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In Today’s Issue

What’s Happening On Earth?

FCC to eliminate gigabit speed goal and scrap analysis of broadband prices - The Federal Communications Commission is ditching Biden-era standards for measuring progress toward the goal of universal broadband deployment. 

My Take: And throw affordability tracking out the window while you’re at it.

🇨🇦 Alberta Is Ready to Take On the World’s Data Center Challenges - While AI and data centers dominate global conversations, few outside Alberta fully appreciate the province’s unique advantages for AI data center operators, colocation providers, and infrastructure developers.

My Take: All that liquid natural gas.. a rich fiber infrastructure!

🇨🇦 Indigenous-led data centre in Alberta slated for development amid AI infrastructure boom - Woodland Cree First Nation announced plans to acquire a partially completed power plant to convert into a natural gas-powered data centre.

My Take: Likely the first of many sovereign Indigenous data centre projects. 650MW is huge.

The Bandwidth Report - This report examines network bandwidth purchasing trends in the Intelligence Era, focusing on key drivers, industry behaviors, and shifting priorities from 2020 to 2024 across 1,800+ Zayo North America customers using Dark Fiber, Wavelengths, and Network Connectivity solutions. Insights also include a survey of 16 decision-makers from large enterprises (1,500+ employees) on their bandwidth needs and purchasing motivations.

My Take: 6,912 fiber count deal. That’s huge. This is a great report full of all sorts of data.

🇨🇦 Bell Hikes Internet Bills Again, Customers Say They’re Fed Up - A Reddit user posted a rant saying their bill increased by $6 in May, and again by $6 in June—with no clear explanation for the back-to-back hikes.

My Take: It was in the fine print.. the part that said they could raise prices whenever they wanted to.

🇨🇦 Ookla crowns Bell as Canada’s fastest mobile and internet provider - In the report, Ookla crowned Bell as the fastest mobile provider and fastest fixed network in Canada. Bell’s mobile network was named best for 5G gaming, and the company swept the competition in the fixed network department, taking the award in all but two of the six categories.

My Take: Best, fastest.. all relative, of course.. But that 3.06/5… sort of gives an indication of NPS, which they don’t publish. I’m sure the constant rate hikes drive than number lower.

🇨🇦 Rogers Upgrades 5G Home Internet with More Data and WiFi 7 - Rogers has upgraded its 5G Wireless Home Internet service, giving customers more monthly data, faster speeds, and improved streaming quality—especially for those on its top-tier plans. These are internet plans that send signals through wireless 5G towers and not regular internet through cables to your home.

My Take: Certainly a better deal than Starlink in many ways. I like the tease with WIFi7. Just give it to everyone.

🇨🇦 Cogeco and Eastlink file joint court appeal of wholesale fibre access decision - Cogeco Communications Inc. and Bragg Communications Inc., parent company of Eastlink, have filed a motion with the Federal Court of Appeal seeking to overturn the CRTC’s decision permitting large incumbents to sell wholesale high-speed internet service to each other via third party internet access (TPIA) to their networks.

My Take: A ton of news on this topic this week. Telus is the only happy party.

🇨🇦 The CRTC and its singular affection for the sharing economy and ambivalence for investment - As I noted in my last piece, with its then upcoming review of its August 2024 decision permitting established carrier resale imminent, the CRTC had an opportunity to rationally address its policy volte face from the traditionally balanced approach to wholesale it has taken and provide reasons as to why it radically altered its decades long strategy in balancing resale with offsetting incentives for network building carriers to continue to invest.

My Take: Ted’s a lawyer, so he uses terms like “volte face”, which means “an act of turning around so as to face in the opposite direction.” It’s a great article on the topic.

🇨🇦 Rogers investments at risk if wholesale decision stands, CEO says - Rogers president and CEO Tony Staffieri said Wednesday that the company’s spending on networks is now at risk if the federal government doesn’t rescind a CRTC decision mandating that the three largest telecommunications companies be allowed to ride on the networks of others.

My Take: See the full earnings call transcript

🇨🇦 TELUS expands broadband services in Ontario and Quebec with $2-billion investment - TELUS is excited to announce a $2-billion investment to deliver our global-leading broadband services across Ontario and Quebec over the next five years. This investment comes as a result of the CRTC confirmation of the wholesale fibre-to-the-premise (FTTP) framework and serves as a complement to our wholesale fibre access agreements, allowing TELUS to deliver national scale, accelerate network builds and drive investment, competition and affordability in Canada.

My Take: Blah, blah? Read Ted’s article referenced above.

🇨🇦 TELUS provides wholesale wireless to support Cogeco's mobility launch while reaffirming the need for equitable wholesale fibre access - "In honouring our regulatory obligations, TELUS is enabling Cogeco's wireless launch by providing wholesale access to our award-winning broadband wireless network. Indeed, Cogeco will be able to access TELUS' wireless network in Cogeco's incumbent operating territories in Ontario and Quebec, owing to TELUS' expansion of its original wireless footprint from Western Canada to national coverage," said Darren Entwistle, President and CEO, TELUS.

My Take: Oh, so mandated MVNO access means fiber should be open as well?

Strengthening network resilience with the Sol transatlantic cable - Today, we’re announcing Sol, a new transatlantic subsea cable system to connect the U.S., Bermuda, the Azores, and Spain

My Take: Hey, Google is building a massive subsea cable system!

FCC is now doubling down on China subsea cable tech - FCC Chairman Brendan Carr last week announced plans to vote on measures that would “protect submarine cables against foreign adversaries,” namely referring to vendors like Huawei and ZTE. These companies already got the cold shoulder from the U.S. wireless industry due to the government’s rip and replace program, which was established to help carriers take out Chinese equipment from their networks.

My Take: Sounds like a costly project.

Belkin essentially waves goodbye to its Wemo smart home brand - Belkin, the tech manufacturer behind the Wemo brand, just announced that it’s ending support for the lion’s share of its smart home devices on January 31, 2026. 

My Take: Well, this sucks. I have ONE Wemo device in my house. A remote deadbolt.

Smart Home-as-a-Service: A Strategic Report for ISPs - this report is from the perspective of an ISP product team preparing for a high-stakes strategy discussion. It unpacks the smart home-as-a-service market in depth, from device trends and revenue models to market growth, competitive players, and whether this path delivers more ROI than fiber expansion alone.

My Take: The author and I used to work for the same company and crossed paths many times. I’ve been crapping all over the whole SHaaS proposition to help expose gaps, strengthen the story and deal with objections before they even come up.

WiFi 7 Security Features: What You Need to Know - WiFi 7 introduces a suite of advanced security features, including mandatory WPA3 encryption, Enhanced Open (OWE) for secure public access, Protected Management Frames (PMF) for safeguarding control traffic, and Multi-Link Operation (MLO) with per-band encryption. These capabilities enhance authentication, protect against brute-force and spoofing attacks, and ensure secure, seamless connectivity across multiple frequency bands.

My Take: So, then, why are carriers only adding WiFi7 to higher value plans? (because WiFi7 is more expensive, that’s why). This article’s context is Enterprise, so there’s a more natural applicability.

T‑Mobile Is First to Unlock L4S in Wireless — A Key Step Toward a Smarter, Programmable 5G - L4S consistently delivers low latency, minimal packet loss and real-time responsiveness — even under heavy traffic. It’s a major step forward for performance-driven use cases where every millisecond matters, including cloud gaming, video calling, Extended Reality (XR) and even remote driving. And it’s already proving valuable in real-world trials.

My Take: Remote driving is cool, until the car hits a dead zone. Watch the video!

How MDU connectivity is becoming more competitive - Speaking to Beyond the Cable at Broadband Communities Summit last month in Houston, Maravedis’ chief researcher, Adlane Fellah, says he sees a big opportunity for MDU brownfield deployments in the coming months and years.

My Take: Yea, because it’s a subscriber dense environment.

Telcos eye $21B GPUaaS opportunity, says ABI Research - Telecom operators are positioning themselves as major players in the AI infrastructure space, with ABI Research projecting they could generate more than $21 billion in revenue from GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) by 2030.

My Take: GPUaaS is like a gateway drug to more infrastructure management services.

Tipping point – five private 5G deployments to make your head spin - We’re calling it. The private 5G race is properly on. A couple of recent flagship deals – Verizon at Thames Freeport on the Thames Estuary, Tampnet with Aker BP in the North Sea – show this market is delivering. Real deals. Real scale. After all the tech proofs, channel intrigue, boardroom hesitation, and brilliant innovation – it feels like the starting gun has gone. The question is whether this is a sprint or a marathon, a Formula 1 dash or a Le Mans epic, a T10 slog-fest or a five-day test match. 

Mobile Experts: Private networking market to be worth $6B by 2030 - Mobile Experts is the latest analyst firm to put out a report on the explosive growth of private networks with an emphasis on the different sectors — energy, logistics, mining, transportation and more — that are using the technology.

My Take: I wonder now much of the NCCL spectrum in Canada has been acquired. It’s not a replacement for WiFi, but great for OT applications.

What’s Happening In Space?

What’s in Space This Week?

Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites go down leaving thousands without internet connection - Thousands of reports flooded the Down Detector website on Tuesday before 9pm, with 65 per cent citing a “total blackout”. The company’s website appears to be down with a “no healthy upstream” error message showing to viewers.

My Take: “"The outage was due to failure of key internal software services that operate the core network," (like a router??) Nicolls said, apologizing for the disruption and vowing to find its root cause.” . Outage was about 2.5 hours. Elon says he will do an RCA and make sure it never happens again.

Elon Musk Fires Warning As Trump Reportedly Eyes Jeff Bezos' Kuiper As SpaceX Alternative For Golden Dome: 'Would Be Breaking The Law' - The SpaceX CEO’s comments came after a report said that the U.S. was courting rivals for the Golden Dome missile defense system following the Musk-Trump feud.

My Take: “Federal acquisition regulations require using the best provider at the best price,” Musk wrote on X”

Amazon’s Kuiper Reportedly In Focus As Trump Looks Beyond SpaceX For Golden Dome Missile Shield - According to a report by Reuters, the Trump administration is also considering newer rocket firms, such as Stoke Space and Rocket Lab, for the Golden Dome project.

My Take: Poor Elon. I guess when you poke the bear, and all that..

Presentation Raises Alarm on Starlink Timeline: “Everything Could Change After August 13” - Tech Expert Points to Sudden Momentum Behind Musk’s Satellite Network—and Why the Public May Be Missing It

My Take: This is an odd article. If you follow the links, the dude is a little odd as well. Yes, I’m judging a book by its hair.

Starlink Internet connection now takes more than a month on top of $1,000 fee in congested areas - The SpaceX constellation of Internet satellites is seemingly not enough to accommodate all willing subscribers in certain areas of the US. Future Starlink customers are now in for a long wait to deliver their kit, on top of an already outrageous 'connection' fee.

My Take: …that’s why they want all those new Gen3 satellites launched.

Satellite internet won’t run our farms and factories: Why fiber remains the right priority for rural America - Far from representing a prudent fiscal shift, we’ve argued that fiber’s resilience and long-term value make it a better investment for most communities. And when we look beyond residential access to consider broadband’s role in powering industry, innovation, and economic competitiveness, the limits of LEO become clearer still.

My Take: Satellite isn’t exactly great for economic development if its the only game in town.

Saudi Arabia and UK explore collaboration on LEO satellite connectivity - Saudi tech delegation in UK explored high-speed connectivity and partnerships to advance communication in key sectors like transport, energy, industry and education.

My Take: Nothing to add…

Non-GEO Constellations Analysis Toolkit 5.3 - The Non-GEO Constellations Analysis Toolkit (NCAT) combines rigorous, data-driven analysis with an intuitive user experience to deliver objective assessments of low-Earth orbit (LEO) and medium-Earth orbit (MEO) satellite constellations.

My Take: It looks like a cook tool. I’ll keep bugging Carlos Placido about recording a demo for all of you ;)

SpaceX aborts satellite launch 11 seconds before liftoff (video) - The company will try to launch the SES O3b mPOWER mission again on Tuesday (July 22).

My Take: Every second counts.

Why Telcos Need Satellites - For decades, telecommunications companies have utilised satellite technology, yet there remains a reluctance to embrace its full potential. This hesitation often stems from past negative experiences with what was perceived as satellite’s higher costs, cumbersome hardware, and lower performance.

My Take: Older article, but very valid. The convergence is real.

2 Earth weather satellites accidentally spy on Venus - In a serendipitous turn of events, scientists have discovered that Japan's Himawari-8 and Himawari-9 weather satellites, designed to monitor storms and climate patterns here on Earth, have also been quietly collecting valuable data on Venus for nearly a decade.

My Take: Believe me, I’m resisting posting the comment I really want to post.

Unleashing a New Era of High Performance Space Solutions - The SpinLaunch Orbital Launch System will enable a fundamentally new way to reach space. The Orbital Accelerator will accelerate a launch vehicle containing satellites up to 8,000 kph using a rotating carbon fiber arm within a 100-meter diameter steel vacuum chamber. By doing so, up to 70 percent of the fuel and structures that make up a typical rocket can be eliminated. After ascending above the stratosphere, a small, inexpensive propulsive stage provides the final required velocity for orbital insertion and positioning.

My Take: How much noise does it make? I wonder if you can pay them to put people in there?

Direct To Device

FirstNet, AST move ahead with plans for D2C coverage for first responders - New FCC filings show AST and AT&T's FirstNet are pushing ahead with their plan to expand first-responder cell coverage under FirstNet with AST's satellites.

My Take: That’s what it should be used for.

Rogers Communications just launched satellite-to-mobile messaging across Canada. Will consumers pay for it? We’ve got real data that can answer that question.- The service is free for all Canadians until October, supporting both regular and emergency text messaging. Future updates will include apps, data, and voice services, including 911 voice support.

My Take: I wonder where those 11% live?

T-Mobile Launches Its Cellular Starlink Service: What You Need to Know - Although T-Satellite is a T-Mobile service, US users on rival carriers can access the satellite connectivity too for $10 per month. Here's how it works and how to sign up.

My Take: So exciting, even though Rogers launched as well.

Enabling AI

China startup Moonshot AI rivals U.S. with cheap open model - A Chinese startup is out with an open source trillion-parameter model that excels at coding and agentic tasks. It outperforms Western competitors on some benchmarks.

My Take: More from China. Why does it seem like China is kicking the US’s butt lately?

Introduction to AI Safety, Ethics and Society - Artificial Intelligence is rapidly embedding itself within militaries, economies, and societies, reshaping their very foundations. Given the depth and breadth of its consequences, it has never been more pressing to understand how to ensure that AI systems are safe, ethical, and have a positive societal impact.

My Take: It’s a book. No, I haven’t read it, but it looks interesting.

How to run an LLM on your laptop - The local LLM world used to have a high barrier to entry: In the early days, it was impossible to run anything useful without investing in pricey GPUs. But researchers have had so much success in shrinking down and speeding up models that anyone with a laptop, or even a smartphone, can now get in on the action.

My Take: The ultimate in privacy.

Meet Sohu, the fastest AI chip of all time. - With over 500,000 tokens per second running Llama 70B, Sohu lets you build products that are impossible on GPUs. One 8xSohu server replaces 160 H100s.

My Take: In one second, Sohu can generate what 21 people say in a day.

OpenAI agreed to pay Oracle $30B a year for data center services - OpenAI was the company that signed a $30 billion per year deal with Oracle for data center services, disclosed last month, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. Now, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has confirmed the details of the contract (but not the dollar amount) in an X post on Tuesday and in a company blog post.

My Take: I thought everyone already knew it was OpenAI? Anyway, lots of money.

Anthropic researchers discover the weird AI problem: Why thinking longer makes models dumber - Artificial intelligence models that spend more time “thinking” through problems don’t always perform better — and in some cases, they get significantly worse, according to new research from Anthropic that challenges a core assumption driving the AI industry’s latest scaling efforts.

My Take: Morale of the story - don’t think too much about things?

Watch this robot 'cannibal' grow bigger and stronger by consuming smaller robots - Scientists have created a prototype robot that can grow, heal and improve itself by integrating material from its environment or by "consuming" other robots. It's a big step forward in developing robot autonomy, the researchers say.

My Take: I put this in the AI section because AI is involved.. and this is way scarier than AI. Imagine a robot going rogue and eating people to grow stronger. Maybe just their brains, with a spoon, after slicing open the skull.

This and That!

McKinsey Technology Trends Outlook 2025 - Which frontier technologies matter most for companies in 2025? Our annual tech trends report highlights the latest technology breakthroughs, talent trends, use cases, and their potential impact on companies across sectors.

My Take: Surprised? Neither am I. Anyway, you can download the entire 100+ page report from the link to the summary. I think they pay these guys by the page.

‘I can hear their breathing:’ Employers enraged over Gen Z’s rude phone etiquette - Generation La-Z is being called out for another faux pas: not saying “hello” when they answer the phone.

My Take: This is ridiculous. Even more nuts are the companies paying some one $3,000 to teach Gen Z phone etiquette.

🇨🇦 Canada to 'align' with U.S. airport screening rules as TSA drops shoes-off policy - Ottawa says it will work to align its flight security regulations with those in the U.S. after Washington dropped a rule that required passengers to remove their shoes during security screenings.

My Take: Anyone remember the “good old days?”.. Not sure why they can’t adopt the TSAPre process into the US.

NASA's X-59 'quiet' supersonic jet rolls out for its 1st test drive (video) - The aircraft is undergoing its final round of tests before it finally takes to the sky for the first time.

My Take: Cool plane. No supersonic “boom”.

iOS 26 beta 4 arrives, with Liquid Glass tweaks and AI news summaries - Apple on Tuesday released the fourth developer beta of its next big software update, iOS 26, which brings with it slight changes to its Liquid Glass redesign and the re-introduction of AI-powered notification summaries for news, among other updates.

My Take: The original news summary function wasn’t working too well. Fake news, and all that.

Return fraud is running rampant - Why so many law-abiding Americans are fine with the low-key fraud that's costing businesses $103 billion a year

My Take: I blame Costco. Don’t they take back anything at any time?

‘South Park’ creators reach $1.5-billion streaming deal with Paramount - The creators of Comedy Central’s “South Park” reached a breakthrough Monday in the tense negotiations over the streaming rights of the long-running satirical cartoon

My Take: I guess they finally got Paramount to respect their authoritah!

Here’s Why Hershey Is Raising Prices - Hershey will soon raise its candy prices, according to multiple outlets, citing a jump in cocoa costs that have provoked the chocolate company to rethink its list prices and the quantities or weight of candy sold in each container.

My Take: They’re also making portions smaller. They’re giving everyone a nice Hershey Kiss.

Male birth control pill passes early safety test, with more trials underway - An experimental birth control pill for males works by blocking sperm production, and it just passed its first safety test in humans.

My Take: Like men will remember to take a pill every day…

Infographic Of The Week

My Take: xAI’s Colossus cluster in Memphis leads the world with an estimated 200,000 Nvidia H100 chip equivalents. Wonder what that cost.

Podcast Recommendation

While the satellite connected car has long been seen as a future market for the satellite industry, it hasn’t broken through into the mainstream yet. But recent developments in standards and technology are bringing this closer to reality. This week’s episode features two experts in vehicle connectivity from BMW Group, Olaf Eckart and Georg Schmitt, for a discussion on the path to integrating satellite connectivity into vehicles. 

Eckart and Schmitt explain the use cases where satellite makes sense for vehicles, some of the challenges specific to the automotive industry, and the roadmap for integrating satellite into vehicles from narrowband, wideband, to broadband. The first mass market applications with non-terrestrial network (NTN), narrowband IoT applications are expected to be deployed from 2027 on. 

They are part of the 5G Automotive Association (5GAA), and the discussion covers vehicle demonstrations that 5GAA recently hosted with satellite companies in Paris. The automotive industry is looking to benefit from the work that has been done to integrate satellite into mobile networks, and Eckhart and Schmitt talk about how standards have driven new momentum in the work between automakers, MNOs, and satellite players.

Listen Here!

Movie/Streaming Recommendation

IMDb: 5.5/10

JMDb: 🍿🍿🍿🍿/10 (Not one of the best in the Trainwreck series)

The Netflix series Trainwreck features an episode on the infamous "Balloon Boy" incident, revisiting the 2009 event that captivated America.

The documentary recounts how Richard Heene, a father in Colorado, claimed that his six-year-old son Falcon had accidentally floated away in a homemade, UFO-shaped helium balloon. Live news coverage followed the balloon’s journey for over 50 miles, prompting a massive emergency response from local authorities, the National Guard, and even Homeland Security.

When the balloon landed - empty - the intense public concern quickly turned to outrage as Falcon was found safe at home, hiding in the garage attic. The episode explores media frenzy, the aftermath for the Heene family, and interrogates whether it was all an orchestrated hoax for fame.

Interviews with the family and archival news footage offer insight into an event that became one of America’s most bizarre modern scandals

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