Telecommunication

Analyst firm GlobalData tipped cable to lose ground to fiber over the coming years as competition among broadband providers peddling multi-gigabit services intensifies. Tammy Parker, principal analyst at GlobalData, said the multi-gigabit marketplace is already heating up despite the fact that very few households actually require such speeds.

President Joe Biden‘s $1.7 trillion-plus Build Back Better legislative package has more than $1 billion for various better broadband building programs. According to a draft copy of the framework unveiled October 28, it includes:

Regional US operator Shenandoah Telecommunications (Shentel) kicked its fiber plans into high gear, raising its expansion target by 50 percent and aiming to reach 450,000 serviceable addresses by 2026. At the same time, however, the operator said it would pause further expansion of its Beam Internet fixed wireless access service. Shentel CEO Chris French cited “strong momentum” behind its Glo Fiber product's business development, construction and sales as driving factors for the move.

WOW! Internet, Cable & Phone, a leading broadband service provider, announced the completion of the sale of its Chicago (IL), Evansville (IN) and Anne Arundel (MD) service areas to the Astound Broadband group for $661 million. The completion of the Astound Broadband transaction follows WOW!’s completed sale of its Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio service areas to Atlantic Broadband, announced in September 2021. Combined, the two transactions have generated gross proceeds of $1.8 billion, enabling WOW!

The Federal Communications Commission opened the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program filing window for providers of advanced communications service with 10 million or fewer customers to seek reimbursement for reasonable expenses incurred in removing, replacing, and disposing of Huawei and ZTE communications equipment and services.

The US Senate unanimously passed the Secure Equipment Act of 2021 (H.R.3919), introduced in June by Reps Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Steve Scalise (R-LA), that would prohibit the Federal Communications Commission from reviewing or issuing new equipment licenses to companies on the FCC’s “Covered Equipment or Services List” that pose a national security threat.  The Secure Equipment Act would prevent equipment manufacture

Consolidated Communications is on pace to exceed its 2021 goal for gigabit-capable fiber upgrades after the independent telco reported that it had achieved 97,000 upgrades in the third quarter. The figure, reported as part of the company’s third quarter earnings, comes after Consolidated reported 76,000 fiber upgrades in the second quarter this year and 46,000 in the first quarter as it embarked on a goal to reach almost 2 million fiber upgrades by 2025.

Charter Communications scaled back its forecast for broadband net addition growth in the full year 2021 after posting a significant slowdown in subscriber gains in Q3. The company gained 265,000 internet customers across the two segments in Q3 2021, raising its year-to-date total to 1.02 million. The Q3 figure marked a significant year-on-year drop from 537,000 in Q3 2020 and sequential slide from 400,000 net adds in Q2.

Congress is poised to shield a $42 billion broadband grant program from federal transparency and privacy laws, hampering oversight of money expected to flow mostly to telecommunications companies. In a bid to cut through red tape and speed delivery of the broadband funds, the Senate-passed Infrastructure Investment and JOBS Act includes a provision that suspends certain rules the federal government ordinarily has to follow in administering programs.