Charter accused of backdoor attack against fixed wireless

On January 20, representatives of the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA) met with a policy advisor to Federal Communications Commissioner Anna Gomez to discuss a concern about Charter Communications. In a letter to the FCC, WISPA wrote, “Charter has apparently adopted an internal policy to not renew contracts for upstream wholesale services with wireless internet service providers and to not enter into any new contracts for those services with WISPs.” If this is true, small WISPs might find it challenging to connect their wireless traffic to nearby cable and fiber infrastructure owned by Charter, making it hard to backhaul their traffic to the broader internet. “In rural areas where there are no or few other options for these services, Charter’s internal policy could have the effect of cutting off internet service to the communities WISPA’s members serve or increasing costs resulting from a reduction in competition for upstream wholesale services,” wrote WISPA. The member organization also noted that the new policy could be applied more broadly following the proposed merger between Charter and Cox Communications, which is expected to close in mid-2026.