telecompetitor

There’s a lot of optimism in the broadband industry, driven by new opportunities in rural broadband, technology advances and more. In no particular order, here are 11 important developments that we saw this year.

A third US Appeals Court has concluded that the Federal Communications Commission is on sound constitutional footing when it comes to delegating oversight of the billions of dollars in government advanced telecommunications subsidy money it hands out annually with a big assist from the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC). The 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the FCC is within its authority to delegate administration of those funds through a private company—USAC—because the government regulator maintains control and oversight.

Spend a little time with Idaho State Broadband Program Manager Ramón Hobdey-Sánchez and it’s easy to see his enthusiasm for his home state. “I have a passion for public service and there are few things that I love more than the State of Idaho,” Hobdey-Sánchez said. “Broadband and internet connectivity is something that we can all agree is good for individuals, communities, and the state.

Buffalo (IN)-based LightStream has agreed to purchase Monon Telephone Company for an undisclosed price. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals, which are expected to be final in the first half of 2024. The Monon acquisition would add to LightStream’s existing fiber network in White and Pulaski Counties. Customers added through the potential acquisition can add managed Wi-Fi service to their home or business, in addition to internet and phone services, Lightstream noted in an announcement of the deal.

Windstream Wholesale said that its 145-mile dark fiber route between Little Rock (AK) and Memphis (TN) is operational. The route extends the 310-mile “T-Rock Express,” which connects Little Rock and Tulsa (OK). That network went into operation in August 2022. This means that Windstream Wholesale now connects Tulsa to Memphis. The entire 455 fiber-mile route between Tulsa and Memphis offers 432-count high capacity fiber. Windstream Wholesale defines its Intelligent Converged Optical Network (ICON) as an open and disaggregated networking infrastructure.

Brightspeed’s origin story isn’t typical for the telecommunications industry, at least not for a company of its size. It all started with an investment premise that Apollo Global Management wanted to test. That premise: “If we invested in an under-invested wireline company, could we turn it into a growth company?” Apollo negotiated a deal to buy CenturyLink’s local service business in 20 states, which appeared to be an excellent place to test the premise. Only 2 to 3 percent of the footprint that Apollo bought from CenturyLink had been upgraded to fiber when the ownership was transferred.

Charter celebrated the $1.3 billion that the company is investing in rural areas of Texas. Charter will invest $700 million of the money to cover the full cost of network upgrades. The remaining $420 million will cover some of the cost of fiber deployment. The remainder of the cost of fiber deployment will come partially from money Charter won in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund program in 2020, and partially from public-private partnerships with counties and cities.