A group of rural Michigan advocates are urging state lawmakers to fund and staff the Michigan High-Speed Internet Office. Gov Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) created the office in June 2021 with the aim of expanding broadband internet access to more residents. But the office as yet has no budget and therefore no full-time staff.
TDS Telecom added 35,000 new fiber-enabled locations in the fourth quarter of 2021, bringing its total fiber-enabled addresses to 400,000 at year-end. That is up significantly from the 20,000 new fiber locations the company added in the third quarter. The company added 86,000 new fiber addresses in 2021, which is lower than its target of adding 150,000 new addresses in the year. However, TDS Telecom SVP and CFO Vicki Villacrez warned investors that the company would miss that target because of permitting problems and contractor delays.
UScellular lost more postpaid customers in the fourth quarter of 2021 – about 12,000 – on top of the 8,000 it lost in the third quarter of 2021. “We have to continue to do better,” said UScellular President and CEO Laurent Therivel. But the company's share of gross adds was quite strong in 2021, particularly in the fourth quarter. “It’s really a churn story,” Therivel said. “The churn dynamic is going to be affected by the upgrade promotions.
While the recent COVID-response programs are welcomed additions to the effort to connect all people, they are only one part of the total ecosystem required to achieve universal service. The Universal Service Fund continues to be an important part of that ecosystem. Specifically, the Lifeline program’s voice and data and voiceonly subsidies for consumers is not replicated elsewhere, and the Emergency Connectivity Fund program does not reach as far or cover as many needs as the E-rate program. One program does not serve all ends.
The Rural Wireless Association noted that the Universal Service Fund is unsustainable as currently constructed. When the 1996 Telecommunications Act was signed into law, voice telecommunications ruled the day and was the primary service supported by the USF. Circumstances have since changed. An explosion of innovation pushed consumers to use more data and demand higher speeds and lower latency.
Free Press called on the Federal Communications Commission to reinvent its Universal Service Fund (USF) policies so that millions more people can afford the costs of connectivity in the United States. Free Press urged the FCC and Congress to redraft policies crafted in the late 1990s, and last overhauled more than a decade ago, to reflect the sector’s many changes. Free Press wrote, “the good intentions that fueled that effort are no longer a reliable blueprint in a fundamentally changed marketplace.
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