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In Today’s Issue

UPDATE: Ian Baggley, CRTC Director General - Strategic Planning, Broadband Fund & Networks set to deliver opening Keynote at CRRBC East 2025!

What’s Happening On Earth?

Comcast Blunt On Steep Broadband Losses; Brian Roberts Says “Customer Pain Points” Being Addressed But Will Take Several Quarters - “We are not winning in the marketplace in a way that is commensurate with the strength of the network and connectivity products,”

My Take: Pricing. Ease of doing business with them. Competition. All things they’re looking to fix. I don’t think they’re alone…

Rural Subscriber Study Executive Report - The 10th Annual Rural Subscriber Study provides comprehensive data and analysis of rural consumer usage patterns that will help providers better understand customer needs and where rural U.S. markets are headed.

My Take: Various other data points in the report don’t support this assumption, as far as I’m concerned. The other missing datapoint - what sort of connectivity do the 44% have, where do they live and who is their primary provider? I would be believe that stat more if they are representative of copper subs, but I’m having a hard time believing that rural subs who value customer service, reliability, speed and then price would jump. Either way, if Amazon wants your subs, whether or not they have an EERO router will be of no consequence. It’s a pretty report.

🇨🇦 CanWISP Expands Mandate to Include Fibre Networks, Reflecting Evolving Needs of Canadian Broadband Industry - CanWISP, the national voice of Canada's independent facility-based internet providers, proudly announces the expansion of its mandate to include fibre-optic broadband networks. This strategic move reflects the growing convergence of technologies in the rural and remote broadband sector and CanWISP’s commitment to representing the full spectrum of innovative connectivity solutions.

My Take: Let’s see where this goes. Makes sense.

Presidential memorandum directs agencies to streamline permitting - A presidential memorandum directs agencies to “apply modern technologies” in the interests of efficiently evaluating environmental permits.

My Take: I posted an article last week outlining some initiatives in Ontario to streamline permitting. Maybe DOGE should subscribe to the CBC for news updates. Here it is again.

🇨🇦 Claire Anderson to the British Columbia Broadband Association - Thank for you for inviting me to speak with you for a third year running now. This time, of course, I am meeting with you under very different circumstances, as we are currently in the midst of an election period.

My Take: It’s a recap of things we already know. Not her fault. Blame the process.

🇨🇦 Bell Canada hikes prices for wireless plans to match Rogers - Bell changed up its wireless plans, scrapping some options and raising the prices on others.

My Take: You’d think having a price advantage would be an advantage. Why don’t they try this with Internet and see how that goes?

🇨🇦 The rise and fall of Nortel - The telecom giant is long gone, of course, but its impact is still being felt. An oral history of what it was like to be on Canada’s ‘rocket ship’

My Take: Everyone has a NORTEL story to tell. I ended up there through a series oe merger and acquisitions. The SynOptics (where I was) / Wellfleet merger created Bay Networks. Nortel acquired Bay Networks for $9B, an amount unheard of at the time. The pace of innovation was crazy. When I left there (just before it all fell apart) and moved to Broadband Access Systems (a startup in the next-gen CMTS space) I was working on a Residential Gateway product project based out of Raleigh, NC. At the time, there was a market battle between the WiFi Alliance and HomeRF. We all know who won, but we were also looking at integrating X10 for home automation - 25 years ago.. We built a prototype. I was doing the event circuit speaking on panels with folks from Sun Microsystems, IBM and others about the future — and how one day, no one will need to know anyone’s phone number.. Everything will be identity based and automated. I wonder if I still have any of that stuff. You could make all sort of grand statements of the future, and no one could suggest you were wrong ;)

Bandwidth Hawk: Death of BEAD is now possible (maybe likely) - BEAD delays are inevitable and, as Steven Ross reports, the death of BEAD is now also possible – and maybe even likely.

Second Louisiana CEO appeals to Lutnick for end to BEAD delays

My Take: The death of BEAD, or the death of BEAD as they knew it? The short term goal of "doing things on the cheap” doesn’t solve the problem long-term. You can have it fast, cheap or good. Pick two.

What We Learned at the First CPMP PON Interoperability Event - After over a year of intense collaboration, I had the opportunity to join two other OLT vendors at CableLabs in Louisville, Colorado for a pivotal moment in our industry: the first interoperability event organized by the Common Provisioning and Management of PON (CPMP) working group.

My Take: Great writeup from Eric Davis. In a nutshell, well known DOCSIS-based provisioning of vendor interoperable ONT/OLT solutions. CableLabs is trying to ease the process of introducing PON into existing provisioning systems (sort of already done) and more importantly allowing mix-match between vendor systems. They want to mimic the DOCSIS standard — being able to connect any compliant CM to any CMTS.

🇨🇦 Bell introduces managed SD-WAN-as-a-Service powered by Fortinet, leading the integration of network and security technologies -  Bell today announced the addition of Fortinet, a global cybersecurity leader driving the convergence of networking and security,¹ into its suite of enterprise tech service solutions. Through this collaboration, Bell will integrate Fortinet's leading¹ Secure SD-WAN technology into its managed SD-WAN-as-a-Service – improving security and network performance for Canadian businesses.

My Take: Nothing really earth shattering, but hey, it’s news.

T-Mobile says new 5-year price 'guarantee' is for reals - T-Mobile today unveiled new “simplified and refreshed” price plans across its postpaid T-Mobile and prepaid Metro by T-Mobile brands, promising to add more value with price guarantees on talk, text and data plans for five years.

My Take: Seem 5-year plans are all the rage these days. It’s like a mortgage. I wonder what sort of penalties are associated with breaking it early? All I know is that I seem to be able to find a better deal with my provider when I call and ask every year or so.

Through the looking glass: Nokia's latest backhaul for 5G - The new generation of glass radio modules will be commercially available in 2027 as the sub-THz backhaul market evolves.Shahramian said the wireless prototype modules can deliver up to 100 Gbps at a carrier above 110GHz for up to a kilometer. Nokia rolled out a prototype glass module backhaul link for the Paris Olympics in summer 2024, Shahramian said. 

My Take: I suppose looking into what’s so special about glass radio modules would make sense.

Fixing the U.S. Wireless Industry Through Wholesale Networks and MVNO Innovation - Today, we call on the FCC to take bold action to restructure the wireless marketplace around a new model—one that embraces open infrastructure, wholesale networks, and a thriving MVNO ecosystem. With the right policy choices and regulatory support, the FCC can catalyze a more competitive, innovative, and consumer-friendly future.

My Take: I think there would need to be some spectrum sharing work involved.. Just a little.

What’s Happening In Space?

What’s in Space This Week?

It's time to clean up space junk before orbits become 'unusable,' according to new ESA report - A new report released April 1 by the European Space Agency sheds light on space pollution surrounding our planet — how bad the problem is, and what we need to do to keep Earth orbits clean enough to use.

My Take: “Impact by a 1 cm diameter object (about the size of a pea) could disable important satellite systems, according to ESA, while anything bigger could potentially puncture the International Space Station (ISS). "Anything larger than 10 cm could shatter a satellite or spacecraft into pieces," the agency's statement said, after a tiny fragment only a few thousandths of a millimeter across left a 7 mm chip in the ISS’s glass windows in 2016.” Significant issue.

Inside the rural Texas town where Elon Musk is basing his business empire - Somewhere along the main two-lane highway, a left turn takes drivers down Farm-to-Market Road 1209. It seems like an unlikely address for a high-tech hub, but that's exactly what Elon Musk, the world's richest man and one of President Donald Trump's closest allies, hopes it will become.

My Take: If you were wondering..

SpaceX launches third fleet of spy satellites in 8 days - SpaceX launched its third fleet of spy satellites in 8 days on Sunday, its tenth mission of the year in support of the National Reconnaissance Office, the United States' spy satellite agency.

My Take: Shhhh..

SpaceX Offers Free Starlink Roof Installs, Raising Questions About Quality - SpaceX is offering free or discounted installs for users in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia. Independent installers are 'blindsided' and say it could lead to rushed, shoddy work.

My Take: More free, but only those States? In other States, $50. They’re working hard to get those sub numbers up.

🇨🇦 Quebec awards new contract to install Elon Musk’s Starlink despite tariff conflict - Quebec’s new $826,007 contract was awarded to a sole bidder, an Alberta-based service provider that will install Starlink internet antennas and offer a monthly subscription to Starlink in each remote courthouse.

My Take: Starlink serving courthouses in Quebec. Nothing sovereign about that. Signing an installation contract with a company in Alberta, because no one else wanted to do it? How many courthouses?

As Military SATCOM Use Grows, Rivals Vie to Cut SpaceX’s Market Share - The question now is how broadly the Space Force will look to leverage additional SATCOM providers.

My Take: “Telesat’s Lightspeed constellation in LEO, scheduled to reach space in 2026, will have advantages for the military over Starlink or even its militarized cousin, Starshield”, Capacity pools. Do what you want with it, wherever you need it, when you need it.

There’s a secret reason the Space Force is delaying the next Atlas V launch - Clearly, there's something out of the ordinary going on in the Eastern Range, which extends over much of the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, east, and northeast of Cape Canaveral. The range includes tracking equipment, security forces, and ground stations in Florida and downrange sites in Bermuda and Ascension Island.

My Take: “SpaceX's Falcon 9 uses an automated flight termination system to self-destruct the rocket if it flies off course, while ULA's Atlas V uses an older human-in-the-loop range safety system, which requires additional staff and equipment.”

Taking the Ground Out of Ground Systems - The proliferation of next-generation satellites is fueling demand for next-generation infrastructure. Virtual ground systems, which use software-defined infrastructure and cloud computing to control satellites, offer a giant leap forward for space operations. These virtual systems are not tethered to a single brick-and-mortar facility.

My Take: Software-defined and abstracted = flexibility, agility and rapid deployment of resources where required. Good article.

Northwood Space Raises $30M Series A to Disrupt Satellite Ground Stations - The company is focused on disrupting satellite ground systems that receive data from satellites. It is designing in-house antenna hardware and software to build a shared ground network the company claims can scale to up to 100 gbps backhaul. Last year, Northwood tested a prototype of its phased array ground station in a live test with Planet Labs. 

My Take: The ground segment is getting interesting, especially as everything becomes aggregated and possibly shared “open access” type infrastructure.

OMB suggests NOAA scale back plans for geostationary satellites - A White House budget proposal calls for replacing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s future geostationary satellite constellation, GeoXO, with a far less expensive and ambitious program.

My Take: Another short-sighted decision, like what they’re doing to BEAD?

Project Kuiper Prepares Operational Satellite Launch on April 28 - Amazon’s ambitious Project Kuiper broadband constellation is expected to have more than 3,200 satellites in the end, and United Launch Alliance is gearing up to deploy the first 27 satellites of the constellation. The launch was originally scheduled for an earlier date, and now it is for April 28, the start of Amazon’s entry into the satellite internet market.

My Take: And then they’ll sell free Internet with prime and steal customers away from every provider in the footprint :/

Amazon’s Starlink competitor runs into production delays - Amazon’s Project Kuiper, the company’s initiative to launch a fleet of satellites into low-Earth orbit and beam internet connection to users, is struggling to ramp up production, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.

My Take: “Amazon Inc.'s internet-from-space venture is struggling to ramp up production, jeopardizing its ability to meet a government deadline to have more than 1,600 satellites in orbit by next summer. Project Kuiper has completed just a few dozen satellites so far, more than a year into its manufacturing program, according to three people familiar with the situation. The slow pace, combined with rocket launch delays, means the company will probably have to seek an extension from the Federal Communications Commission, said the people, who requested anonymity to discuss confidential matters.”

Starlink Sort of Fix Broadband Capacity Limit in South East England - SpaceX’s Starlink service, which offers ultrafast broadband speeds via a mega constellation of satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), appears to have removed its capacity restrictions from the South East of England (originally covering the Greater London area and beyond). But new customers in that same area may now be hit with a £195 one-off “congestion charge” instead.

My Take: Congestion charge.. Money makes it all beter?

HAPS Alliance Paper Explores HAPS Advantages in the Satellite Connectivity Era - The HAPS Alliance today announced the release of its HAPS Reference Architecture Series: HAPS Advantages in an Era of Satellite Connectivity white paper. The paper is the second installment in a comprehensive series designed to clarify and explore the complex yet transformative technology of High Altitude Platform Stations (HAPS). Developed by the HAPS Alliance Telecommunications Working Group (TWG), this free-to-download report explores the unique use cases and untapped potential of HAPS to revolutionize connectivity, complementing both terrestrial and satellite networks.

My Take: From my few conversations with some HAPS companies, I don’t think they are getting the attention they deserve. See the link for the reference architecture download

🇨🇦 Canadian satellite launches could set record in 2025 (updated) - There are 33 Canadian satellites that are tentatively scheduled for launch over the remaining year. Those, along with three already launched this year, would set a new record for the number of Canadian satellites launched in a year at 36. That would break the current record of 24 launched in 2023.

My Take: Informative list of Canadian stuff in Space, aside from the Canadarm, that is.

China launches 6 classified experimental satellites with Long March 6A - China sent six experimental Shiyan series satellites into orbit late Friday Eastern, using its Long March 6A rocket launched from Taiyuan.

My Take: I’m sure the US is watching very closely.

We recently completed a successful demonstration of our proprietary space power beaming technologies at the Jacksonville Jaguars stadium. - Check out the video recap.

My Take: Here’s what they do. Very SciFi - “Star Catcher's mission is to eliminate power constraints on satellites and other spacecraft by constructing the Star Catcher Network: the world’s first space-based energy grid. Star Catcher’s proprietary power beaming technology will beam power to other satellites in space as a service, providing more power and higher concentrations of power in order to increase capability and uptime as well as reduce upfront spending and overall mission cost.”

Fixing the Hubble Space Telescope: A timeline of NASA's shuttle servicing missions - Just because your space telescope is serviceable doesn't mean it's easy to service.

My Take: A long list of upgrades and repairs. The telescope has been in operation for over 30 years, undergone a total of five servicing missions and delivered nearly 250 terabytes of data

NASA safety panel warns of increasing risks to ISS operations - Members of a NASA safety panel said they were “deeply concerned” about the safety of the aging International Space Station, citing long-running issues and funding shortfalls.

My Take: Like space isn’t crazy enough and full of danger as it is..

Direct To Device

Rakuten Mobile and AST SpaceMobile Successfully Hold First-Ever Video Call in Japan Using Low Earth Orbit Satellite and Unmodified Smartphones - Rakuten Mobile, Japan’s newest and most modern mobile network, and AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ: ASTS), the company building the first and only space-based cellular broadband network accessible directly by standard mobile phones, today announced the successful completion of the first-ever broadband video call between everyday unmodified smartphones in Japan^*1 using a low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite, held in April 2025.

My Take: Yet another proof point that the technology is marching ahead and we’re closer to a market solution - for those who need it. It’s not for the masses.

Enabling AI

Saying 'please' and 'thank you' to ChatGPT costs millions of dollars, CEO says - OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said on social media last week that saying "please" and "thank you" to ChatGPT has cost the company quite a bit of money.- 

My Take: Tens of millions.. Being polite shouldn’t be expensive.

Humanoid Space Missions - Leading companies like Boston Dynamics are at the forefront of human robotics development, driving innovations in humanoid robotic flight capabilities for space missions. These advancements hold the key to expanding the utilization of AI-based systems in space, offering solutions for missions requiring high technical expertise and operational precision while minimizing military presence.

My Take: There’s only one waving, The others are all mean. Resistance is futile, and all that..

🇨🇦 Shark Tank’s Mr. Wonderful is Building the World’s Largest AI Data Center in Canada - Kevin O’Leary — better known as “Mr. Wonderful” from ABC’s “Shark Tank” — made a surprise appearance at Data Center World 2025 in Washington, D.C. What’s a venture capitalist doing at a major IT event? He’s building the world’s largest AI factories, and he’s ready to talk about it.

My Take: Is this new news or just making the news. Anyway, he needs to raise a lot of money.

AI Workload Strategies 2025 - The AI Workload Strategies 2025 study surveyed more than 900 senior IT executives globally to understand changes needed in their IT infrastructure to address the pressures of evolving AI workloads. It also explored their preferences and pain points in the early stages of AI adoption and how their architecture might evolve.

My Take: Scanned it. Interesting report that I need to review in more detail. So many reports to read.. So little time.

FiberLight CEO: There’s no AI miracle to help telcos out - Telcos are now just scratching the surface of AI and how to best use it to improve their network. Yet operators shouldn’t get ahead of themselves thinking the technology is a miracle worker for their problems, FiberLight CEO Bill Major told Fierce.

My Take: I guess it depends on what problem they’re trying to solve. Self-healing though observability seems to be a viable, and workable use case. See my Podcasts with Selector.AI.

China's robots race against humans — and their U.S. counterparts - A total of 21 humanoid robots competed alongside people in a half-marathon in Beijing, stoking national pride in China amid its intensifying tech rivalry with the U.S.

My Take: “A robot the size of a young child succumbed to a glitch and simply lay down on the starting line. One, designed with a woman’s body and face, collapsed moments after getting started, sending a group of engineers rushing to its side with laptops. Another that was mounted to a platform with propellers crashed into a barrier.”

This and That!

What are GPUs? Inside the processing power behind AI - From gaming to AI, GPUs have revolutionized computing. Discover how these powerful processors work, their key applications such as HPC, IoT and edge computing, and the leading companies driving GPU innovation.

My Take: Anyone remember RISC and CISC?

2025 global network outage report and internet health check - ThousandEyes tracks internet and cloud traffic and provides Network World with weekly updates on the performance of ISPs, cloud service providers, and UCaaS providers.

My Take: So much stuff breaks every day and no one even knows.. Unless it’s their service provider whose down, of course.

Go Delete Yourself From the Internet. Seriously, Here’s How. - Google updated its “Results About You” tool, and using it has been an eye-opening experience. It uncovered my home address, phone number and email on so-called people-search websites, along with my birth date and grandma’s name—even though I requested removal from some databases years ago. It regularly sends emails alerting me to more exposed data.

My Take: I signed up. Every day I get a notice.

Unlocking the Secrets of Your Mind: 20 Optical Illusions That Reveal Your True Personality - Our brains are marvels of nature—intricate networks where millions of neurons fire every second, creating roughly 6,200 thoughts per day. That means every 14 seconds, a new idea sparks to life, influenced by our experiences, emotions, and even our unique personalities. Optical illusions are not just mind-bending puzzles; they serve as a fascinating window into the way you perceive the world.

My Take: Many interesting ones to review in the article. Don’t drive yourself crazy.

Chrome extensions with 6 million installs have hidden tracking code - A set of 57 Chrome extensions with 6,000,000 users have been discovered with very risky capabilities, such as monitoring browsing behavior, accessing cookies for domains, and potentially executing remote scripts.

My Take: I like Chrome, but there are so many site sites that don’t work properly with Chrome, and then I need to use Safari. Anyway, clearly nothing is safe. Check your extensions!

Infographic Of The Week

My Take: Therapy and companionship..Find Purpose. Organize Life. Is that sad statement on things in general, or is it good that people have a place to get some sort of therapy that they believe they need? Isn’t it cheaper to pay for therapists than the costs associated with AI processing to provide it? “Please and Thank You” alone costs millions of dollars! Odd that Creativity has dropped five places.

Podcast Recommendation

American trucks are massive. That’s the way they’ve been for a while. While other countries like France and Japan emphasize lighter, more efficient trucks, the US continues to peddle huge ones to the consumer. Do we really need bigger trucks? And how did the US become so infatuated with them? Plus: Robots run a half marathon and Temu and Shein are hiking prices.

Listen Here!

Movie/Streaming Recommendation

IMDb: 7.9/10

JMDb: 9.5/10 (I love this type of movie)

Warfare (2025), directed by Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza, is a brutally immersive war film that throws viewers straight into the chaos of a real 2006 firefight in Iraq. Unlike most Hollywood war movies, Warfare strips away backstory, sentimentality, and even a musical score, focusing entirely on the soldiers’ moment-to-moment experience as their mission spirals out of control. The story unfolds almost in real time, confined to a single building, with tension escalating from routine to sheer panic.

The ensemble cast, including Will Poulter and Cosmo Jarvis, delivers raw, physical performances that heighten the film’s claustrophobic intensity. The sound design is exceptional—using silence, muffled dialogue, and deafening gunfire to put you right in the middle of the action.

While this hyperrealist approach is powerful, it comes at the expense of character development and emotional depth. Some viewers may crave more insight into the soldiers’ backgrounds (no). Still, Warfare stands out for its technical mastery and unflinching realism, making it a harrowing, unforgettable war film that refuses to glorify combat or offer easy answers.

Definitely one that I will rewatch many more times.

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