Diana Goovaerts

Charter CEO Tom Rutledge isn’t sold on the idea that consumers need symmetrical broadband speeds, but says it has a roadmap to offer them using DOCSIS 3.1 technology to keep up with competition from fiber players. Rutledge said, “It’s a marketing claim. It’s a claim without much reality from a [data] use perspective…Even one gig down is to some extent a marketing claim from a reality perspective.” However, to the extent that it needs to keep up with such claims from competitors, Rutledge said it can.

Charter Communications continued a multi-year march to double the entry-level speed available on its Spectrum Internet service, rolling out 200 Mbps service in more than three dozen new markets. The 37 markets where the faster service is now available cover more than 5 million homes and include Bakersfield (CA), Bangor (ME), Binghamton (NY), Dayton (OH), and Green Bay (WI).

Altice USA CEO Dexter Goei revealed the operator’s long-talked about multi-gig service launch is fast approaching and it expects to announce the first of hopefully many broadband grant wins in the coming weeks. Goei said Altice in recent months has stepped up promotional activity in areas where it overlaps with Verizon’s Fios service in order to “keep the pressure up” on its competition. He added it could soon gain the upper hand in their ongoing battle.

Consolidated Communications unveiled plans to deploy its Fidium Fiber service to 22,000 rural homes in Maine, with help from a fresh infusion of cash from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). The NTIA awarded $277.2 million in funding through its Broadband Infrastructure Program for 13 projects across 12 states. Grants included $28.1 million for the ConnectMaine Authority to help fund last-mile deployments to more than 11,000 locations statewide.

Cable One unveiled a plan to ditch its 100 Mbps plan at the end of Q1 and make a 200 Mbps tier its entry-level offering, citing strong demand for higher-speed services. CEO Julie Laulis said approximately 22% of its residential broadband customers are currently on its 100 Mbps plan, but “200 meg will become – and quite honestly it already is – our standard offering.” She said the move comes in response to consumer demand for faster speeds, noting four out of five new customers in Q4 opted for speeds at or above 200 Mbps.

WideOpenWest (WOW!) unveiled plans to invest $215 million in capital expenditures this year, including $80 million in expansion efforts, and named Orange County (FL) as its second greenfield target market. CEO Teresa Elder said the company expects to spend $40 million over the next two to three years to build fiber to more than 40,000 homes in Orange County. The project is the second greenfield market the company has announced in the state. It named Seminole County (FL) as its first target earlier in February, outlining plans to reach 60,000 locations there.

Frontier stuck to a promise to roll out its first multi-gigabit service tier in Q1 of 2022, debuting a 2-gig internet offer that is available across its entire fiber footprint. The company plans to make the new service tier available to all of the new locations it builds to as its plan to expand to 10 million locations by the end of 2025 unfolds. The new plan is priced at $149.99 per month.

Altice USA laid out a plan to deploy fiber to 6.5 million locations, or two-thirds of its entire footprint, by the end of 2025, planning to focus heavily on areas where it competes with Verizon’s Fios service and Frontier Communications. In 2022, it is targeting 1.1 million fiber passings in its Optimum footprint and 200,000 passings in its Suddenlink territory, for a total of 1.3 million new locations in 2022. It expects to add another 1 million fiber passings in its Optimum footprint in 2023 and 700,000 in 2024.

A lot of attention has been given to the sprawling fiber expansions announced by large operators like AT&T, Charter Communications and Frontier Communications. But there’s another rapidly growing cohort of companies quietly working to deliver broadband to some of the hardest to reach areas of the country: electric companies and cooperatives. National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) CEO Jim Matheson said electric co-ops haven’t always been part of the broadband equation.

Vice President Kamala Harris called on all US internet service providers to back efforts to provide more affordable broadband options for consumers, as the Federal Communications Commission announced more than 10 million people have signed up for its Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP).