Fierce

Dish calls out Elon Musk for tweets about Starlink and RVs

Dish Network sent a letter May 27 to SpaceX demanding that the company retract statements that it says could trigger interference with Dish satellite TV services. The letter came after SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted that Starlink is available for RVs, campers and other large vehicle users but didn’t state that the service can’t be used on moving vehicles.

Google Fiber told to drop speed, reliability claims after Charter challenge

Google Fiber agreed to alter its advertisements after the National Advertising Division (NAD) determined a number of its speed claims were unsupported, including the assertion that its service can provide “faster download speeds than you'd get with traditional cable.” The decision followed a challenge from cable player Charter Communications. In addition to the aforementioned claim, NAD also ruled against Google’s claims that it offers up to 77 times faster uploads and up to 12 times faster downloads.

Altice USA says its cable network isn’t going anywhere despite fiber push

Much ado has been made about the cost benefits that can come from operators shutting down their old copper and cable networks as they overbuild with fiber. But while Altice USA has joined the ranks of those pursuing extensive fiber rollouts, CFO Michael Grau said it’s not planning to ditch its cable assets anytime soon. Grau explained there are several reasons why its cable network will be sticking around. The first is purely logistical.

UTOPIA Fiber wraps work on largest open access broadband network in US

UTOPIA Fiber is putting the finishing touches on the second-largest municipal broadband network in the US, wrapping up a multi-year fiber build to more than 140,000 locations across West Valley City, Utah. UTOPIA executive director Roger Timmerman noted West Valley’s new asset is also the largest open access network in the country.

American Association of Public Broadband raises $200K, concerns about NTIA's broadband funding notice

The American Association of Public Broadband (AAPB) is concerned the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s broadband infrastructure funding guidelines pose a challenge for local and state governments seeking to boost municipal broadband. The challenges include a cumbersome application process with a letter-of-credit requirement which serve as steep barriers to entry for local government, nonprofits and small ISPs.

Verizon doesn’t think fiber is a must have for small business customers

Verizon has spent the last several years building fiber rings in more than 60 markets outside of its traditional footprint, but that doesn’t mean it’s planning to use those assets to run fiber directly to every customer.

NTIA's Alan Davidson answers 5 burning broadband funding questions

National Telecommunications and Information Administration chief Alan Davidson spoke at the Mountain Connect conference about broadband infrastructure investment. He expects NTIA to start doling out grant money later this year, though likely not from the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program quite yet because it is tied to the availability of new broadband coverage maps from the Federal Communications Commission. Davidson noted that some have misinterpreted the BEAD rules as treating unserved and underserved locations the same, but that’s a mistake.

AT&T CEO says fiber rollout is an all hands on deck effort

AT&T is enlisting employees across the organization to make its fiber rollout to 30 million homes by 2025 a success, taking an all hands on deck approach to ensure it pushes penetration rates up as quickly as possible to get a return on its hefty investments. CEO John Stankey said its initial focus for the build has been filling in a patchwork of earlier fiber deployments in metropolitan areas to enable it to advertise in a more efficient fashion.

Charter CEO says the idea that fiber is superior is ‘just dead wrong’

MoffetNathanson's Craig Moffet asked Charter CEO Tom Rutledge if cable operators will inevitably have to spend big bucks on fiber deployments to stay competitive in the broadband business. Rutledge said, “We have a lot of fiber in our network, and it’s really a question of where do you end the fiber, and what technology do you use to maximize the connectivity with the end device?” He noted that even a fiber feed directly to a house doesn’t deliver fiber to a device. What delivers connectivity to a device is actually Wi-Fi in most cases.