Ownership

In an attempt to boost broadband competition, Canada's telecommunication regulator, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), is forcing large phone companies to open their fiber networks to competitors.

In a comment submitted to the US Copyright Office, the Federal Trade Commission identified several issues raised by the development and deployment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that implicate competition and consumer protection policy, noting the FTC’s role in monitoring the impact of generative AI and vigorously enforcing the law as appropriate to protect competition and consumers. The comment explains that the FTC has an interest in copyright-related issues beyond questions about the scope of rights and the extent of liability under the copyright laws.

One of Consolidated Communications’ institutional investors is encouraging other shareholders not to vote in favor of the proposed Consolidated sale to Searchlight Capital Partners and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation. The investor, Wildcat Capital Management, owns about 3 million shares of Consolidated stock, or between 2 and 3 percent of the company. That makes Wildcat the fifth largest independent stockholder, according to Wildcat.

T-Mobile expanded its fiber ambitions to a handful of new markets via partnerships with several open access fiber network operators including Tillman FiberCo and SiFi Networks, among others. The developments reflect T-Mobile's growing interest in partnering with fiber network operators to offer T-Mobile-branded fiber services running over another company's network. It is a model that T-Mobile knows well as companies like Dish Network, Altice and Google Fiber pursue a similar strategy using T-Mobile's own wireless network.

Shenandoah Telecommunications Company (Shentel) announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 100 percent of the equity interests in Horizon Telecom for $385 million. Consideration will consist of $305 million in cash and $80 million of Shentel common stock. Horizon is a leading commercial fiber provider in Ohio and adjacent states serving national wireless providers, carriers, enterprises, and government, education and healthcare customers.

Dish and T-Mobile have resolved their dispute over 800 MHz spectrum, with Dish agreeing to pay $100 million now toward the spectrum, in exchange for an extension to buy the spectrum fully. Dish made an SEC filing on October 19, saying the two companies entered into an amendment to their License Purchase Agreement, extending the date by which Dish may purchase the 800 MHz spectrum to April 1, 2024.

In his new book “Techlash: Who Makes The Rules In The Digital Age?”, former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler says regulators have failed to rein in Big Tech because they’re using outdated tools. Call it something like “regulatory futurism”—Wheeler is saying now is the time for the government to get innovative by setting up new agencies with wide-reaching powers to determine what is and isn’t in the public’s best interest when it comes to tech.

T-Mobile is hoping to significantly improve the depth and reach of its lowband 5G network. But Dish Network is looking to block that move. A 2019 agreement among Dish, T-Mobile, and the US Department of Justice (DoJ) ultimately paved the way for T-Mobile to close its $26 billion purchase of Sprint.

Bluepeak has been swiftly and steadily expanding its footprint since its owner, private equity firm GI Partners, acquired competitive cable TV provider Vast Broadband in February 2021. At the time of the acquisition, Vast’s cable network passed 150,000 homes in its anchor markets, Sioux Falls and Rapid City (SD).

Consolidated Communications has agreed to be bought for $3.1 billion, including debt, in a take-private deal that will remove the fiber company from the public markets as it grapples with higher interest rates and rising costs. Searchlight Capital Partners, a private-equity firm that already owns more than 34 percent of Consolidated Communications, and British Columbia Investment Management agreed to pay $4.70 a share for the company. The company has faced various challenges as it works to build up its next-generation fiber network.