Ownership

T-Mobile is sneaking into the cable industry’s backyard. The second-biggest cellphone carrier by subscribers has pieced together at least five partnerships with fiber-optic internet providers that could serve millions of customers in the coming years.

A definitive agreement has been signed by which AccessPlus will acquire Crocker Communications, a third-generation, renowned telecommunications leader based in Greenfield and Springfield, Massachusetts. The closing of the transaction will follow Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and state regulatory approvals and is expected to occur in the third quarter of 2024. The acquisition includes Crocker Communications’ assets and its robust customer base, encompassing approximately 2,000 government, education, and residential clients.

US senators wrote to Jonathan Kanter, Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Jessica Rosenworcel, Chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), urging them to closely scrutinize T-Mobile’s proposed acquisition of UScellular. Since T-Mobile acquired Sprint in 2020, just three carriers have dominated the national mobile wireless service market.

T Mobile said it entered into a definitive agreement to establish a joint venture (JV) with the investment firm KKR to acquire Metronet as the company aims to increase its fiber solution offer to U.S. consumers. The wireless broadband provider expects to invest around $4.9 billion to acquire a 50% equity stake in the joint venture and 100% of Metronet’s residential fiber retail operations and customers. The JV will also acquire Oak Hill Capital’s existing stake.

In a deal that will focus on networking in Texas, Highline has acquired Liberty-based Internet Management Services (IMS). The combined company plans to expand its footprint in the southeast region of the state. Highline traces its roots back more than 125 years and has been involved in fiber deployments for 27 years. In addition to Texas, it is active in Michigan, Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, and Nebraska. Its networks provide 1 Gbps to 10 Gbps fiber connections within its footprint.

You’ve heard the grand declarations from telecommunications companies over the past few years. "We’re not telcos anymore," they’ve said, "we’re techcos." But what’s so bad about being a telco?Techco, of course, is short for "technology company." The idea is that telcos are evolving beyond their roots as simple connectivity providers and turning into services companies. The underlying implication here is that connectivity is becoming a utility, just like water or electric service.

One in three Americans doesn’t have internet at speeds fast enough to use Zoom. Despite being an essential utility, building out the nation’s internet infrastructure has been largely left to market forces with highly uneven results: 40 million Americans are still waiting to be connected. Large traditional internet service providers have not and will not invest in communities where the economics don’t fit their business models.

A significant chunk of the tech industry's money and power is lining up behind Donald Trump. Silicon Valley was once solidly Democratic, with just a handful of Republican outliers.

Roughly 30 minutes after Donald Trump was shot, Elon Musk backed his bid for the White House. Musk entered uncharted territory. He broke with tradition set by the leaders of other major social media firms, none of whom have endorsed a presidential candidate.

Apparently, Elon Musk has plans to around $45 million a month to a new super political-action committee backing Donald Trump's presidential run. Other backers of the group, called America PAC, include Palantir Technologies co-founder Joe Lonsdale, the Winklevoss twins, former U.S.