Telecommunication

Go big or go home. That’s the strategy Verizon appears to be taking with the overhaul of its customer service strategy. How big?

The battle over how much incarcerated people should pay to stay connected with loved ones escalated recently. Sheriffs, telecommunications providers, and civil rights advocates filed opposing briefs in the U.S.

Verizon may have scored federal approval of its $20 billion Frontier acquisition, but the coast is far from clear stateside. California is scrutinizing the operator for ending its diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The California Public Utilities Commission this week began conducting hearings to seek input on whether the Verizon/Frontier deal serves the public interest.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr announced that the items below are tentatively on the agenda for the June Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday, June 26, 2025: 

In a precursor to the headlines we’ll be seeing in the U.S., Telefónica announced on May 27 that it shut off its copper telephone network in Spain. The company was able to decommission the first two of its 8,500 exchanges in 2014, and the pace has accelerated since then, with 4,300 exchanges shut in 2024. Telefónica claims to be the first telephone company in Europe to have completed the transition from copper to fiber.

The Federal Communications Commission grants blanket authority under section 214(a) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, for carriers to grandfather interconnected VoIP services provisioned over copper lines and waives the associated requirement to file an application with the FCC under our discontinuance rules. The FCC also waives, for two years, the need for carriers applying for section 214(a) discontinuance authority to follow the testing methodology and parameters described in the 2016 Technology Transitions Order and its Technical Appendix.

Plain old telephone service has been dying a slow death in the US since the turn of the century. For much of the 20^th century, almost every American household used only POTS to make a phone call. Now, only 1.3 percent of households rely on POTS to do so. What happened?

The number of cooperatives (co-ops) bridging the broadband divide continues to grow. More than 240 of the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative's (NRTC) electric members have deployed broadband for their communities, while leveraging these technologies for a smarter grid. Findings from NRTC and NRECA's report include:

Bundling smartphone and home broadband services is a simple idea that’s proving to be a powerful competitive force: People want fewer bills, more savings, and seamless connectivity. These bundles are resonating with customers. And now, the time is coming when rural and regional broadband operators may need to offer something similar.  For a long time, rural broadband providers enjoyed relatively stable market conditions. But those market dynamics are starting to evolve. New technologies and new investment – both public and private – are reshaping what rural connectivity looks like.

Metronet will bring its 100 percent fiber-optic internet to Prescott Valley (AZ). The project, made possible through a privately funded $18.5 million investment from Metronet, marks the company's third community in Arizona.