Jeff Baumgartner

Strict "Buy America" requirements for government subsidy programs such as BEAD (Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment) threaten to significantly delay broadband network rollouts in rural areas if flexible waivers on those restrictions are not included, several industry organizations and industry watchers are warning. The Buy America policy, if strictly enforced, "could cause significant delays in actual deployments such that, for all practical purposes, it will cease to be relevant to the [broadband providers] or the communities the federal government sought to assist," New Street Resear

The math suggests that Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) funding will be depleted sometime in early 2024. That means the clock is ticking for the US government to move the needle in the coming months. "I think the biggest issue for the second half of this year is how that gets resolved," said Grant Spellmeyer, CEO of ACA Connects. He said the clock is running out when governors will be lavishing more attention on the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program. But few have their eye on the ball. "The silence [about the ACP funding issue] has been notable," he said.

US cable's big wireless gains in 2022 and expected to continue paired with a broader deceleration across the wireless industry will make it difficult for mobile's "Big Three"—AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon—to beat and raise their subscriber targets. "The twin headwinds of decelerating industry growth and share loss to Cable are not sufficiently reflected in industry and company expectations, in our view," said MoffettNathanson Analyst Craig Moffett. US cable raked in more than 40% of wireless industry net adds in 2022. Growth for the Big Three mobile carriers slowed in 2022, ending with a

Charter Communications is upgrading its widespread hybrid fiber/coax (HFC) networks to support faster speeds. But the demand for lofty upstream speeds is not being driven by actual customer usage, according to CFO Chris Winfrey. "The upstream demand today is much more of a marketing campaign as opposed to any real product demand," said Winfrey. Upstream usage soared during the early stages of the pandemic as people worked and schooled from home, but downstream usage still exceeds upstream usage by a wide margin.

Comcast recently launched a TV ad and erected a dedicated website that takes aim at the capabilities and features of T-Mobile's 5G-powered home broadband service, charging that they come up short when compared to what's delivered via Comcast's wired broadband services. In what's expected to be the first in a series of ads either targeting T-Mobile's service or perhaps the broader fixed wireless access (FWA) sector, Comcast's tongue-in-cheek "Vampires" ad features a family of four in a therapist's office lamenting the performance of T-Mobile's offering.

With US cable broadband subscriber growth remaining flat or going negative, operators are hard-pressed to find a remedy that will rekindle growth in a service category now considered central to the overall business.

US cable operators are increasingly threatened by the vast sums of money being plowed into fiber overbuilders, but cable industry legend John Malone believes that multiple-system operators (MSOs) such as Charter Communications are well-prepared to handle the hazards of more capable competition. Malone, whose Liberty Broadband unit holds 26 percent of Charter and owns Alaska's GCI, remains upbeat about Charter's prospects in the face of new and emerging competition from fiber overbuilders. "I believe they can defend their territory quite effectively," Malone said.

US broadband growth continued to surge through the third quarter of 2020, but "pull-forward" growth driven by the ongoing pandemic will likely lead to a slowdown in 2021, MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett predicted in a new report. According to the report, the US broadband market finished Q3 2020 with a penetration rate of 84%.

The rate of US broadband subscriber growth continued to slow in Q1 2018, according to a new analysis from Leichtman Research Group. The nation’s top cable operators and telecommunication companies, representing about 95% of the market, added roughly 800,000 net broadband subs in the period, down from 965,000 net adds in the year-ago quarter, LRG said.

If you’ve snapped up a smart TV, with built-in Netflix, YouTube, Hulu and other Web connections, heads up on this warning — your smart TV could make you vulnerable to hackers and is probably monitoring more of your viewing than you realize. Consumer Reports just analyzed smart TVs from five big U.S. TV brands — Samsung, LG, Sony, TCL and Vizio — and found several problems. All can track what consumers watch, and two of the brands failed a basic security test.