Telecommunication

Consolidated Communications Gigabit Fiber Internet Coming to More Illinois Locations

Consolidated Communications is delivering symmetrical gigabit fiber internet to nearly 9,000 residents and businesses in Charleston, Mattoon, Shelbyville and Taylorville (IL) by the end of 2021. Thousands of residents can now benefit from the new fiber-to-the-premises internet network delivering reliable, high-speed connectivity with highly competitively priced plans. Plans start at just $35 per month, and symmetrical 1-gig service is available for $70 per month. All plans include equipment and installation, and a one-year price lock with no contract required.

West Des Moines Is Growing Municipal Broadband Battleground

Cable broadband operators are concerned that localities could start putting a thumb on the scale for Google Fiber when it comes to broadband service, and they want the Federal Communications Commission to nip that notion in the bud. The current battleground over the extent to which municipalities can build out broadband is West Des Moines (IA). Incumbent provider Mediacom Communications wants the FCC to require the city to stop construction on Google Fiber‘s network, stop marketing service to residents and reconfigure the network and contract.

Gov Newsom Returns Bill on Utility Pole Usage, Broadband

In a letter to the California State Senate, Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) refused to sign Senate Bill 556 which would prohibit local electric utilities from "unreasonably denying" the leasing or licensing of utility poles to communications service providers. The bill would also require mobile service providers to measure and report their progress towards meeting the goal of universal broadband access for the areas they provide service.

Now is the time to aim high and look local on broadband

We are on the cusp of an opportunity to close the remaining digital divide with a once-in-a-generation investment in broadband infrastructure through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which, if passed by the House and signed into law, would devote tens of billions more toward the deployment and affordability of broadband, with the goal of connecting every American.  But how do we spend these funds wisely? Policymakers must aim for the best return.

ATMC Announces $100 Million Fiber Broadband Project in North Carolina

The Atlantic Telephone Membership Cooperative announced a multi-year, $100 million-dollar construction project to replace all of its copper and coaxial cable network within its Brunswick County (NC) service area with a new 100 percent fiber optic network. At the conclusion of this project, every cooperative member will have access to the company’s FOCUS Broadband fiber optic service with internet speeds up to one Gigabit. The project is expected to take up to eight years to complete and is slated to start in January of 2022.

Starry makes $1.66 billion deal with FirstMark to expand broadband network

Starry, a Boston-based fixed wireless broadband provider, is going public with FirstMark Horizon Acquisition Corp in a business combination valued at $1.66 billion. It marks a big turning point for Starry; the provider is using 802.11 technology to disrupt the home broadband space, going up against cable companies and increasingly, wireless carriers. The company charges $50 per month for internet service.

Broadband Slowdown Forces Analyst to Go Negative on Cable Sector

Fueled by the slowdown of broadband subscriber additions, Wells Fargo media analyst Steven Cahall estimates that as penetration rates rise and DSL competition sputters, the cable sector could be entering a period of diminished profitability. Most cable operators have warned that subscriber additions would be lower as pandemic lockdowns disappeared and workers returned to their offices. But adding to the pressure is increased penetration of homes with annual household incomes above $25,000 — now at about 100 percent — and the continued slide of digital subscriber line (DSL) service.

Chariton Valley sells its wireless spectrum to Verizon, AT&T, USCellular

Chariton Valley Wireless, a provider in Northeastern Missouri, is selling its wireless assets to Verizon, AT&T and USCelluar. According to Federal Communications Commission filings, Verizon will receive 2 AWS-1 licenses and 2 cellular licenses. AT&T will receive 3 - 700 MHz band licenses. US Cellular will receive 2 PCS licenses.

AT&T mobile traffic dropped 10 percent in some cities during Facebook outage

AT&T saw notable drops in mobile traffic in major cities when Facebook and its popular Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger apps went offline for hours during a massive global outage. In two cities, mobile traffic declines hit double digits – 11 percent in New York City and 10.6 percent in Houston – on October 4 during the six-hour period “coinciding with a disruption across several top social media platforms,” AT&T said. Mobile traffic on AT&T’s network in Arkansas and in Miami/South Florida plunged 9.9 percent each, while Chicago was down 9.2 percent during that time.

Missouri PSC approves lease of Ameren fiber for broadband services

Missouri’s Public Service Commission (PSC) is allowing Ameren Missouri to lease a section of unused fiber to another company seeking to expand broadband coverage. Ameren sought a 20-year “dark fiber” lease agreement with MCC Network Services to provide internet service along a 1.6 mile stretch between where the Mississippi River crosses from Missouri to Illinois.

Broadband expansion in rural Wisconsin to lay the groundwork for future high-speed development

A broadband expansion project in Fond du Lac County (WI) aims to increase access to high-speed internet for rural residents while also laying the foundation for further internet connectivity. The county will be the prime issuer of $80 million in bonds to support a multi-county broadband expansion project by Bug Tussel Wireless, LLC. The Fond du Lac County Board has approved a resolution to enter an agreement with Bug Tussel and subsequent intergovernmental agreements between the counties benefiting from the project.

How the FCC's 'rip and replace' program may help kill some small carriers

The Federal Communications Commission's "rip and replace" program, formalized in June 2021 as the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program, is designed to reimburse small carriers so they can tear out network equipment from Chinese vendors like Huawei and ZTE that the US government has deemed insecure. The program's goal is to finance the replacement of that equipment with gear from "trusted" vendors.

Tupelo Teams With Co-Op on New Broadband Work

City officials in Tupelo (MS) allowed an electronic cooperative the option to use its utility poles to provide broadband services more efficiently to some Tupelo residents. The Tupelo City Council voted to accept a pole attachment agreement between the city and Tombigbee Fiber, which will allow the organization to place attachments on city-owned utility poles for broadband services. A small portion of city residents are customers of Tombigbee, but the organization does not offer broadband internet services citywide.

Where are all those tech and telecommunications staffers going?

Democratic aides have been fleeing the Hill for lobbying gigs with major tech and telecom companies — just as lawmakers are preparing to tighten regulations on those same companies. More than a dozen senior Democratic tech and telecom policy staffers have left the Hill this year, many of them heading to the likes of Facebook, Apple, Verizon and Charter Communications. Others have left for Biden administration posts. They’re taking with them specialized knowledge on issues like artificial intelligence, data privacy and broadband.

2021 Rural Telecommunications Benchmark Study

The 2021 BKD Rural Telecommunications Benchmark Study is unique in that it has data from 170 rural telecommunications companies in 18 states. Every year the BKD study provides an in-depth look at how the rural telecommunications industry has performed. This year we look at the impact of 20 years of broadband services. The biggest takeaways from the 2021 Rural Telecommunications Benchmark Study are:

Facebook’s Terragraph is bridging the last mile gap in Alaska

Facebook-led Terragraph is a technology designed to bridge the last mile gap between the subscriber and the service provider’s closest fiber node. Terragraph's fixed wireless service delivers multi-gigabit-speed data using 60 GHz unlicensed millimeter wave spectrum. The technology works by using its transmitters, which are typically deployed on street lights or rooftops, to create a distributed network. It can extend a fiber network wirelessly through these nodes to provide last-mile connectivity.

Facebook says its fiber-spinning robot will dramatically reduce costs

Facebook Connectivity thinks it has developed a cheaper and faster way to deploy fiber that doesn’t involve digging up streets. Instead, the company has created Bombyx, an aerial fiber-deploying robot that crawls along power lines and wraps fiber around those lines. The company envisions Bombyx being used as a middle-mile fiber solution, meaning it can bring fiber capacity to a pole mount and from there a service provider would either have to use underground fiber or wireless for the last-mile connection.

$20 million lawsuit claims Altice reneged on its Keep Americans Connected pledge

The owner of a New York City barbershop has filed a $20 million class-action lawsuit against Altice, claiming that Altice reneged on its Keep Americans Connected pledge during the pandemic. Artem Shalomayev, owner of 3715 Barber Shop in the Bronx, is suing on behalf of potentially thousands of other similarly-situated small business owners, according to the plaintiff's lawyer Jon Norinsberg.

Facebook Renews Its Ambitions to Connect the World

Facing heightened scrutiny for its social media policies and relentless quest for growth, Facebook is now turning its attention to getting more people high-speed internet access in hard-to-reach places. The move comes with some irony, as it comes on the heels of Facebook’s own massive outage, which temporarily took down all of the apps in its empire.

AT&T and Frontier Communications Strike Network Deal

AT&T will work with Frontier Communications to bring fiber-optic connectivity to large enterprise customers outside AT&T’s current footprint. The two companies signed multi-year strategic agreements that will also support the deployment of AT&T’s 5G mobility network. As the demand for edge computing and 5G networks grows, so too does the need for resilient fiber pathways for a connected society. Enterprises need more bandwidth to keep data moving fast.

Like Facebook, AT&T once dominated communications. The difference? It was regulated.

Facebook’s October 4 outages across its platforms and the company’s handling of it raise a far-reaching question: Should we simply rest content with a complete shutdown of service across four platforms, which underpin much of the planet’s economic and cultural interaction and one of which, WhatsApp, has become an essential and free substitute for phone calling and many other communications?

What can the Infrastructure Bill offer Smart Communities?

US Ignite invited Gigi Sohn, Distinguished Fellow at the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy and a Benton Senior Fellow & Public Advocate, to brief leaders of US Ignite Communities on the Infrastructure Bill.

Rep Guthrie Introduces SMART Spectrum Act

Rep Brett Guthrie (KY-02) introduced the Simplifying Management, Reallocation, and Transfer of Spectrum Act, or SMART Spectrum Act (H.R.5486). The SMART Spectrum Act would create an information sharing capability at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to allow more commercial use of spectrum licensed for federal government use. The federal government is currently not fully utilizing all of the spectrum licenses that are allocated for federal use.

T-Mobile Cuts Home Internet Price by 17 Percent to Dislodge Cable

T-Mobile is cutting the price of its new 5G wireless home broadband service by 17 percent, stepping up efforts to steal internet customers from cable and phone companies. The new price is $50 a month, a decrease of $10, T-Mobile said October 5. The six-month-old service is available to more than 30 million homes, but that’s just a fraction of the US total.