• UK Communications minister expected to introduce a universal service obligation (USO) for broadband requiring service at up to 2Mbps [thinkbroadband.com]
• AT&T Launches U-verse In El Paso [multichannel.com]
• FTTH Council: More fiber nets create more jobs [lightwave.com]
• £28m US/Ireland telecoms link announced [channel4.com]
• Motorola Stuffs WiMax, Wi-Fi Into One Device [multichannel.com]
• Adobe, Broadcom Bring Flash to TV [cable360.net]
• NTT Fibre Optic Network to Distribute Movies to Theaters [lightwave.com]
• Microsoft dusts off 'Apple tax' argument [theinquirer.net]
• Skype launching new client just for Mac [theregister.co.uk]

There's really no mystery here since the network was already live, we've discussed the pricing, and customers have already been signing up for service for weeks -- but Clearwire's "Clear" Mobile WiMax network went officially live in Portland today. A refresher: the mobile version comes in four flavors, all of which offer 4Mbps/384kbps connectivity, but with different bandwidth caps ($30/month for 200MB, $40/month for 2GB and $50/month for unlimited). The home plans come in three flavors with no caps: 768kbps/128kbps for $20, 3Mbps/384bps for $30, and 6Mbps/512kbps for $50. Which market will launch next isn't clear, the company delaying Chicago and DC launches, after recently announcing a sour economy may delay the network build.

Apple today announced several changes to the iTunes store, most notable of which is that the company is eliminating digital rights management (DRM) from their downloads. The change comes at a cost however, Apple bending to the recording industry's long-standing demand for variable pricing. Apple's now delivering single tracks for 69 cents, 99 cents and $1.29 -- with the price tag determined by the major labels and a song's popularity and/or age. Apple also announced that iPhone users can now preview and purchase the entire iTunes Store via AT&T's 3G network, something previously restricted to Wi-Fi.

According to a new report by Pike and Fisher, 2009 will see a 12% decline in subscriber growth. That's in part because the broadband market was already slowing down, but it's also thanks to the troubled economy and slow home sales (no new homes, no new connections).

Broadstripe (see our user reviews) apparently needed that NebuAD revenue more than anybody thought. Shortly after the new year began, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Back in 2007, the government announced it would be giving each household in the United States two coupons to help pay for digital adapters, made necessary by the February 17, 2009 transition from analog to digital television. But with the program now running out of cash, the government has announced they'll be putting those who need the coupons on a waiting list. According to the Associated Press, the waiting list was created by the NTIA on Sunday after the program hit a $1.34 billion funding limit set by Congress. Nielsen estimates that as of December, 6.8 percent of the 114 million U.S. households with televisions remained completely unready for the digital transition.

Slashdot notes that New Zealand is poised to include a 'Guilt Upon Accusation,' clause into their copyright laws, which means that if an ISP user is simply accused of piracy then they are declared guilty -- the punishment being Internet disconnection. According to Torrent Freak, there were provisions included in the law that would address a grievance process for the falsely accused, but they were removed. ISPs, who say they weren't properly consulted, call this "a deeply flawed law that undermines fundamental rights and simply will not work."

AT&T this morning announced that they've expanded their VDSL-based IPTV service U-Verse into the El Paso, Texas market. In El Paso, AT&T will do battle with Time Warner Cable, offering considerably more HD options than the cable operator (at least judging by Time Warner Cable's channel lineup).

The RIAA recently announced that they'd struck closed door deals with several ISPs to boot repeat P2P pirates off of their networks. The only ISP we're sure has signed on to this so far is Cox -- and despite what they tell their subscribers, the DMCA does not require ISPs to participate in this project.

• US Appeals Court Wary Of Co's Suit Vs FCC Over Free Internet [Nasdaq.com]
• VzW ‘Asked’ to Pull Push-to-Talk Ad [xchangemag.com]
• Verizon FiOS, AT&T U-verse lead latest Consumer Reports survey [consumeraffairs.com]
• Clearwire Simplifies Mobile Broadband Usability [xchangemag.com]
• Atlantic Metro Communications, Rainbow Broadband partner in NYC [lighwave.com]
• Half of all Brits think their Broadband is too Expensive [ispreview.co.uk]
• NTT Talks IPv6 TV at CES [lightreading.com]
• Year of opportunity for O2 and Sky? [samknows.com]
• Microsoft made $1.5 billion from Vista incapable PCs [theinquirer.net]
• FiOS Offers HD Six-Month Freebies [multichannel.com]

Sanford Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett, who has recently shown he's no fan of network upgrades in general and Verizon FiOS specifically, single-handedly sent AT&T and Verizon stocks tumbling today by proclaiming that Wall Street was overestimating the ability of AT&T and Verizon to weather a steep recession. "AT&T and Verizon may indeed be somewhat more recession-resistant than most businesses," Moffett wrote in a sixty page note to clients. "But we believe they are nevertheless much more cyclically exposed than consensus estimates (and valuations) would suggest."

Rumors of AT&T finally allowing the iPhone to be tethered and used as an HSDPA modem have been bubbling for a while, and now it appears the rumor is at full boil. The Unofficial Apple Weblog is reporting that the functionality may be announced at this week's MacWorld event. Earlier rumors suggested that tethering would cost customers $30 a month on top of your existing voice and data plan, in addition to the 5GB per month consumption cap and overage charges.

In line with their traffic management website Comcast has confirmed to us they've installed their new broadband throttling system across all markets. The system, which we first profiled back in September, throttles a user's connection if a particular CMTS port is congested, and if that user has been identified as a primary reason why.

After the previous owner had cable TV service for ten years, a user in our Charter forum complains he was told that his new home was no longer serviceable, and the drop to his home was terminated. While that sounds stupid, the customer is slightly too far for digital services to work without extending the network plant, and that costs Charter money with no guarantee the customer will remain with Charter.

Netflix has been making waves in the broadband video space by integrating their service into everything, from the Roku set top and the Xbox 360, to TiVO units and DVD players. Now Netflix says they'll be integrating the service into HDTVs from LG Electronics. This is the first time the Netflix service will be embedded directly into a television. Tim Alessi, director of product development for LG Electronics USA, says the Netflix-enhanced TVs will sell for roughly $200 to $300 more than a regular HDTV set.

The RIAA recently announced they'd hashed out closed door deals with a number of ISPs to terminate the connections of customers who receive too many warning letters from the industry. Their existing system of DMCA letter generation relies on data collected by largely unaccountable and secretive organizations like BayTSP and Media Sentry. Picking up on an earlier P2PNet report by Jon Newton, the Wall Street Journal reports the RIAA has fired the controversial Media Sentry, instead hiring DtecNet out of Copenhagen to monitor your BitTorrent bad habits.

According to Verizon filings with the SEC, their acquisition of Alltel will close on January 9. Verizon will pay $5.9 billion and acquire $22.2 billion in Alltel debt, but will be acquiring about 13 million customers -- creating the largest wireless phone company in the country, with 83 million customers (AT&T has 74.9 million, Sprint has 50.5 million, and T-Mobile has 32.1 million). Verizon has stated they will retain some call center positions after the acquisition, but many redundant positions at Alltel will be eliminated.

User pghviewer submits this Torrent Freak report, which profiles a new startup named Spotify, a product from the developer of uTorrent. According to TorrentFreak, Spotify was created by some of the money made when uTorrent was sold to BitTorrent -- the idea being to create a competitor to piracy.

The Chicago Tribune is eagerly awaiting the arrival of Sprint and Clearwire's Mobile WiMax offering, citing a mid-to-late 2009 launch date for "Clear" in the windy city. That's a shift from repeated reports that both Chicago and Washington DC would go live shortly after the launch of XOHM in Baltimore. "Clear" and "XOHM" will ultimately become one product as part of Sprint and Clearwire's joint venture, which aims to reach 140 million people within thirty months. The completion of the network will be greatly aided by a $3.2 billion cash infusion from Comcast ($1.05 billion), Intel ($1 billion), Time Warner Cable ($550 million), Google ($500 million), and Bright House Networks ($100 million.)

Timothy Butler of Open For Business e-mails us to note he's done a little digging, and found that AT&T has been downgrading its EDGE/2G service to the weaker 1900 MHz band. While 3G/HSDPA customers won't care, EDGE/2G was previously using the 850 MHz band, which provided better coverage, particularly indoors.