Peter's Interest

The No. 2 US wireless carrier AT&T Inc and the biggest satellite-TV provider DirecTV became the country's largest pay-TV company on Friday, completing their $48.5 billion (roughly Rs. 3,10,666 crores) merger after receiving final regulatory approval. The newly expanded AT&T leapfrogs the biggest US cable company Comcast Corp. The company said it will serve more than 26 million US customers and more than 19 million in Latin America, making it the world's biggest pay-TV company. After more than a year of review, the Federal Communications Commission finalised its vote to approve the deal with conditions, imposed for four years and enforced by an internal and an external compliance officers. The requirements from the FCC, which ensures that deals are in the public interest, include protections for rival video and pledges to expand high-speed Internet services to schools, low-income Americans and other customers. The Justice Department gave its nod to the m...

No longer will we have to buy an overpriced coffee to get a rubbish wireless internet connection. *Fist pump* Google is rolling out free wifi in New York as part of a trial the company hopes will eventually span across the whole of the world. The internet giant has even gone as far as to set up a company specifically dedicated to the task, called Sidewalk Labs. How will they do this you ask – through turning 10,000 of the big apple’s old phone booths into ad-supported ‘Wi-Fi pylons’ These converted booths are also intended to provide cell-phone charging, free domestic phone calls and a touch screen information hub about the city and transit directions. According to   Bloomberg News , these ‘pylons’ will be rolled out across New York this autumn.