Fierce

ACA Connects President and CEO Grant Spellmeye underscored the top-of-mind issues pervading the broadband industry. Unsurprisingly, the allocation of federal funds was front and center. First, ACA wants to make sure broadband funding is going where it’s supposed to be, as Spellmeyer noted the organization is “very concerned” about overbuilding using government support. The biggest pot of broadband money comes from the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program.

With Altice USA revamping its management with a slew of Comcast veterans, investors are wondering if the latter might be eyeing an acquisition of the former.

Dish Network says it is progressing with its Boost Infinite postpaid service but company executives stopped short of saying when it will launch commercially nationwide.

The Alaskan landscape is rife with broadband accessibility and deployment challenges, which GCI is all too familiar with.

Frontier Communications is all heads down as it works to reach its target of deploying fiber to 10 million locations by the end of 2025. That said, it’s also got an eye on the horizon beyond that goal, with executives saying that subsidy dollars or a potential joint venture (JV) could help it expand further. CEO Nick Jeffery added it would also entertain an open-access network deal to reach more locations. “In terms of open access infrastructures generally, if there is one available that we could use, yes, we’d look at it,” he said. “It can be a capital smart way of operating.

Consumers in central Florida are apparently hungry for fiber. WideOpenWest (WOW!) CEO Teresa Elder said the company is seeing strong uptake of its service, including its higher-tier products. WOW! announced its launch in Altamonte Springs, FL, in January 2022, noting at the time it had around 1,000 passings in the city. Elder said the market had already achieved a 25% penetration rate – which she noted was quite near the 30% rate WOW!

With Q4 2022 earnings mostly in the rearview, a clearer picture of fiber build targets for the coming year has emerged, at least as far as US operators are concerned. While some operators have lowered their targets for both 2023 and their overall build plans, the industry still plans to build millions of passings in 2023. An informal tally found operators are plotting to roll out fiber to between 6.5 million and 7 million new locations – at a minimum. Top broadband operators' Q4 data reveals the following fiber updates: