Qualcomm plans to push for the use of LTE — the fourth generation cellular technology common in the latest smartphones — in the unlicensed radio bands used for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs said he believes LTE can co-exist peacefully with existing Wi-Fi and Bluetooth devices and in certain cases can boost interoperability by allowing next generation tablets and smartphones to use the same standard your cell phone company is likely providing to boost data speeds. In one case, an LTE-equipped router might one day communicate with all of your wireless devices without using traditional Wi-Fi.

Jacobs said the LTE standard was more advanced than Wi-Fi and capable of limiting interference to other devices. LTE could also be adopted for one-way broadcasts that other nearby users could watch without clogging the airwaves.

But unleashing LTE technology in the unlicensed Wi-Fi bands is likely to stir controversy if LTE avoids the interference it potentially creates for Wi-Fi users who find their current wireless devices compromised by the newest neighbor.

Cincinnati Bell is an island in the middle of a sea of AT&T — offering over 258,000 southwestern Ohio residents and businesses access to a fiber to the home network that has kept customer disconnects down and broadband speeds up.

Now the phone company says it is ready for any speed increases on tap from competitor Time Warner Cable and has the capacity to bring gigabit speeds to Cincinnati as soon as enough customers ask. But first it has to expand its footprint.

The company has plans to bring Fioptics to 35 percent of Cincinnati by the end of this year, according to Leigh Fox, chief technology officer for Cincinnati Bell. The company has successfully upgraded its fiber network to offer 53,000 more homes a fiber alternative to Time Warner Cable during the first nine months of this year. At least 29 percent of Cincinnati residents have cut Time Warner Cable’s cord at least once, trying the fiber to the home service.

Cincinnati Bell wants a 50-70 percent penetration rate in the city, defined as the percentage of customers who have subscribed at least once.

“I am pretty confident on returns and we do have to hit a certain metric,” said Fox. “As an example, we just built out my neighborhood over the summer where in the first two weeks we had 23 percent penetration and after a month we had 43 percent penetration.”

Unlike AT&T which confines U-verse to larger population areas, Cincinnati Bell is continuing to invest in traditional ADSL/2+ service for the nearly half million customers throughout its service area that cannot get Fioptics service yet. The company claims the majority of these customers can now buy 10Mbps or faster DSL service, making Cincinnati Bell competitive with Time Warner Cable across the region. Higher, stable speeds are the phone company’s best defense against DSL disconnects. Most cable broadband growth comes at the expense of telephone company DSL customers leave behind.

Currently, the majority of Cincinnati Bell’s “non-techie” fiber customers are satisfied with 20Mbps service. Time Warner Cable is planning to offer up to 100Mbps in the near future, but Fox noted Fioptics has the capability to exceed those speeds ten times over, and said if enough customers want 1Gbps speed, Cincinnati Bell will offer it.

The BBC recently reported Americans are vastly overpaying for substandard broadband service that continues to fall behind in global rankings. In response to the story, some real world examples from around the globe threaten to produce North American Broadband Envy:

Bulgaria – Dirt Cheap Broadband: “Bulgaria is a great place for being online,” says Radi Radev, who lives in the capital city of Sofia. “Competition is strong and it is usual to pay as little as $13.5o per month for 40Mbps. Higher speeds are available for up to 40 dollars. However, it is common to pay for 40Mbps, but actually receive 80+ for no extra charge. Slower Internet service for office use can be as cheap as $6.75.”

Finland – Broadband Heaven: “I’d say I live in Internet heaven,” says Juho Nykanen, who lives in Turku. “Broadband to the home by either cable or fiber is inexpensive and competition is very good from a consumer’s perspective. Most service providers offer one to two-year deals from under $13.50 per month for 10Mbps to 100Mbps or more for between $27-67 per month, depending on where you live. Usually you get the network adapter included in the package or you can buy with no leasing. Wireless 3G and 4G prices are related and in some cases even lower than regular wired Internet access. Network coverage is good, and improving all the time.”

United Kingdom – DSL Extreme: “I am more than happy,” says Simon from Blackpool. He can use a phone, tablet, laptop, PC and Xbox all at once with no visible effects. For example, he is able to run Netflix on all the above devices and watch five movies at the same time. Simon buys a 60Mbps broadband package as part of a $91.50 triple play bundle that includes TV, phone, broadband, and line rental. He doesn’t buy premium sports or movie channels. “I test my broadband regularly and often my speed is in excess of 60Mbps. I can download a 700 MB film in two minutes.”

Broadband Utopia in Utah: “We pay about $70 per month for phone and Internet,” says David from Murray, Utah “although we will be switching soon to a lower priced competitor.” I have 50Mbps upload and download speeds (increasing to 100Mbps soon) with no caps on monthly data transfer. Our city is part of Utopia – a publicly owned open-infrastructure fiber-to-the-door network where multiple carriers compete on the same infrastructure. It’s not perfect but the speed/price is great compared to the local cable and phone companies that own their respective infrastructures.”

Broadband Unlimited in Switzerland: “Here in Geneva, for 90 Swiss Francs [$82] per month, I get 150/10Mbps broadband, as well as free local and international calls,” says Zac Thomspon. “This is via a cable network. There is also absolutely no download limit on data, or any usage caps. It’s an excellent deal.”

Romanian ISP RCS & RDS sells unlimited 1,000Mbps fiber broadband for $18 a month. But if you also subscribe to digital TV and mobile service, your monthly cost for Digi Net Fiberlink 1000 drops to $15 a month.

Let the Boss Pay for Internet Access: “Here in Denmark, our employers often pay the costs of our home Internet access – it’s seen as a necessity for work,” says Lars from Copenhagen.

Broadband High in the Netherlands: “I am on 150Mbps (actual speed 170Mbps) down and 15Mbps up with TV and phone lines for $86. I am in broadband heaven,” says Clive L. Stevensweert.

Deutschland Broadband Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit: “I moved from the U.S. after living there for 54 years,” says Jim Hagerman. “The cost of TV, Internet and phone was outrageous. In Germany I pay $54 per month for phone and DSL faster than I had in the States. I can call Europe landlines and the U.S. for free! I pay $67 per year for HD+ on my television. I stream EuroSport with no problems, including the entire 24 Hours of LeMans. I have far better capability here in Deutschland than I had in the U.S. for far less money.”

The Carpathian Connection: “I’m lucky to say that we’re in broadband heaven,” says Cosmin from Oradea, Romania. “My provider has just started selling a 500Mbps connection for $15 a month. I’m on a 50Mbps connection that costs only $9, but it’s enough for my needs.”

Budget-Priced Unlimited DSL, French-Style: “Here I have a bundle of landline phone, unlimited ADSL Internet and plenty of TV channels for $43 per month, inclusive of ‘line rental’ and route,” says Russ Lewis from Gex. “The landline phone is my former local number, not some special number. We get completely free calls to landlines, but not usually mobiles, to France and over 100 countries. Technically, these calls are limited to a maximum of three hours each, but who talks for that long anyway? As we live about three miles from the telephone exchange, the DSL Internet speed is around 6 Mbps, but people closer to an exchange can get two to three times faster speeds.”

Some Rogers Cable customers are being notified the cable company is slimming down their analog television lineup, requiring customers to get a digital adapter to continue watching networks in their new digital format.

We’re enhancing our cable TV network to deliver on our commitment to provide you with quality in television viewing, programming and entertainment content. The Rogers Cable Network Enhancement initiative involves upgrading current analog channels to digital channels in order to provide a superior TV experience on our Rogers cable TV network.

To maintain your cable service, you may need to install a digital adapter.

Rogers says the change is designed to improve the video and sound quality of cable channels, but in reality most cable operators are shifting away from analog television to free up bandwidth that can be repurposed for more HD television channels or faster broadband service.

“The Digital Adapter is being provided to you free of charge, you will not be charged for the digital adapter or incur any service fees associated with the hardware,” says Rogers. “The Digital Adapter is being provided to you to use while you subscribe to Rogers cable television services and remains our property. The Digital Adapter must be returned to us upon termination of your Rogers cable television service.”

However, do-it-yourself types who spliced Rogers’ cable wiring themselves to add additional cable TV outlets in the home will discover “a catch.” These extra, informal cable outlets are allowed by Rogers, but the cable company will not supply digital adapters for televisions attached to them unless the subscriber formally signs up for Rogers’ “extra outlets” add-on. That does not come cheap. Rogers charges $6.99 per month for up to four extra televisions. If customers don’t sign up, those televisions without digital adapters will lose more than a dozen analog TV channels during the first wave of digital conversion. If a customer has more than four televisions hooked up to Rogers Cable, there may be more fees.

The channels Rogers is converting to digital were not selected to minimize viewer disruptions.

While The Shopping Channel secures a safe new analog channel number in St. John’s, N.B., Turner Classic Movies gets hit with a digital switch. Little watched APTN – The Aboriginal People’s Television Network survives on analog, AMC and CNN do not in Moncton. Toronto subscribers will lose 19 channels to digital, including MTV, BNN, and The Comedy Network. Two home shopping networks get to stay in analog, however.

Malone

Dr. John Malone’s Liberty Global has picked up an extra billion dollars it can use towards any plan to combine Time Warner Cable and/or Cablevision under Charter Communications.

Liberty has sold off some of its assets to build an enormous financial war chest it could use to launch a new wave of cable consolidation in the United States, potentially leaving Charter Cable as the country’s second biggest cable operator, just behind Comcast.

AMC Networks announced it will pay $1 billion to buy Liberty-owned ChelloMedia, a major international programmer and content distributor that operates 68 channels and networks available to more than 390 million households in 138 countries. Chellomedia is not well-known in North America but its networks are household names overseas. The deal includes Chello Multicanal, Chello Central Europe, Chello Zone, Chello Latin America and Chello DMC. In addition, Chellomedia’s stakes in its joint ventures with CBS International, A+E Networks, Zon Optimus and certain other partners are also part of the sale.

That $1 billion could be a key part of any blockbuster buyout deal because Malone can leverage that and other money with an even larger infusion from today’s easy access capital market. He has done it before, leveraging countless buyouts of other cable operators that built Malone’s Tele-Communications, Inc. (TCI) into the country’s largest cable operator by the early 1990s.

According to Shahid Khan, a media and cable industry consultant with Mediamorph, by this time next year Charter Communications could be just two million subscribers away from beating Comcast as the nation’s biggest cable operator.

Khan believes Malone laid his consolidation foundation with Liberty’s significant ownership interest in Charter Communications, from which he can build a new cable empire.

The most likely targets for consolidation are Time Warner Cable and Cablevision. According to Leichtman Research, as of this summer Comcast is the nation’s largest operator with 21.7 million subscribers. Regulators are unlikely to approve any deals growing Comcast even larger. But combining Charter, Time Warner Cable, and Cablevision would deliver 19.1 million subscribers under the Charter brand. A handful of smaller deals with minor operators like SuddenLink, Cable ONE, Mediacom, or Bright House Networks would quickly put Charter over the top of Comcast.

Malone’s public argument is that larger cable operators have more leverage to secure better deals and rates for cable programming, equipment vendors, and suppliers. It also delivers “cost savings” mostly through layoffs and cutting back on redundant operations like customer care call centers.

But Malone could also use the combined market power of the supersized cable company to keep competitors non-viable, especially for cable television programming. Frontier Communications learned what it is like to be a small player when its inherited FiOS networks in Washington, Oregon and Indiana lost Verizon’s volume discounts for cable programming. Frontier quickly found the programming rates it could negotiate on its own were so dramatically higher, it tried to convince FiOS TV subscribers to switch to satellite television instead.

Charter could also raise prices for broadband services in areas where its potential partners have not increased them quickly enough.

Ironically, AMC Networks’ one billion dollar buyout of Chellomedia could ultimately become the catalyst for a Malone-driven buyout of AMC’s former owner — Cablevision.