Jeff Baumgartner

AT&T CEO John Stankey says the company has seen better-than-expected results in the use of open-access models outside the operator's own fiber footprint. He said the economics of the open-access model is also worth a look within AT&T's own fiber footprint. AT&T's fiber network passes more than 28 million locations and remains on track to reach 30 million by the end of 2025.

Verizon's $20 billion play for Frontier Communications is a clear indicator that the company is pressing forward with a plan to expand its fiber footprint and establish a foundation for a broader convergence strategy that combines home broadband and mobile.

Cable execs have been adamant that their broadband businesses will return to subscriber growth eventually. But they haven't pinpointed exactly when they expect to turn that corner as they grapple with the demise of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) and a one-two punch of fiber and fixed wireless access (FWA) competition.

Tarana Wireless is making more inroads with the US cable industry, announcing that three operators are using its platform to deploy fixed wireless access (FWA) services for a variety of use cases.

Comcast still sees fiber networks as its biggest competition in the long term, but a top exec acknowledged fixed wireless access (FWA) as a "near-term issue" that is taking a piece of the lower end of the market. Although the pace of FWA subscriber growth among some of the top US service providers is showing signs of slowing, T-Mobile, Verizon and 

Speculation is swirling that Verizon's $20 billion bid for Frontier Communications will spur more fiber-focused mergers & acquisitions among the nation's top mobile operators.

Verizon's $20 billion move to acquire Frontier Communications as part of an effort to expand and scale its convergence strategy is considered a compliment at Comcast. "That's validation of what we're doing.

The cable industry's policy people are working through a smorgasbord of issues, including surprise litigation tied to the Universal Service Fund, a temporary stay on the return of network neutrality rules, tricky nuances tied to the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program, and even the recent temporary injunction slapped on Venu, a new sports streaming service. Yet another challenge: a US Supreme Court decision in June that 

Many small and midsized cable and broadband operators are exploring a potential launch into the mobile arena, but other priorities, including fiber network buildouts, are keeping some of them on the sidelines. But the option is there for many operators that want it thanks to the National Content & Technology Cooperative's (NCTC's) mobile partnerships with Reach and AT&T. NCTC is 

US cable operators are struggling to return to broadband subscriber growth, but their mobile strategies continued to bear fruit in the second quarter of 2024. Cable's share of total mobile phone net adds (both post-paid and pre-paid) was roughly 54 percent in the quarter, MoffettNathanson found in its latest analysis of the US mobile market. Analyst Craig Moffett attributes the bulk of US cable's mobile growth to relatively lower pricing when compared to many of the plans offered by AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon.