Light Reading

A quick catch-up for anyone joining late. On Aug.

SpaceX is continuing to pursue its case with the Federal Communications Commission that the proliferation of low-Earth orbit satellite service renders rural broadband subsidies obsolete, while depicting the opposing arguments of "subsidy-dependent incumbents" as "unfounded" and "implausible." The company's most recent remarks on the matter came in the form of reply comments to the FCC's proceeding on modernizing High-Cost, a program operated under the Universal Service Fund that helps subsidize telecom network deployment and maintenance in rural areas.

In July, SpaceX's 13th Starship test flight successfully deployed 20 "V3" Starlink satellites into sub-orbital trajectories for a series of speed tests before they "demised" some 20 minutes later to burn up in the Earth's atmosphere.

Comcast has sparked a plan to transform its cost structure and the overall business in a way that will save billions of dollars and enable Comcast to redirect those funds toward growth initiatives, CFO Jason Armstrong revealed at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference. "We embarked earlier this month on the largest cost transformation in the company's history. This will be billions of dollars in costs," he said. "I frame it [as] more of a transformation. It's not a budget exercise.

Oklahoma is now 95 percent of the way toward reaching statewide connectivity, with Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment builds still ahead. But deploying last-mile broadband networks is just one aspect of closing the digital divide.

Optimum Communications Chairman and CEO Dennis Mathew dropped a bit of news on Optimum's Q2 earnings call about the company's growing mobile business, noting that the operator recently expanded its multiyear Mobile Virtual Network Operator agreement with T-Mobile.

A recurrent theme from US cellular industry commentary in recent years has been complaints about supposedly unused or underused spectrum that could be put to "better" use. Yet there is surprisingly little focus on the major carriers' own fallow and underused spectrum assets, which deserve similar scrutiny. We have heard repeated claims that Citizens Broadband Radio Service spectrum is not used sufficiently or that dynamic sharing mechanisms are allegedly inefficient. The benefits of technology innovation and new deployment models are downplayed.

Elon Musk's SpaceX is making moves to acquire more AWS-3 midband spectrum for Starlink's mobile satellite direct-to-device service and is getting closer to nationwide coverage in the US. In a recent Federal Communications Commission filing, SpaceX subsidiary Starlink Spectrum Holdings requested permission to transfer control of three unpaired AWS-3 licences in the 1695MHz–1710MHz band that are held by Tristar License Group.

Industry groups USTelecom and NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association are backing a request from fiber operator Lumos for the Federal Communications Commission to override some permitting fees and requirements imposed by Stark and Mahoning counties in Ohio. But the County Engineers Association of Ohio is urging the FCC to exercise caution in its decision-making, while the counties themselves argue that Lumos' claims misrepresent the situation.