Nokia is throwing its weight behind an initiative it calls Broadband Zero, aiming to help connect as many people as possible with a minimal impact on the environment. Sandy Motley, President of Fixed Networks at Nokia, said the company’s Broadband Zero campaign is based on four key pillars: zero left behind, zero limits, zero touch and zero waste. She explained the first pillar is focused on applying fiber and fixed wireless access (FWA) technologies to connect every home and building as quickly as possible. Though fiber is preferable as a long-term solution, she noted it “takes time” to deploy whereas FWA is “a fairly quick solution.” If an operator “has a wireless network, they can very quickly get a fixed wireless access CPE to some of their customers who can do a self-install and then within minutes, an hour of them purchasing the product they can have a good, strong broadband connection.” The second and third pillars – zero limits and zero touch – home in on network capabilities. Specifically, Motley said former is about enabling operators to introduce new technologies and innovations for their customers, while the latter aims to help service providers transition to fully automated and optimized networks. The final pillar, zero waste, encompasses “things we can do independent of operators going green and the grid going green…the packaging, optimizing the design of our products to consume less power, designing our products in such a way that we generate less waste and that they can be easily recycled” according to Fixed Networks CTO Stefaan Vanhastel.

Consolidated Communications is delivering symmetrical gigabit fiber internet to nearly 9,000 residents and businesses in Charleston, Mattoon, Shelbyville and Taylorville (IL) by the end of 2021. Thousands of residents can now benefit from the new fiber-to-the-premises internet network delivering reliable, high-speed connectivity with highly competitively priced plans. Plans start at just $35 per month, and symmetrical 1-gig service is available for $70 per month. All plans include equipment and installation, and a one-year price lock with no contract required. Fiber networks provide dependable connections supporting video conferencing for remote workers and learners and allows the creation and uploading of high-bandwidth content. Customers can easily connect all their smart-home devices, stream video and games without interruption. In addition, with an always on, dedicated connection, Consolidated customers can utilize their full bandwidth and no throttling, even during peak hours, with no data caps. Consumers can also add streaming content available through one of Consolidated’s featured partners with the flexibility to watch their favorite programs on any device.

We need to use this moment to build a foundation for new growth and new opportunity in the post-pandemic world. For this foundation, I believe we need to do two things: reinvigorate the momentum toward 5G and pave the way for 6G and beyond. At the FCC, we are focusing on five principles for delivering 5G that is fast, secure, resilient, and, most importantly, available everywhere in the country:

1. We are freeing up more spectrum—and especially mid-band spectrum—for 5G.
2. Switching from the airwaves to the ground, we are expanding the reach of fiber facilities.
3. On the equipment side, we are diversifying what goes into our 5G networks.
4. We are not stopping at equipment diversity—we are also building security and resiliency in our supply chains.
5. On the global stage, we are working with our friends and allies on setting the technology standards of the future.

If we’ve learned anything from our experience in rolling out 5G, it’s that wireless policy is really important for our economic and national security. Let’s acknowledge here and now that it is time to start thinking seriously about how we can better position ourselves for success with 6G. What we need now is new thinking, broader consensus, and more early focus than we had for 5G.  We need a process for prioritizing and executing on spectrum objectives and for developing strategies to align the ends, ways, and means for 6G. We need an initiative that brings together government, business, the non-profit sector, and the rest of civil society and the public to chart a new course.  That way, we can pursue policymaking that works and ensure our continued wireless leadership far into the future.

Virgin Media O2 is on course to double the broadband speeds available on its existing cable network, following a pair of real-world trials which delivered 2.2 Gbps. The operator said the tests conducted in Edinburgh and Birmingham utilized DOCSIS 3.1 technology alongside Virgin Media O2’s Hub 4 router, which is offered as standard to customers taking its 1 Gbps service. In July 2021, Virgin Media O2 announced plans to upgrade its entire network to full fiber-to-the-premises by 2028, but highlighted plans to “maintain and develop” its cable network capabilities in the interim. At the time, it specifically set a goal to deliver speeds of more than 2 Gbps. The DOCSIS 3.1 standard is capable of supporting download speeds of up to 10 Gbps, but it is unclear whether Virgin Media O2 will pursue upgrades beyond 2.2 Gbps given its planned fiber rollout. As of August, speeds of 1.1 Gbps were available to more than 8 million homes, representing more than half of its 15.5 million-home footprint. By September that figure had jumped to 10 million, and by early October it reached 12.8 million homes.

While cable operators grapple with the slowdown of broadband subscriber additions expected in the third quarter and beyond, Bernstein media analyst Peter Supino said that telephone companies, long the butt of jokes about the sluggish speeds and poor service inherent in their core digital subscriber line (DSL) service, have streamlined operations and are positioning themselves to take back significant market share. Supino pointed to AT&T’s spinoff of DirecTV, Frontier Communications’ emergence from bankruptcy, Lumen’s (formerly Century Communications’) sale of about 7 million passings to Apollo Global Management and T-Mobile’s successful integration of Sprint, and how those moves have freed up their respective balance sheets to invest in fiber-to-the-home networks and technology to bring faster, more reliable broadband to residential customers. Tack on investment in C-band spectrum by AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile to extend fixed wireless broadband to harder to reach areas, and the outlook for telco service looks a lot better than it has in the past. “During 2021, each of AT&T, Verizon, Frontier, Lumen, and T-Mobile, in different ways, became a more viable contender for residential broadband subscribers,” Supino wrote, adding that he expects telco fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) broadband passings to rise 50% from 51.1 million in 2021 to 77.1 million homes by 2025.