Competition/Antitrust

On June 26, the US House of Representatives passed the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act (H.R. 3351) -- an appropriations bill that provides fiscal year 2020 funding for a variety of departments and independent agencies, including the Federal Communications Commission. The massive bill passed with many amendments.

SpaceX's goal is to sell broadband internet service delivered by more than 1,000 small satellites. But industry experts say the company’s biggest challenge is financial. SpaceX must drive down the cost of sophisticated hardware and software to the point where it can deliver fast, reliable internet service at a price point that competes with cable or fiber-delivered broadband services, while finding enough underserved markets to provide scale.

The House has passed an omnibus appropriations bill, the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, and it funds the Federal Communications Commission. But it will almost certainly need major tweaking if Senate Republicans are expected to approve it, partially due to three amendments related to FCC policy.

The Federal Communications Commission will vote on whether to preempt a San Francisco city ordinance that was designed to promote broadband competition in multi-unit buildings. San Francisco's Article 52, approved in December 2016, lets Internet service providers use the existing wiring inside multi-unit residential and commercial properties even if the wiri

Charter’s renaming of itself—after a megamerger with Time Warner Cable in 2018—as “Spectrum.” But changing your name doesn’t mean that you aren’t liable for misbehavior under your previous moniker. This is what Charter…er, Spectrum… found recently when, following a lengthy investigation, New York’s attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, filed an extraordinary lawsuit against the company. The company’s 2.5 million New York subscribers (of its 22 million nationwide) have been told they’re getting X (in terms of download and upload speeds) when actually they’re getting a lot less than X.

AT&T saw a whopping 57% growth rate in fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) subscribers over the last year, according to a new research note about AT&T fiber subscriber growth from financial analysts at Moffett Nathanson. The company’s broadband market share hasn’t increased commensurately, however, according to the researchers. “Despite the dramatic growth at AT&T Fiber, AT&T’s broader IP broadband category has posted only modest subscriber gains over the past year,” the researchers wrote.

In May 31 comments filed with the Federal Trade Commission, ACA Connects (formerly the American Cable Association, an organization that lobbies on behalf of small and mid-size cable operators) explained that, overall, broadband markets in the US are working to the benefit of consumers – some 300 million of whom today have access to robust (100 Mbps) broadband service, most often from multiple Internet Service Providers (ISPs).

Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Jerry Moran (R-KS), and Jon Tester (D-MT) introduced the Broadband Data Improvement Act (BDIA), legislation to improve the accuracy of broadband coverage maps and better direct federal funds for broadband buildout. The bipartisan bill would require broadband providers to report data in a way that more accurately reflects locations they actually serve—a change from current reporting requirements.

SpaceX, Elon Musk’s space company, is planning to launch 60 of its own satellites in a single launch expected May 15, the first of more than 4,000 spacecraft planned for the Starlink network. If successful, the flight will make SpaceX the frontrunner in a tight race to be the first operator of an internet satellite network, as SpaceX is the only competitor with its own rockets. SpaceX is one of several, including OneWeb, Telesat and even Amazon, that are investing in plans to launch thousands of satellites that aim to deliver internet connections to customers below.