Competition/Antitrust

Consumers increasingly are ditching traditional broadband plans for more-affordable 5G fixed-wireless internet service. In response, cable companies say they may be losing some battles, but in the end they’ll win the war—and that customers who have switched will return.

Amazon’s satellite-powered internet business is closer to getting off the ground. The company recently unveiled the antennas that future subscribers of its Project Kuiper internet service would need to communicate with the satellites it plans to start mass producing in 2023.

In a Fast-Track SWIFT challenge brought by Comcast, the National Advertising Division (NAD) of BBB National Programs recommended that T-Mobile discontinue the “Don’t you worry ‘bout speed” claim in reference to T-Mobile’s Home Internet (T-HINT) service. NAD determined that T-Mobile’s unqualified claim conveys the message that internet speeds are sufficient to provide worry-free internet service that will allow users to perform nearly all typical activities on the internet, including intensive uses like gaming or streaming on multiple devices at any time of day.

How do big broadband providers get away with charging the same prices in urban areas for both slow and fast broadband? An Associated Press article found that one customer was paying the same price for 1 Mbps DSL from AT&T as other city residents were paying for a fiber connection. It would be easy to justify charging the same price for both technologies if AT&T was in the process of converting everybody in New Orleans to fiber, but this is not the case.

Representing 26 towns across Massachusetts from Cape Cod to Chelsea, an informal group of mostly town officials has formed the Massachusetts Broadband Coalition in search of a way out of a broken broadband market and to ensure everyone in their individual communities has access to high-speed Internet. The newly-formed coalition has recently started to meet monthly to share information about what kind of alternatives there might be or could be, to the big cable monopoly provider in their towns.

Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced the Community Broadband Act to improve internet and broadband access across the country by removing roadblocks prohibiting local communities from building their own broadband networks. Twenty-one states have passed laws that either restrict or outright prohibit local communities from investing local dollars in building their own broadband networks.

The United Kingdom announced its wireless infrastructure strategy on April 11, 2023. As part of this effort, the UK aims to deliver nationwide coverage of standalone 5G to all populated areas by 2030, ensuring that it can bring its full benefits to villages and rural communities well beyond cities and towns. The Prime Minister has set out 5 priorities for the UK government - to build a better, more secure, more prosperous future for the UK, including growing the economy, and creating better-paid jobs and opportunity right across the country, which this strategy is focused on delivering.

T-Mobile appears to be eyeing a serious move into the US fiber market, confirming plans to offer service in two Colorado cities in addition to its original pilot market of New York City. Open access networks could offer the operator one of the fastest ways to expand its fiber reach. While open-access networks aren’t nearly as prevalent in the U.S. as in Europe, they are slowly beginning to proliferate.

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel delivered remarks on April 6th, 2023, about the state of communications infrastructure in Indian Country to the 2023 Reservation Economic Summit. "I believe affordable broadband access is a prerequisite for full participation in our society and economy." This statement made by Rosenworcel in her speech highlights the importance of universal broadband access. Rosenworcel discusses the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has brought attention to the digital divide affecting low-income families and rural communities.

Some questions about T-Mobile’s Home Internet service remain unanswered, including the cause of a deceleration of subscribers from the third quarter to the fourth quarter of 2022. However, the analysts at MoffettNathanson took a stab at examining that and other issues related to fixed wireless access (FWA) in a new report. The report is an update of one from a year ago in which MoffetNathanson worked with Opensignal, formerly Comlinkdata, to analyze where FWA subscribers are coming from. Not a lot has changed from a year ago; Opensignal’s estimates of T-Mobile’s FWA subscriber mix show sign