Fierce

Verizon will cover more than 175 million people with its 5G Ultra Wideband service by the end of 2022

Verizon will cover more than 175 million people with its 5G Ultra Wideband service by the end of 2022, according to executives. In 2021, Verizon said it expected to provide service Ultra Wideband 5G to 175 million people over the course of 2022 and 2023, so it’s hitting that target significantly faster than previously planned. They expect to cover at least 250 million people by the end of 2024. Verizon currently serves 100 million people with its C-band 3.7 GHz spectrum.

Consolidated’s fiber rollout in Maine gets $18 million boost from NTIA

Consolidated Communications unveiled plans to deploy its Fidium Fiber service to 22,000 rural homes in Maine, with help from a fresh infusion of cash from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). The NTIA awarded $277.2 million in funding through its Broadband Infrastructure Program for 13 projects across 12 states. Grants included $28.1 million for the ConnectMaine Authority to help fund last-mile deployments to more than 11,000 locations statewide.

Detroit program helps close the Digital Divide for residents

Joshua Edmonds, director of Digital Inclusion with the City of Detroit, said the city set up a program in 2019 called Connect 313 to help residents get access to broadband connectivity. The initial goal was “building a table for which everybody who was intersecting with the Digital Divide could sit. Whether that’s our telecom providers, residents, non-profits, community organizations, churches, big tech companies.” The program now has over 500 member organizations. The City of Detroit has done a number of things as part of Connect 313.

Cable One scraps 100 Mbps plan as high-speed demand rises

Cable One unveiled a plan to ditch its 100 Mbps plan at the end of Q1 and make a 200 Mbps tier its entry-level offering, citing strong demand for higher-speed services. CEO Julie Laulis said approximately 22% of its residential broadband customers are currently on its 100 Mbps plan, but “200 meg will become – and quite honestly it already is – our standard offering.” She said the move comes in response to consumer demand for faster speeds, noting four out of five new customers in Q4 opted for speeds at or above 200 Mbps.

Dish and T-Mobile resolve their CDMA shut-off dispute

Dish Network has resolved its dispute with T-Mobile over the shut-down of T-Mobile’s 3G CDMA network. The parties have agreed that T-Mobile’s CDMA network will officially shut down on March 31—the same date that T-Mobile has been sticking to in the fight between the two carriers. The two carriers are working together to communicate to Boost customers who are still on the CDMA network and to help them obtain new handsets. In the short-term Dish expects some continued churn of Boost Mobile customers. 

WOW! to spend $40 million to build fiber network in Orange County, Florida

WideOpenWest (WOW!) unveiled plans to invest $215 million in capital expenditures this year, including $80 million in expansion efforts, and named Orange County (FL) as its second greenfield target market. CEO Teresa Elder said the company expects to spend $40 million over the next two to three years to build fiber to more than 40,000 homes in Orange County. The project is the second greenfield market the company has announced in the state. It named Seminole County (FL) as its first target earlier in February, outlining plans to reach 60,000 locations there.

T-Mobile to stop ‘most reliable 5G’ claim after AT&T, Verizon challenge

T-Mobile struck out again in its effort to claim America’s most reliable 5G network after an unsuccessful appeal to an advertising industry review board. T-Mobile said it will follow recommendations from the National Advertising Review Board (NARB) to stop all express and implied claims of having the most reliable 5G network based on data from network testing company umlaut.

Former Sprint wireless dealers file suit against T-Mobile

Using terms like “predatory” and “anti-competitive,” four retail wireless dealers filed suit against T-Mobile in recent weeks, all saying they were basically run out of business since the operator's merger with Sprint. Absolute Wireless, Maycom, Solutions Center and Wireless Express each named T-Mobile in their complaints. All of them previously sold wireless services for Sprint.

Frontier fires up network-wide 2-gigabit fiber internet service

Frontier stuck to a promise to roll out its first multi-gigabit service tier in Q1 of 2022, debuting a 2-gig internet offer that is available across its entire fiber footprint. The company plans to make the new service tier available to all of the new locations it builds to as its plan to expand to 10 million locations by the end of 2025 unfolds. The new plan is priced at $149.99 per month.

TDS plans to cover 60 percent of its footprint with fiber by 2026

TDS Telecom added 35,000 new fiber-enabled locations in the fourth quarter of 2021, bringing its total fiber-enabled addresses to 400,000 at year-end. That is up significantly from the 20,000 new fiber locations the company added in the third quarter. The company added 86,000 new fiber addresses in 2021, which is lower than its target of adding 150,000 new addresses in the year. However, TDS Telecom SVP and CFO Vicki Villacrez warned investors that the company would miss that target because of permitting problems and contractor delays.