Despite efforts to improve their reputation, cable companies are hated so much the industry now scores lower than any other according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI).

The only reason the industry’s average score or 68 out of 100 ticked higher are some new competitors, especially Verizon’s FiOS fiber optic network, which scores higher than any other provider.

The cable companies you grew up with still stink, ACSI reports, with Comcast (63) and Time Warner Cable (60) near the bottom of the barrel.

At fault for the dreadful ratings are constant rate increases and poor customer service. As a whole, consumers reported highest satisfaction with fiber optic providers, closely followed by satellite television services. Cable television scored the worst. Despite the poor ratings, every cable operator measured except Time Warner Cable managed to gain a slight increase in more satisfied customers. Time Warner Cable’s score for television service dropped five percent.

Customers are even less happy with broadband service. Verizon FiOS again scored the highest with a 71% approval rating. Time Warner Cable (63) and Comcast (62) scored the lowest. Customers complained about overpriced service plans, speed and reliability issues. Customers were unhappy with their plan options as well, including the fact many providers now place arbitrary usage limits on their access.

The best word to describe customer feelings about their broadband options: frustration, according to ACSI chair Claes Fornell. “In a market even less competitive than subscription TV, there is little incentive for companies to improve.”

Other stories of interest:

1. Consumer Reports Rates Your Broadband Provider: Fiber Great, Cable/DSL Meh, Satellite Sucks
2. Verizon’s Anti-Aggression Treaty With Big Cable May Be the End of FiOS
3. A Look at Broadband Numbers in the United States: DSL Hurting Phone Companies
4. HissyFitWatch: Frontier and Comcast Battle Over Billboards in Ft. Wayne, Ind.
5. Competition Breather: Verizon FiOS Rate Hikes Ease Pressure on Cablevision, TWC

AT&T wants everyone in Oklahoma City to stay off the phone and rely on text messaging for communications with family, friends, and loved ones “given high call volumes.”

Although AT&T has announced it is waiving voice, data, and text overage charges through June 30 for customers in the affected areas, it won’t automatically waive your bill for services you cannot use or per message charges incurred if you do not have a texting plan.

“AT&T customer service told me the waived fees only cover overlimit fees, not plan fees,” says Susan Ramos, who received a text message on her AT&T phone advising her of the special tornado victim compensation plan. “When I called them to learn the exact terms, they told me if you don’t have a text plan, for instance, you will still be charged a per message fee.”

Ramos, who is in Moore, Okla., tells Stop the Cap! AT&T is pleading Oklahoma City customers to stay off their cell phones and rely on text messaging. But without a text plan AT&T will charge 20 cents per text message, 30 cents for each picture or video message.

“Looking at AT&T’s website, their generous offer doesn’t seem so generous when you notice they are only selling a $20 texting plan that already provides unlimited messages,” Ramos notes. “How about just waiving all text message fees for everyone until June 30?”

AT&T’s remaining unlimited data customers in the area also wonder whether the company’s notorious speed throttle will still kick in after using a few gigabytes.

Ramos doesn’t think AT&T’s offer to waive voice overages means all that much either.

“Does anyone ever exceed their voice allowance anymore?” she asks. “Besides, they don’t want you using your phone for voice calling anyway.”

Other stories of interest:

1. Gouge Train: AT&T Wireless Eliminates Budget Texting Plans: Welcome to $20+ Texting
2. AT&T’s Old ‘Unlimited’ Plan Has 2GB Throttle Threshold; For the Same $30, Get 3GB ‘Limited’ Plan
3. Verizon Confusion: Is Verizon Redefining Texting Plans to Mean Only Plain Text Messages?
4. Cell Phone Industry Considers Imposing Expensive ‘Unlimited Voice Calling’ Plans
5. Comcast Brings Back Its Usage Cap… Now With Overlimit Fees for Your Inconvenience

Time Warner Cable executives got an earful last week from investors concerned about the amount of money the company is spending on lobbying activities, the lack of full disclosure on where that money is going, and the cable operator’s continued corporate support for the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

Among those attending the Time Warner Cable Annual Shareholder Meeting in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., was Tim Smith from Walden Asset Management, which owns 369,000 shares of the company.

Smith, along with 16 co-sponsors, introduced a proposal to force better disclosure of how their shareholder money was being spent on lobbying, noting Time Warner Cable paid close to $28 million on lobbying from 2008 to 2012.

“It’s interesting to note that Time Warner Cable’s spending on lobbying was almost five times the average of its peers,” Smith told the board of directors.

Smith noted that Time Warner Cable’s current quarterly disclosures were opaque and hard for the average person to understand and that the company provided almost no information on state lobbying, which he called a “big, big gap.”

Smith

“You [also] do not disclose details of the amount of dues to trade associations that engage in lobbying nor the portion used for lobbying,” Smith complained. “So for example, if a company is a member of the Business Roundtable or the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, over 40% of those dues are spent on lobbying. So we think that is important to be a disclosed and in the public record.”

Smith noted that Time Warner Cable abandoned its financial support of The Heartland Institute, a Koch Brothers’ backed group that has argued for deregulation of the telecommunications industry, fought against Net Neutrality, and supports consumption billing and usage caps. A number of corporations stopped supporting the group after its corporate contribution list was leaked to the media in early 2012. Time Warner Cable told Walden Capital Management it dropped support of the group later that same year.

But Smith remained unhappy Time Warner Cable continues to support ALEC.

“Time Warner Cable’s continuing support for the American Legislative Exchange Council, which is called ALEC, is highly controversial and really we think it’s harmful to our brand,” Smith argued. “Right now, the American Legislative Exchange Council is working with The Heartland Institute, where we withdrew, working on a campaign around this country to try to stop renewable energy legislation and regulation. That’s our money at work, and we’re not dissenting. We’re not standing up and saying, ‘This is not Time Warner Cable.’”

CEO Glenn Britt claimed the lobbying expenses were important because Time Warner Cable is “a highly regulated company in a highly regulated industry” and that the company exercises “a value judgment” when it chooses to support third-party groups and lobbyists.

Britt also acknowledged ALEC’s extensive database of model, pre-written legislation suitable for introduction on the state level has proved very useful to Time Warner Cable in the past.

“[ALEC] is very helpful in creating a model legislation for all the states we do business in,” Britt said. “They’re particularly focused on telecom matters, which are highly complicated.”

As for other activities ALEC is involved with, such as opposing renewal energy initiatives for large fossil fuel energy companies, Britt said he does make Time Warner Cable’s views known on those issues.

“Quite honestly, if we thought the objectionable part of that outweighed the benefit, then we would consider leaving,” Britt said. “But it’s a constant balancing of that.”

“Although we fully understand the motivation [...] the board recommends a vote against this proposal,” Britt concluded.

Time Warner Cable chose the prestigious Gideon Putnam Resort in Saratoga Springs for its annual shareholder meeting, where rooms run $400-800 a night.

Jim Voye from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), a union that owns about 575,000 shares of Time Warner Cable, also rose to introduce a proposal to limit a potential cash cow for executives in the event of a change in control at the company.

CEO Glenn Britt is widely expected to retire at the end of this year. When he does, he will be awarded more than $50 million in Time Warner Cable stock-based awards. That is on top of his targeted annual salary of $16 million.

Time Warner Cable’s CEO spent $400,000 of the company’s money traveling on the corporate executive jet.

In the event of such a change, many Time Warner Cable executives will qualify for accelerating vesting of their own equity awards, which the IBEW argues is an incentive to favor short-term improvements in company performance at the cost of long-term growth.

“The vital connection between pay and long-term performance can be severed when awards are paid out at an accelerated schedule,” Voye argued. “A change in control event should not provide an immediate or automatic economic windfall to planned participants, especially one that could incentivize executives to pursue transactions that are not in the best long-term interest of shareholders.”

Britt recommended a vote against that proposal as well.

During a question and answer section, Smith noted Britt spent $400,000 of the company’s money on corporate jet travel expenses.

Britt also acknowledged the cable industry’s business model has been largely the same across the country, and there is little to differentiate the financial results of one cable company over others.

“We, the cable companies all tend to look the same and I don’t think it’s going to be any different in this case,” Britt said.

Other stories of interest:

1. Time Warner CEO Earned a Cool $17.4 Million in 2012; Other Execs Also Got Pay Hikes
2. Time Warner Cable CEO Sees Pay Cut — Only Made $16.4 Million in 2011
3. Pondering Glenn Britt, CEO of Time Warner Cable
4. Time Warner Cable Ready to Expand Usage Based Billing to “Save Customers Money”
5. Call to Action: AT&T and ALEC Still Pushing to Banish Community Broadband in S.C.

Helderle

A Charter Cable technician from St. Charles, Mo. was convicted of tying up and sexually assaulting an O’Fallon customer after she reported him for asking her out in an unwanted text message.

Jurors deliberated for only about an hour before convicting 22-year old Michael Helderle on four felony counts, recommending a 75 year prison sentence.

Helderle was employed by Communications Unlimited, a contractor performing work on behalf of Charter Communications.

When the victim requested a service call from Charter on Dec. 4, Helderle showed up. He obtained her cell phone number and asked her out on a date later that evening. The victim reported the text message to Charter and Helderle was fired.

The next day, Helderle broke into her apartment while she was on a video chat with her boyfriend, who was 1,700 miles away on an Air Force base. He called authorities after witnessing Helderle in the apartment.

Helderle handcuffed and tied up the victim, gagged and sexually assaulted her, covering her with a pillow. He then stole her cell phone and cash. When police arrived, Helderle placed a knife to the victim’s throat and threatened her if she called out.

Helderle eventually escaped the apartment while police untied the victim. He was arrested hours later.

Charter defended its actions after the incident:

“Charter recognizes that it is a privilege to be allowed into customers’ homes to install our services. Our customer’s safety is of utmost importance and precautions are taken seriously. We require criminal background checks on all in-home contractors prior to performing any work for Charter.”

It was not enough to avoid offering Helderle employment.

Cable operators use third-party contractors to cut costs and sometimes limit liability. Critics contend third-party contractors often use lower standards of employment and compensate their workers at a considerably lower rate of pay with fewer benefits.

KSDK in St. Louis covered the break-in and sexual assault back in December in this video report.  (2 minutes)

KSDK followed up on the story last week, noting the Charter Cable subcontractor was convicted of burglary and sodomy.  (2 minutes)

Other stories of interest:

1. Charter Cable Raids Cablevision for Executive Talent; Company Opens Office in N.Y.C.
2. Charter Cable Tells Family Tough Luck: Pay Us $1,600 for Cable Equipment, Batteries Lost in Fire
3. Taxpayers Fund Charter Cable’s Corporate Welfare Move to Connecticut, Where New CEO Already Lives
4. Charter Cable Leaves Greenville Customer Hanging: Low Dangling Cable Lines in South Carolina
5. Charter Customers Revolt: $25 for Broadcast Basic Cable That Costs Cable $1 in Programming Fees

KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City captured this image of the destructive tornado that flattened parts of Moore, Okla.

Widespread cell phone outages and overcongested wireless networks are hampering efforts to find missing loved ones or call for help in areas hard-hit by this afternoon’s devastating tornado affecting Moore, Okla., a suburb of Oklahoma City. But in many areas escaping the worst of the storm, landline service is performing normally.

“We have no coverage and no signal from any cell phone provider in this part of Moore, despite the fact we escaped the tornado with no damage,” reports Susan Ramos, who was staying in Moore to deal with a family emergency. “We have borrowed a nearby neighbor’s home phone which is still working fine. My relatives back home in Texas have been worried sick not hearing from us that we are okay.”

One of the first victims of the tornado touchdown were communications towers, some damaged by the wind, others now missing a wired connection back to the network provider. Many of those still in service are overloaded with callers. Some cell towers are performing double or triple duty, handling calls from neighborhoods that would have been ordinarily served by other towers no longer functioning. The result is a cell network clogged with calls, making it next to impossible to reach storm-affected areas.

Some residents are traveling by foot or vehicle on debris-cluttered roadways looking for a cell tower that can still handle calls.

Oklahoma City media reports AT&T is asking residents to refrain from making or receiving wireless voice calls. Instead, the company is asking cell customers to only use text messaging until further notice.

Although landline infrastructure was also destroyed in and around the direct path of the tornado, adjacent areas still have service, including areas where cell phone service has failed.

“Finding pay phones in this area is not easy, and I don’t know Moore too well and many businesses closed down early after the storm, so we are grateful to a nearby neighbor we don’t even know who kept their phone service and let us use it.” Ramos added. “Now we know canceling our own wired home phone was probably a mistake after seeing what happens in emergencies.”

Cell phone providers are coordinating to transport portable cell towers into Moore and other affected areas within the next day or so if normal cell service cannot be quickly restored. But for residents desperate to communicate, the failure of the local cell phone network, either because of storm damage or insufficient capacity, has proved frustrating.

NBC News talks with storm survivors frustrated by the lack of cell phone service in Moore, Okla.  (2 minutes)

Other stories of interest:

1. AT&T Cell Towers in Connecticut Damaged by Winter Storm: 152; Verizon Wireless: 0
2. Rogers Relents: Company Starts to Give on Controversial Backyard Cell Towers in PQ
3. Cable Cut Ruins AT&T Cell Phone Service for Northern & Central Florida
4. Sandy Exposes the Soft Underbelly of Wireless; Inadequate Storm Preparation Faulted
5. Updated: Charter Cable Tells Tornado Victims to ‘Look Around the Neighborhood’ for Cable Boxes or Else

Verizon Voice Link: The company’s landline replacement, works over Verizon Wireless.

The New York Public Service Commission has granted limited approval for a Verizon Communications plan to replace traditional landline service on the western half of Fire Island with a wireless voice service some users complain is unstable and unreliable.

Verizon claims its landline network on Fire Island has been damaged irreparably in places, and argued it needed to immediately deploy a wireless alternative before the arrival of thousands of tourists on the island, a popular summer destination.

On May 3, Verizon asked the commission to approve the use of Voice Link, which provides fixed wireless phone service, anywhere in the state if the company can prove there is an equal competitor or if existing copper-based facilities are damaged or too costly to upgrade.

Stop the Cap! reminded local politicians, union representatives, and consumer advocates Verizon’s CEO earlier promised it would decommission its copper wire networks in rural areas in favor of wireless, mostly for financial reasons. The New York State Attorney General’s office took careful note of McAdam’s commitment to abandon copper in their objection letter to the commission.

Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam in 2012:

The vision that I have is we are going into the copper plant areas and every place we have FiOS, we are going to kill the copper. We are going to just take it out of service and we are going to move those services onto FiOS. We have got parallel networks in way too many places now, so that is a pot of gold in my view. And then in other areas that are more rural and more sparsely populated, we have got LTE built that will handle all of those services and so we are going to cut the copper off there. We are going to do it over wireless.

Verizon’s efforts to rush a tariff change without adequate public notice or formal hearings brought complaints from affected customers, unions, and area politicians.

The Communications Workers of America called Verizon’s emergency “self-made.” The company could have begun repair work on Fire Island as early as last November, but instead only came to regulators earlier this month with its Voice Link proposal, while much of the western half of the island remains out of service.

CWA officials are concerned Verizon is using Hurricane Sandy as an excuse to carry out its broader agenda of abandoning rural New York’s landline infrastructure in favor of wireless service.

“Playing on sympathy for the plight of customers whom it has left without service for more than six months, Verizon proposes to implement broad, generic rules that go to the core of its obligation to serve,” said CWA vice president Chris Shelton.

The union considers Verizon’s wireless alternative less adequate than the wireline facilities Verizon wants to abandon. The CWA wants the PSC to study Voice Link’s performance during times of peak cellular usage times, power outages, adverse weather, and inadequate reception.

Thomas Barraga, a legislator in Suffolk County, says his constituents with Voice Link service are already unhappy with its performance and reliability.

“Residents and business owners who had Voice Link installed after Sandy say the connection is unstable and unreliable, and doesn’t provide for DSL Internet or fax service,” Barraga wrote in a letter to the PSC.

“Internet service is so much a part of everyday life it should be consider a basic service and they should be mandated to provide this as well,” writes Fire Island resident Robert Gonzalez. “They should provide this for the same fees and usage rates as they had previously been charging.  As of today they are price gouging.  Prior to Sandy we paid approximately $50 per month for unlimited Internet access.  Now they are putting low limits on our usage for the same $50 per month with severe penalties for going over.  You can opt for higher usage plans at a much greater cost and they are not offering an unlimited plan.”

Stop the Cap! also continues to hear from Fire Island residents about their dissatisfaction with the service. Among the newest complaints we have received:

• “It doesn’t work with collect calls and you cannot dial “0″ for operator assistance;”
• “I have to dial 10 digits for all calls, seven digit dialing no longer works even though it did before;”
• “Call Waiting and Caller ID often do not work, and my unit does not ring for incoming calls about 30% of the time and people have to keep calling me back;”
• “When you attempt to take a call when on the line with someone, you cannot get them back after answering a new call;”
• “I cannot use this with my home alarm system at all and the monitoring company keeps notifying police because they think my phone line was cut;”
• “If we had a major storm with three days of power being out, Verizon’s claim Voice Link will work for two hours without power means I would have to feed it up to 72 ‘AA’ batteries, costing more than what the phone line costs me every month;”
• “What does this do to our future? It makes us second class citizens without access to the Internet except through very expensive wireless capped usage plans that cost much more.”

The PSC ruled that allowing Verizon to deploy Voice Link on Fire Island during the peak tourist season will make sure adequate phone service is up and running as quickly as possible. But the commission also made it clear it is unwilling to approve Verizon’s request to extend the service further into rural New York without a thorough review of its performance and customer reaction.

Other stories of interest:

1. Verizon to Rural America: Voice Link is Coming Soon; Buy a Satellite Dish If You Want Data
2. Verizon Seeks to Abandon Landlines on Fire Island; Wireless or You Are On Your Own
3. Verizon’s Long Term Plan to Abandon Wired Landlines/Broadband in Non-FiOS Areas Begins
4. Pennsylvania: You Are Next for Verizon Landline Migrations to Wireless; FCC Says It is Fine
5. Verizon Files Tariff Allowing Company to Abandon Wired Phone/Broadband Service in New York; Fire Island First to Go

Phillip “I don’t have $1 million in AT&T and Verizon stock” Dampier

Before Tom Wheeler, President Obama’s pick to head the Federal Communications Commission, can find his seat at the federal agency overseeing the nation’s telecommunications industry, he will need time to sever the extensive ties he maintains as an ex-lobbyist and investor in the companies he will soon oversee.

To avoid an even bigger appearance of a conflict of interest, Wheeler has agreed to dump at least $1 million in personal stock in AT&T and Verizon, as well as divest himself of holdings in 76 other media and tech companies including Time Warner, Comcast, Google, Sprint, Deutsche Telekom and News Corp.

Wheeler is also submitting his resignation from the board of Earthlink, an Internet Service Provider, and will also sell off his shares in that company. He will also have to step down from Core Capital, a venture capitalist investor firm with extensive holdings in the telecom industry.

In our view, Wheeler has shown he couldn’t be more of a telecom industry insider unless he also served on the board of AT&T. Wheeler’s extensive holdings depict someone who has maintained a direct financial interest in the industry for years, even after ending his leadership at the National Cable Television Association and leading the nation’s biggest wireless industry lobbying group, the CTIA.

These kinds of deep industry ties are a serious concern for the average consumer. As we’ve reported before, Tom Wheeler has said almost nothing on his blog about consumer interests, writing views from the perspective of an industry lobbyist and investor. Watching him disgorge well over a million dollars in direct investments in AT&T and Verizon — companies he’d oversee in his new role — does not ease our concern he remains a consummate insider. He is well-positioned to move back through the D.C. revolving door at the end of the Obama Administration to reinvest in the companies his tenure at the FCC could potentially make or break.

Wheeler’s appointment represents another broken promise from the Obama Administration:

“No political appointees in an Obama-Biden administration will be permitted to work on regulations or contracts directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years. And no political appointee will be able to lobby the executive branch after leaving government service during the remainder of the administration.”

Not allowing Wheeler to oversee regulations or contracts with the companies who helped pay his salary and earn him a fortune from his investments would leave the new FCC chairman little to do beyond opening the mail. But of course, that campaign promise from the Obama-Biden campaign has long since been broken and forgotten by most.

Despite the clear conflicts of interest, President Obama remains fully behind his new FCC chairman pick.

“Tom knows this stuff inside and out,” Obama said.

No doubt.

Former FCC commissioner Nicholas Johnson blasts the nomination of Tom Wheeler, an ex-industry lobbyist and insider, for the role of new chairman of the FCC. (From: TheRealNews) (16 minutes)

Other stories of interest:

1. Change We Can Believe In? Cable/Wireless Industry Lobbyist Will Now Head FCC
2. Reviews Are In: Big Telecom Gushes Love for New FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler
3. Our Response to Public Knowledge’s Harold Feld Regarding Tom Wheeler
4. Incoming House Chairman Asks Telecoms for Their Deregulation Wishlists: ‘Help Us Help You’
5. “Future FCC Chairman” Tom Wheeler’s Fruit Doesn’t Fall Far from Big Telecom’s Tree

When Industry Canada announced it was planning to boost competition by setting aside certain spectrum for new competitors entering the wireless marketplace, the Conservative government promised Canadians they would see a new era of robust competition and lower prices as a result.

Today, it turns out the only competition around is watching which of the three largest wireless carriers snap up their newest competitors first.

Telus, Canada’s third largest wireless carrier, today announced it was acquiring Mobilicity for $380 million — almost exactly the amount of outstanding debt owed by the Data & Audio Visual Enterprises Holdings’ venture. That means Telus will pick up its competitor just by agreeing to pay its bills.

Mobilicity said it was burning through cash at an alarming rate and simply could not attract enough customers in its home service cities Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver, to become profitable. It also reportedly lacked financial resources to take part in a forthcoming spectrum auction that would have been critical to the company’s long-term survival.

Informal merger talks among the three largest independent carriers — Wind Mobile, Public Mobile, and Mobilicity — reportedly went nowhere.

“Mobilicity has been losing a significant amount of money every month,” Mobilicity’s chief restructuring officer, William Aziz, said today. “The financial strength of Telus will allow the business to be continued in a way that will benefit customers and employees. An acquisition by Telus is the best alternative for Mobilicity.”

But that may not be the best alternative for Canadians. Regulators are expected to scrutinize the merger and current rules do not allow Telus to acquire the spectrum Mobilicity holds until next year. But with few other expected buyers, regulators may have no choice but to allow the deal to go through.

If approved, Telus will pick up Mobilicity’s 250,000 customers and likely switch them to Koodo Mobile, its prepaid division.

Minister Paradis

Mobilicity customers could do worse. Koodo Mobile, given a “C” grade by Canadian consumers, was Canada’s highest rated wireless carrier. That disparity hints at how much Canadians loathe their current wireless options.

Bay Street investors were not surprised by the announced merger, believing competition has its limits in a marketplace dominated by three enormous telecom companies — Bell (BCE), Rogers, and Telus — all collectively holding more than a 90% share of the Canadian wireless market. Many expect the remaining independent providers to also jettison their businesses or combine them in a last stand.

Industry Minister Christian Paradis, the Conservative government’s point man on independent competition in the wireless market, was caught off guard by the apparent faltering of the new carriers.

Paradis said he remains committed to making sure Canadians have a fourth choice for wireless service in every regional market in the country. But his only assured success is in Québec, where Vidéotron — the provincial cable company — competes with the big three providers. That competition has worked in that province to hold pricing down. According to The Globe & Mail, the average monthly bill in Québec dropped to $50.36 a month in 2011 from its peak in 2009 and is on par with where it stood in 2007. In comparison, according to CBC News, the average monthly wireless bill across Canada was $77 in 2013, up from $68 in last year’s survey.

Paradis is now pondering new regulations that would prevent the three largest carriers from buying out the remaining two independent providers just for their spectrum assets.

The merger will need regulatory approval from The Competition Bureau, Industry Canada, and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.

BNN reported back in April that Telus and Mobilicity were in acquisition talks. The news channel speaks with Maher Yaghi from Desjardins Securities about the implications the merger would have on the Canadian cell phone market and the prices consumers pay. (5 minutes)

http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/BNN Telus Acquiring Mobilicity 5-16-13.flv

BNN this morning reported the ball is back in Ottawa’s hands as the government tries to decide how it can salvage its wireless competition agenda. (6 minutes)

Other stories of interest:

1. Canada’s Independent Wireless Providers Capitulate With “For Sale” Signs; Telus Interested
2. Industry Minister Holds Closed Door Meetings With Big Telecoms And You’re Not Invited
3. Independent Cell Providers Resign from Canadian Wireless Telecom Association
4. Bell: If You Don’t Sell Us the Frequencies, We’ll See That Rural Canada Gets Nothing
5. Rogers Launches Astroturf Campaign to Recruit Customers to Lobby For Spectrum… for Rogers

Use your future Rogers Card to pay your Rogers bill.

The Canadian Minister of Finance has given permission for Rogers Communications to open its own bank, primarily to let the cable operator get into the credit card business.

Rogers wants into the lucrative card services business to build customer loyalty and retention through a future rewards program that awards customers credits towards Rogers’ services.

But more importantly, the incorporation of Rogers Bank will let the cable company master its entry into the emerging digital mobile wallet business.

“Today’s announcement is a significant milestone in our plan to issue a credit card,” said David Robinson, vice president of emerging business at Rogers. “The Rogers credit card program represents a new growth opportunity while giving customers an opportunity to accumulate value in a future Rogers loyalty program.”

Rogers has 12 months to complete the application process towards accreditation of its financial institution, after which it can introduce its credit card.

In the past, Rogers has maintained a working relationship with CIBC, Canada’s fifth largest bank.

Other stories of interest:

1. Rogers Communications Decides It is Big Enough to Start Its Own Bank
2. Off Topic #2: Credit Card Scam
3. What Spectrum Crunch? Rogers Caps Your Data Usage But Plans Unlimited LTE Video-on-Demand
4. Rogers: Bill Shock Warnings Cost Us Money; Subscribers Fearing Fees Stop Using Data
5. Rogers Ripoff: Will Double Maximum Overlimit Fee to $50 for Broadband Customers

AT&T says government regulations have hampered the company’s plans to roll out faster broadband networks to areas where consumers and businesses want faster speeds.

Now that Google has gotten permission to roll out its gigabit fiber network only to neighborhoods that show an interest in the service, AT&T says it should be allowed to operate the same way.

CEO Randall Stephenson told investors at a J.P. Morgan investor conference in Boston that AT&T would like to build fiber networks, but government requirements that it offer the service universally across the communities it serves has made such networks financially unprofitable. Eliminating those rules would create a new incentive for fiber upgrades in areas that want them.

“I think you are going to see that begin to manifest itself around the United States, and in not just AT&T and Google,” Stephenson said. “You will see others doing this because the demand for really high-speed broadband via gigabit-type fiber-based solutions on a targeted basis is going to be very, very high.”

AT&T says Google has already changed how future broadband networks are deployed — only to areas where there is enough demand for the service. Google’s entry into Kansas City came with a pre-registration procedure that allowed the company to gauge demand for its fiber network. The neighborhoods expressing the most interest were given priority during the network buildout. Google also won the right to entirely bypass neighborhoods where an insufficient number of residents expressed interest in the service.

Stephenson

Traditionally, cable and phone companies constructing networks like FiOS, U-verse, and similar fiber deployments are required to offer service throughout each community. The only general exception relates to sparsely populated or very high cost areas that have an insufficient number of potential customers, making return on investment difficult. Google can bypass even the most densely populated sections of downtown Kansas City if there is insufficient demand for its service. Cable and phone providers who attempted this in the past would have been accused of “redlining” — singling out only the most lucrative, affluent service areas while bypassing low-income neighborhoods.

Now AT&T hopes Google has established a precedent it can use to cherry-pick network upgrades of its own.

“The key is being able to do it in places where you know there is going to be high demand and people willing to pay the premium for those type services,” Stephenson said, predicting in some parts of Austin, AT&T could achieve a 35 percent market share for its promised fiber network.

Stephenson also suggested an unlikely new source of money to finance fiber upgrades — content producers and applications developers who need faster networks to support sales of their online products and services. That would shift the economics of faster broadband to an entire new model — broadband providers may decide their current networks are fast enough and might avoid upgrading them without some financial compensation from the websites and content producers customers visit.