Adtran Backs Platform-Agnostic CAF

Adtran joined Hughes Network Systems and ViaSat in lobbying the FCC to back a proposal that eligibility for receiving Connect America Fund Phase II money for broadband not favor any particular platform. The telecom networking company went a step further Wednesday in a filing posted in docket 10-90, spelling out a minimum threshold R-Factor standard of low latency it thinks would be acceptable. R-Factor measures VoIP call quality. Neither Hughes nor ViaSat specified any minimum value. Adtran said that minimum should be an R-value “of at least 80 (as) anything else and some increasing percentage of users express dissatisfaction with the quality of a voice call.” Adtran also raised some red flags with Hughes’ proposal for the methodology for testing the broadband service's usefulness in VoIP. Hughes declined to comment Friday.