Broadband

Taara has been developing tech to deliver connectivity across communities without underground cables over the last few years. For its latest trick, the Google spinoff is now providing fast internet access across cities using invisible beams of light.

For years, Alphabet's Taara has been delivering internet connectivity in remote areas with traffic-light-sized transmitters that communicate over long distances using beams of light. The tech has now been reduced down to a fingernail-sized chip.

Two test satellites blasted off on board a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket emblazoned with Amazon’s famous logo on Friday, ahead of more than 3,200 planned to orbit the Earth, challenging Elon Musk’s reign over broadband real estate in space.

This year has been quite a ride for OneWeb and its globe-connecting constellation of low-Earth-orbiting broadband satellites, with Chapter 11 bankruptcy, followed by a cash injection from two major new investors. Now it's back launching satellites.

​Earlier today, SpaceX successfully launched and deployed its first two test satellites for Starlink, the rocket company's own constellation of thousands of communications satellites that aims to provide worldwide broadband internet access by 2024.

Fifty seven percent of the world's population is currently without internet access. This was one of the statistics offered up by SpaceX's Patricia Cooper this week, as she fronted the US Senate to outline the company's plans to plug the gaps using a mesh network of internet-beaming satellites. ​​

Even though much of the world is being blanketed with internet signals through a variety of modalities, there are still places where getting a reliable high-speed broadband link is tough. AT&T has just announced a project that might help with that, called AirGig.

Earlier this year, a giant cable was laid between Japan and the United States to deliver 60 Terabits per second (Tbps) of bandwidth under the Pacific. As part of our One Big Question series, we asked Kenichi Yoneyama of NEC for more details on how the giant cord was installed.

In the English market town of Chesham, broadband telecommunications company Virgin Media has installed what's billed as the "UK’s first ever Smart Pavement" to provide broadband Wi-Fi.

The United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today voted 3-2 to uphold the principles of network neutrality – that is, to force Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to treat all web traffic as equal.

To help maintain morale and retain skilled ship crews, Maritime Broadband has developed its C-Bird Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) satellite transceiver to keep sailors connected with their families and the internet.

Internet service providers were recently exposed for grossly exaggerating the cost of providing online data.