Brad Reese

Broadband usage has increased significantly over the past two years, as 63.5% of U.S. households reported having broadband connections in 2009, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Broadband stimulus timing set by the government

Before Cisco CTO Padmasree Warrior was hired by Cisco, she was the CTO of Motorola and dismissed in her blog the introduction of the Apple iPhone. However within 9 months of the Apple iPhone introduction, Motorola sales had collapsed by more than $4 billion (Page 1) and Motorola operating earnings dropped $3.8 billion to a loss of $534 million, leaving Warrior with absolutely no future as the CTO of Motorola.

In my opinion, Warrior is now repeating her Motorola failure at Cisco. For example, during the first 9 months of Cisco's 2009 fiscal year under Warrior's leadership as CTO, Cisco sales plummeted $1.6 billion (Page 4) and operating income nose-dived $1 billion. Additionally, a UBS analyst is reporting that Cisco's losing market share across the board.

Cisco is predicting that the advent of 4G services will lead to an explosion of new video applications that will transform telecom service providers into what the company is dubbing "experience providers."

Artwork: Chip TaylorSuraj Shetty, the vice president of marketing for the Cisco Worldwide Service Provider Marketing, said during an interview last week that companies' investments in high-speed wireless broadband technologies such as WiMAX and Long Term Evolution (LTE) will make high-definition video streaming widely available on both fixed and mobile devices. The upshot of this, he said, is that telecom providers will move more into the cable companies' traditional territory by offering more comprehensive video services, while the cable companies will offer improved voice and Internet options that will put them in position to better compete with the telcos.

Photograph: Rick Rizner, Marc SimonRevenues from wireless services will experience strong growth over the next year despite widespread economic gloom, predicts telecom and IT research firm Ovum.

According to Ovum's latest projections, mobile connections and revenues will grow by an estimated 6.3% in 2009 over 2008. The firm predicts that the mobile market in Canada will see even stronger growth in 2009, as mobile connections are expected to grow by 7.5% and mobile revenues are expected to grow by 11.3%.