Internet/Broadband

Verizon and Public Interest Groups Agree on TracFone Deal Conditions

Public-interest groups have agreed to drop their challenge to Verizon's proposed $6.9 billion purchase of TracFone Wireless after the company agreed with their conditions. Public Knowledge, Access Humboldt, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, the California Center for Rural Policy, and Communications Workers of America submitted a letter to the Federal Communications Commission August 11 withdrawing their objections to the deal, contingent on the Federal Communications C

Supporting the Cuban People’s Right to the Internet

The United States stands with the Cuban people in their quest for democracy, human rights, and fundamental freedoms. The Cuban regime has implemented measures to curb the flow of information over the internet. While most transactions continue to be prohibited under the US's embargo on Cuba, the US government allows for certain activities to support the Cuban people’s access to information on the internet. The most relevant exemptions and authorizations pertinent to supporting the Cuban people through the provision of certain internet and related telecommunications services are:

President Biden won big on broadband, but allies say municipal broadband lost out

Some of the Senate infrastructure bill's staunchest supporters say they are frustrated by what wasn’t included in the bill: provisions to encourage municipal broadband — Internet service that is partially or fully owned by local governments. Consumer advocacy and anti-monopoly groups say helping cities build their own Internet services is crucial for expanding connectivity nationwide, and they say it could also dramatically increase competition in areas where only a few major telecommunications companies dominate the market. Locally owned networks, proponents contend, aren’t driven by profi

USDA Invests $167 Million in High-Speed Broadband in 12 States

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing $167 million in 12 states to deploy broadband infrastructure in rural areas without sufficient access to high-speed internet. These investments are part of the $550 million Congress allocated to the second round of the ReConnect Program as well as other funds made available for the program since 2018.

US Government Wants a Greater Role in How Americans Access Internet

President Biden’s bid to inject government deeper into the private sector is getting its first big test in the broadband industry. The $1 trillion infrastructure bill would wire communities across the country that companies haven’t reached and subsidize bills for low-income households. Private companies would be required to publish details about their products, much like nutrition labels, and offer low-cost service plans if they take federal funds to help build networks.

Washington vs Big Tech: Lina Khan’s battle to transform US antitrust

Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Lina Khan has begun a fundamental revamp of the FTC by rescinding policies designed to limit its legal powers, changing the way it makes decisions, and promising to rewrite the statements which underpin antitrust enforcement in the US.

Cox fights municipal private wireless in Tucson

Tucson, Arizona has built a private wireless network to provide broadband to low-income households for free.

The age of the à la carte internet

Media that were once free or easily accessible — including news websites, podcasts, TV shows and games — rushed to get behind paywalls during the pandemic. This accelerating trend is carving the internet into many niche audiences, Balkanizing our collective media diets. News publisher paywalls took off in 2020 and have seen sustained gains since; users are running into paywalls across a range of media, discovering they must now pay for content that was once free. Even podcasts, traditionally the most open and freely available media via RSS feeds, are moving behind paywalls. There's no clear

Ziply Fiber Announces Fiber Expansion into 14 Additional Markets

Ziply Fiber is bringing gigabit-speed fiber Internet service to 14 additional markets across Washington and Oregon. This latest expansion, which includes both suburban and rural towns, is in addition to the 22 new market builds announced in Spring 2021. This brings the total number of fiber expansion markets since Ziply acquired the Northwest operations of Frontier Communications in 2020 to 52.

Infrastructure Summer: Bipartisan Bill Boosts Corporate Giants

If passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act leads to even a significant portion of President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda through budget reconciliation, it will herald a new age of government investment and intervention in the economy, and a reversal of decades of pullbacks in public spending. On the surface, a $65 billion investment in broadband, with an emphasis on getting low-income and rural households connected and closing the digital divide, is an unalloyed positive.

T-Mobile has started offering fiber home internet in a limited pilot program

T-Mobile has quietly started selling fiber-based home internet. T-Mobile says it’s testing fiber optic internet in certain residential buildings in Manhattan as a complement to its fixed wireless offering, which it made available to the public in April. The company isn’t deploying an entirely new fiber network for the pilot; it’s running on a local provider’s fiber lines. T-Mobile claims the service offers 940Mbps upload and download speeds.

Verizon sees a strong uptake in premium plan subscribers

Around 27 percent of Verizon’s consumer base is on premium unlimited plans, and with strong uptake in the second quarter there is a lot of room to continue moving customers into higher-priced tiers and growing revenue per account. CFO Matt Ellis said more than 60 percent of new accounts in Q2 opted for premium unlimited plans. Verizon laid out plans in March 2021 for consistent increases in wireless ARPA, alongside related growth in service revenues. At the end of June, Verizon had 121.3 million total wireless retail connections, including prepaid and business customers.

Dish MVNO deal with AT&T could be start of something new

It’s quite possible that Dish Network could strike a network service agreement with a rural or regional US operator, along the same lines as it did with AT&T. Granted, the deal with AT&T is on a bigger scale, but the same principles apply.

AT&T expects to miss fiber target due to supply chain issues

AT&T CFO Pascal Desroches said supply chain issues would likely prevent the operator from reaching its goal of delivering fiber to 3 million new locations in 2021.

John Deere Examines LEO Possibilities in Agriculture

US agricultural farming giant John Deere is likely to deepen its relationship with the satellite sector over the next few years. The company has a history with satellite and began to develop its StarFire Network in 1998. It was one world’s first global satellite-based augmentation systems capable of real-time accuracy within a quarter of an inch. John Deere is only one of a handful of companies that has its own global satellite correction network to enable this level of precision.

Texas Launches Broadband Development Office

Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced the creation of a Broadband Development Office (BDO), which will award grants and loans and provide other incentives in the interest of expanding access to broadband in underserved areas.

Rep Clarke Introduces the Anti-Digital Redlining Act of 2021 with Baltimorean Support

The Anti-Digital Redlining Act of 2021 (HR.4875), sponsored by Rep Yvette Clarke (D-NY), would require the FCC to investigate whether internet service providers have discriminatory practices based on income, race, color religion, national origin, and other factors within a geographic area. It also calls for a consumer-centric analysis of franchise agreements between local governments and telecommunications providers.

A Surge in Wireless Subscribers Makes Analysts Wonder

Cellphone carriers have reported adding millions of new US wireless plans over the past year, making for the industry’s biggest gains in nearly a decade.

T-Mobile Stirs ‘Grave Concerns’ at DOJ on Bid to End Old Network

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has “grave concerns” about plans by T-Mobile to shut down the wireless network used by millions of Boost Mobile customers.

Telecommunications companies come out on top in $65 billion broadband upgrade

The White House-backed infrastructure bill moving toward Senate approval divvies up $65 billion in broadband funding in ways that largely please the big cable and telecommunications companies. President Biden's spending blueprints and talking points stoked 

SpaceX to acquire small satellite startup Swarm Technologies

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is acquiring the small-satellite data provider Swarm Technologies, scooping up the startup’s roughly 30 employees and its network of 120 tiny satellites.

Tennessee to spend $500 million in American Rescue Plan funding on broadband

Tennessee will spend $500 million of its funding from the American Rescue Plan to expand broadband, though exactly where the money goes hinges on a statewide coverage map that’s still being developed.

Verizon announces extended EdTech initiatives

Verizon is doubling down on its commitment to help ensure no student is left behind, providing education technology resources in support of digital inclusion with a number of initiatives to integrate immersive STEM technology into classrooms and communities. This includes: