Internet/Broadband

For the third quarter of 2023, AT&T reported growth in 5G and mobility, fiber subscribers and broadband revenues. The company added 296,000 fiber subscribers, surpassing 8 million AT&T Fiber subscribers in call— doubling the customer base in less than 4 years. Consumer broadband revenues are up 9.8%, driven by AT&T Fiber revenue growth of 26.9%. AT&T's consumer fiber network is now capable of serving 20.7 million consumers and about 3.3 million business customer locations; on track to pass 30 million+ fiber locations by the end of 2025.

Nearly 800 homes and businesses in Greene County (PA) will be able to get high-speed fiber internet for the first time, due to a $5.2 million public–private partnership with broadband provider Kinetic. The project, expected to start in mid-November and be completed in the spring, will provide internet speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second to eligible homes and business in parts of the townships of Aleppo, Freeport, Gilmore, Perry, Springhill and Wayne.

The Federal Communications Commission committed $37.7 million in a new funding round through the Emergency Connectivity Fund Program, which provides digital tools and services to support students in communities across the country. This funding commitment supports applications from the third application window, benefitting approximately 100,000 students nationwide, including students in Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, Texas, and Washington.

1. Broadband is essential: A lot has changed since the previous Federal Communications Commission repealed net neutrality. A devastating pandemic reaffirmed the essential nature of broadband access to protect the health and economic security of all Americans.
2. Abdicated oversight: The 2017 FCC approach was not “light touch.” It was a complete abdication of authority.
3. Targeted approach: Chairwoman Rosenworcel’s approach is targeted, not heavy-handed.

The Federal Communications Commission will begin implementing President Biden’s plan for increasing government control of the Internet. There will be lots of talk about “net neutrality” and virtually none about the core issue before the agency: namely, whether the FCC should claim for itself the freewheeling power to micromanage nearly every aspect of how the Internet functions—from the services that consumers can access to the prices that can be charged. The entire debate over whether Title II regulations are necessary or justified was settled years ago.

Cable operators and vendors are a bit defensive about comparing cable’s hybrid fiber coax (HFC) networks with fiber networks. New fiber builds are being driven by the $42.5 billion in Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program. Jay Lee, chief technology and strategy officer with ATX, said he attended the Fiber Broadband Association’s Fiber Connect conference in August. “I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised the fiber guys were going to beat up on the cable guys,” he said.

We write today to ask the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to provide guidance on alternatives to the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program’s requirement that all applicants for program funding obtain an irrevocable letter of credit of 25% of the award, in addition to the 25% company match requirement. We believe that the letter of credit requirement in its current state will force many ISPs out of the program.

Verizon is hiring 1,800 additional technicians to support its East Coast broadband expansion efforts in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and Washington (DC). Many of the targeted markets are rural and traditionally underserved communities, and so they qualify for funding from the American Rescue Plan Act.

Velocity, founded in 2018 and located in south central Kansas, is a subsidiary of the Butler Electric Cooperative and serves approximately 5,500 consumer customers. Velocity’s fixed wireless service operates on more than one band of unlicensed spectrum, depending on the loading and density of each tower. However, the organization will be migrating to fiber in the coming months and years. As a nonprofit, Velocity is trying to provide service as close to cost as possible. Velocity’s current fixed wireless pricing ranges from $49 (up to 15/3 Mbps) to $84 (up to 100/10 Mbps).

Sens Ted Cruz (R-TX), Ted Budd (R-NC) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) introduced legislation to limit children's access to social media at school by requiring schools receiving federal broadband funding to prohibit access on subsidized services, devices, and networks.