Communications Workers of America

AT&T has made fiber-to-the-home available to fewer than a third of the households in its footprint. Across rural counties in AT&T’s footprint, only 5 percent of households have access to fiber. For 28 percent of the households in its network footprint, AT&T’s internet service does not meet the FCC’s 25/3 Mbps benchmark to be considered broadband. AT&T prioritizes network upgrades to wealthier areas, leaving lower income communities with outdated technologies -- households with fiber available have median income 34 percent higher than those with DSL only.

The Communications Workers of America (CWA), New America’s Open Technology Institute, the Rural Wireless Association, NTCA - The Rural Broadband Association, the American Economic Liberties Project, and Free Press Action sent a letter calling on Congress to ensure that T-Mobile does not receive COVID-19 recovery funding to meet the merger specific build-out commitments it agreed to when it sought approval of the T-Mobile/Sprint merger from the Federal Communications Commission, Department of Justice, state attorneys general, and state public utilities commissions. “The New T-Mobile has repe

In January 2018, T-Mobile acquired Iowa Wireless Services (iWireless), a regional carrier that provided postpaid and prepaid wireless service to approximately 75,000 customers in Iowa, western Illinois, and eastern Nebraska. Prior to the acquisition, iWireless had one of the largest retail footprints of any wireless carrier in Iowa, with 129 corporate and authorized dealer locations. iWireless was notable for its rural presence and for its affordable and flexible prepaid plans.

As the Communications Workers of America’s representative on the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee’s Model Code for Municipalities Working Group, I filed a letter on September 18, 2018, to express concern with the Federal Communications Commission’s draft order on streamlining wireless infrastructure deployment, which will be considered at the FCC's September 26, 2018 Open Meeting. The draft order is inconsistent with recommendations from the Model Code for Municipalities Working Group and is an overreach of federal authority.

In comments to the Federal Communications Commission, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) urged the FCC to raise its broadband speed benchmark from 25/3 Mbps to 100/10 Mbps. “The United States is falling behind other nations in terms of broadband speeds,” CWA’s comments read. “On the peak speeds global ranking, the US does not break the top-10.” “Part of the problem is our current broadband benchmark, which is insufficiently audacious and falls short of the Commission’s goals in the 2010 Broadband Plan,” the comments continue.