can mean shaving some premium channels for a set of households,” Scherf commented. “That is a risk that pay-TV providers must address and a trend that both manufacturers and content providers are following with eagle eyes and plans for defensive actions.”

As Culpit concisely and eloquently points out, “Words have incredible power. They create love; hate and confusion. They define us and the world in which we live. They shape our reality as well as our perceptions. Our words determine our ideologies and beliefs.”

In the way of cutting through the fog of unclear and shifting meaning, he proceeds, with a tip of the hat to Johnny Carson and David Letterman, to offer an irreverent top 10 list of definitions for popular cloud terminology used in 2011. His countdown begins at 10 with “cloud portability” and finished at number 1 with the really big question, “What are cloud services?”

Here are a few highlights:

• At number 9: What is SlapOS? SlapOS is what you want to do to your forehead every time you get an email from that coworker (you know the one) who intentionally leaves the “Sent from my iPad” or “Sent from my Blackberry” signature on his or her emails. Oh, wait — you meant that SlapOS. Yes…the one that doesn’t involve bodily harm or potential assault charges.

• At number 5: What is a telecom cloud provider? This very curious breed of cloud provider is known for its conservative demeanor, stratified silos, compulsive trench digging and insane addiction to obscure acronyms. Despite these traits, they often become great family pets.

• At number 3: What is a cloud provider? This is the first question that I ask myself each and every morning when I look at myself in the mirror. And I always answer my reflection saying, “I am, you handsome devil.”

WhiteSpace Alliance founding members AmeriSys, BAE Systems, Korea’s ETRI (Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute), NICT (National Institute of Information and Communications Technology) and say that TV white space, also referred to as super wi-fi or white-fi, has the capacity to provide wireless broadband access to as many as 3.5 billion people worldwide.

The new association “has been formed with the goal of enabling the emerging worldwide WhiteSpace ecosystem to deliver cost-effective broadband solutions, and support products and services that use WhiteSpace,” according to a Dec. 15 WSA press release.

The association will highlight and promote the use of the emerging IEEE 802.22 standard, which in the U.S. uses spectrum currently allocated to unused television channels. This spectrum promises to provide 20+ Mbps broadband wireless access with a range as far as 100 kilometers (62.5 miles), although actual commercial deployments have not been built yet.

“We welcome new members that are willing to invest time and energy to realize this global, multibillion dollar opportunity and make an impact on their company’s bottom line,” said WhiteSpace Alliance chairman Dr. Apurva Mody. “This is a unique opportunity to shape the organization, and participate in the WhiteSpace market– the next generation of Internet connectivity.”

A special thanks to our clients for your confidence in us to help you meet your community and customer needs. Have a safe and enjoyable holiday season!