Sean Buckley

Which carriers received the most rural broadband funding in 2017?

So which US-based providers got the most amount of federal rural broadband funding in 2017?

CenturyLink says FCC should maintain 3.5 GHz PALs to ease rural broadband deployments

As CenturyLink looks to continue its broadband expansion efforts in harder to build rural areas using a mix of wireline and wireless technologies, the service provider says the Federl Communications Commission should not alter the rules governing the Priority Access Licenses (PALs) that will be issued in the 3.5 GHz band. CenturyLink, which asked the FCC for permission last fall to test 3.4 GHz wireless spectrum in some of its rural markets, told the FCC that the “use of PEAs as the geographic license area for PALs will inhibit higher-speed broadband deployment in rural areas.”

AT&T pleads with FCC to streamline legacy data, voice retirement processes

AT&T has asked the Federal Communications Commission to realign the way it regulates how service providers shut down Time-division multiplexing (TDM)-based data and retirement services with the hope of creating incentives for service providers to invest in next-gen services. 

CenturyLink extends broadband to 600K homes, businesses via CAF-II program

CenturyLink has inched closer to meeting its Federal Communications Commission CAF-II program commitments, reaching over 600,000 rural homes and businesses with broadband over the past two years. In August 2015, CenturyLink accepted $500 million in CAF-II funding. This money, combined with its own capital, will ultimately enable the telco to deliver broadband services to about 1.2 million rural households and businesses in 33 states over the next six years.

Frontier, Consolidated and Windstream plead for flexible rural wireless spectrum rules

Frontier, Consolidated and Windstream told the Federal Communications Commission that to leverage wireless spectrum bands like 3.5 GHz to address rural broadband gaps, the current license size should be changed. In a recent joint FCC filing, the three service providers, which are all recipients of the regulator’s CAF II program, say that the larger license sizes—specifically partial economic areas (PEAs)—are too big and too expensive. As a result, the trio added that PEAs would preclude “potential participation from carriers considering deploying fixed wireless in very rural areas.”

Frontier reaches over 275K broadband customers in California with CAF-II help

Frontier has extended broadband service to over 275,000 households across CA, using a mix of its own capital and the Federal Communications Commission's Connect America Fund Phase II program funding.

AT&T, CenturyLink, Frontier’s rural wireline, wireless expansions could benefit from FCC’s $2B CAF auction

AT&T, CenturyLink, Frontier and other providers that want to further expand rural broadband will soon be able to bid in the Federal Communications Commission’s $2 billion additional Connect America Fund II auction. The FCC has identified nearly 1 million homes and small businesses that will be eligible for broadband deployment support over the next 10 years. A large majority of the rural areas the FCC identified do not have access to broadband internet service. Given the low density of these areas, service providers are unlikely to expand service without federal support. 

Frontier exceeds 2017 CAF II build-out schedule in 8 additional states

Frontier appears to be on a roll with its Connect America Fund II deployments, expanding broadband services in the rural areas of eight additional states in 2017.  The list of states included in this latest push in which Frontier is ahead of pace in deploying rural broadband include: Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin.

Frontier sticks broadband consumers with $2 Internet Infrastructure Surcharge

Frontier users have found an unwelcome present in their latest bill as the company has added a $2-a-month Internet Infrastructure Surcharge:

"Beginning with this bill, customers not on an Internet Service term agreement, price protection plan or subject to other exclusions will be assessed a $1.99 per month Internet Infrastructure surcharge. The Internet Infrastructure surcharge is not a tax or governmental charge."

Frontier says the surcharge has been implemented to defray some local network maintenance costs.

50 mayors tell FCC Chairman Pai to not overturn net neutrality rules

A group of 50 US mayors sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai in a collective effort to ask that he keeps the current rules, which are based on Title II of the Communications Act, in place.

Verizon accelerates copper-to-fiber transition, sets new network resiliency practices

Following 2012's Hurricane Sandy, Verizon has put together a new set of flood barrier and network transformation methods that are designed to achieve two goals: keep its wireline network operational and hasten its ongoing copper-to-fiber migration. During Sandy, which flooded several of its service and central offices, the service provider reported $1 billion in damage due to water and related storm damage.

Ting: Google Fiber’s realignment won’t have a material impact

Ting, the wireline internet division of Tucows, does not envision Google Fiber’s recent troubles posing challenges to the larger fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) service community. Elliot Noss, president and CEO of Tucows, said that there are still plenty of opportunities to expand its FTTH reach. “There are certainly markets that had, had some conversation with Google who have been in contact with us,” said Noss. “But at the end of the day, it's such a big market, and Google had such big halo that I don't know that will necessarily have a material impact.” Noss added that having a larger amount of FTTH service providers is a benefit to all players that participate in the fiber broadband segment.

CenturyLink’s Level 3 acquisition faces challenges from California consumer advocacy groups

CenturyLink’s proposed acquisition of Level 3 is now facing protests from two California-based consumer advocacy groups who say the combined company will place too much control of a large portion of the state’s wholesale and retail fiber into one company. This is a small blow to CenturyLink, which has remained confident that it would not have as difficult a time getting state approvals because the telecommunication company is purchasing a company that does not serve consumers.

Level 3 is mainly focused on selling a mix of wholesale services like fiber to other carriers and selling IP-based and TDM services to business customers. These groups include a coalition of consumer advocacy groups—TURN, The Greenlining Institute and the California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) office of ratepayer advocates—and the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF).

Google Fiber realigns San Antonio FTTH rollout strategy, but new coverage plans are unclear

Google Fiber is implementing a fiber installation process in San Antonio (TX) it hopes won’t upset local residents along with methods to reduce network build-out costs. The emerging fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) provider, according to a San Antonio Business Journal report, wants to be more responsive to the Texas community’s concerns. "They want Google Fiber, but they also want it deployed with a minimum of disruption," Google Fiber wrote in a statement. "We agree. Across all our markets, we are focused on innovating new deployment techniques that are faster, more efficient and less disruptive." The first thing on Google Fiber’s list is to remove a fiber hut that it initially constructed inside a pocket recreational area at the city’s Haskin Park. As part of the revised plan, the service provider plans to replace the hut, which holds its network cables, with a smaller utility cabinet.

CenturyLink, Level 3 say they don’t ‘significantly’ compete with each other for business service opportunities

CenturyLink says it does not always compete head to head with Level 3—which it is in the process of acquiring—and that the two companies are providers in an ever-evolving business services market.

In a new Federal Communications Commission filing responding to questions about the markets in which the two providers offer business services, CenturyLink said it and Level 3 offer similar services to small and large businesses, but not in every market. “While CenturyLink and Level 3 offer overlapping services for SMBs and enterprises, they do not significantly compete with each other in the provision of these services,” CenturyLink said. In the fourth quarter of 2016, CenturyLink said it had 28.5% of sales of SMB data 11 services in its ILEC territory, while Level 3 accounted for only 1.1 % of similar service sales. Ethernet is another key factor. CenturyLink noted it had 6.5% of the total US sales of business Ethernet services, and Level 3 accounted for 17.6% of such sales. CenturyLink said it is seeing competition in the business data services (BDS) market from two main sources: cable and national providers.

FairPoint brings broadband to 25 rural Vermont towns via FCC’s CAF-II program

FairPoint has completed broadband expansion projects in 25 Vermont towns, thanks in part to funding from the FCC’s CAF-II rural broadband expansion program. By completing these broadband expansion projects, the service provider will offer higher broadband speeds to over 4,500 locations throughout the state. In towns like Dover, Jamaica, Londonderry, Stratton, West Dover, Wilmington and Winhall, over 2,200 locations have been impacted, providing broadband service to some locations for the first time.

Maine Fiber Company: Utility pole attachment make-ready is our single largest operating expense

Maine Fiber Company (MFC), the company behind building the state’s wholesale dark fiber-based Three Ring Binder (3RB) middle mile network, is showing support for Maine lawmakers’ proposed LD 406 bill that’s designed to upgrade the state’s outdated pole attachment regulations. LD 406 was introduced by Senator David Woodsome of York, Maine, and co-sponsored by Representative Seth Berry of Bowdoinham and Senate President Michael Thibodeau of Waldo, Maine.

Frontier looks for more CAF dollars to build rural broadband

Frontier Communications is looking to leverage some Connect America Fund (CAF) options to get additional funding in its quest to bring faster internet speeds to rural areas within its footprint.

The provider identified 515 census blocks in a filing for CAF Phase I Round 2 incremental support, focusing on locations it initially couldn't reach during CAF I that can't access even a minimum 3 Mbps connection. Frontier may also be able to get CAF II funding rather than CAF I incremental support to build to these areas, the provider noted in its filing. Joining fellow telephone companies Consolidated and Windstream, Frontier accepted $283 million annually in CAF II support from the FCC to deploy broadband to more than 650,000 high-cost rural locations throughout its current 28-state service area. The service provider noted that the locations it is targeting with the CAF II funds are those that are only served by Frontier and not a competitor.

Mount Washington, Massachusetts, municipal network shows can-do approach to community broadband

[Commentary] As the third smallest town in Massachusetts, Mount Washington is not an obvious fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) buildout target.

Today, Mount Washington has a grand total of about 146 residents, a number of whom only spend up to two weeks of the year in the town as a vacation spot. But with few broadband options other than Verizon, the local incumbent telco, or expensive satellite service, the town sought a partner to construct a municipally-owned FTTH network. Upon completion, the network will outfit each Mount Washington household with dedicated fiber strands originating from MassBroadband’s middle-mile backbone termination point at town hall. The town hall will actually house the optical line terminal (OLT) that will deliver signals to the home. Those who choose to subscribe to internet and telephone services will pay a monthly fee to a third-party service provider. Working in partnership with White Mountain Cable (a subsidiary of Dycom) and eX2 Technology, Mount Washington expects construction of its active Ethernet network to be completed in about nine months.

Although most of Mount Washington’s residents consist of vacationers getting away from the hustle and bustle of city life, they expect a similar broadband experience.

Telco, cable-backed Missouri bill could limit municipal broadband growth, opposition group says

A new broadband battle is brewing in Missouri as the state’s largest telecommunication companies and cable operators are backing a new bill to limit municipal broadband. The new bill, SB 186, which was introduced by MO State Sen Ed Emery (R-Lamar) seeks to limit the power of municipalities to provide competition to entrenched incumbent service providers. SB 186, according to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, imposes restrictions on local governments to provide retail and wholesale bandwidth services. “This legislation is trying to cut off communities at every turn by limiting any sort of ‘competitive service,’ whether it comes from public broadband infrastructure investment or a public-private partnership” said Christopher Mitchell of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. “Missouri should be encouraging investment and local Internet choice, not working with monopoly lobbyists to prevent it.”

Windstream, EarthLink secure regulatory approvals to complete merger

Windstream has received all of the state and federal regulatory approvals required for its acquisition of EarthLink, paving the way for the service provider to complete the deal in the first quarter. On Feb. 24, Windstream and EarthLink will each hold special meetings of their respective stockholders in connection with the merger. Windstream also announced that it will hold a conference call on March 1 to review the company's fourth-quarter and full-year 2016 earnings results. The companies first announced the all-stock deal last November. In January, the Federal Communications Commission announced it approved Windstream’s proposed acquisition of Windstream. At that time, the FCC said it did not receive any comments opposing the deal during the public comment period required by law.

Tennessee, Virginia municipal broadband proposals reignite debate

[Commentary] Municipal broadband continues to be a hotbed of debate, one that's coming to a head again in Tennessee and Virginia. Each of these states has proposed changes in the laws that govern municipal-run networks. But the question is whether their proposals are a step forward or just another way to protect incumbent telco and cable companies' hold on the broadband market.

In both of these states, incumbent telecom and cable companies like AT&T, CenturyLink and Comcast would like to retain their upper hand. Incumbents continually make two main arguments about municipal broadband: Government-run companies get an unfair advantage and other municipal provider efforts have failed. While there’s no shortage of failed municipal broadband providers like Bristol Virginia Utilities (BVU), there are a number of success stories like Danville (VA), Longmont (CO), and the emerging Roanoke Valley Authority. The new debates that have emerged in Tennessee and Virginia aren’t just about giving consumers the highest speed, but providing connectivity for day-to-day activities like doing school work.

FCC’s Pai puts another nail in the BDS reform coffin

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai has removed business data services (BDS) price reform from its list of active proceedings on proposed rules, marking another sign of the new Republican-dominated leadership’s light-touch regulatory mentality. “The items could be put back on circulation following modifications,” said an FCC official, adding that action is “typical” when a new presidential administration takes office. While the commissioners could revise the BDS rules, if they do they would likely be radically different than what former-FCC Chairman Wheeler proposed. FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly also opposed the BDS proposal.

AT&T says 50% of voice customers in Alabama, Florida trial cities transitioned to IP services

AT&T is progressing with its TDM-to-IP voice service transition in two cities in FL and AL, telling the Federal Communications Commission that on a combined basis 50 percent of total customer accounts have voluntarily migrated to one of the company's next-generation wireline and wireless voice services.

In its latest filing with the FCC, AT&T revealed that voluntary consumer transitions to IP in Carbon Hill (AL) and Delray Beach (FL) increased by 72 percent and 59 percent, respectively. As expected, consumer TDM-based services declined by 36 percent and 38 percent. AT&T reported similar trends with business customers in these two cities. Simple IP business accounts were up 35 percent in Carbon Hill and 48 percent in Delray Beach, while simple TDM business accounts declined 28 percent and 25 percent. Customers who have transitioned to the next-gen IP-based services during the trial reported they have received similar service performance, service quality and customer care to that of TDM-based services.