Coverage of how Internet service is deployed, used and regulated.
Internet/Broadband
Alaska to see fiber expansion
Alaska Communications says that after a successful pilot of fiber-to-the-home service in 2022, it plans to extend its fiber network to another 14,000 homes over the course of 2023. Alaska Communications’ fiber network already serves some neighborhoods in Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Soldotna. The fiber service offers three pricing tiers of symmetrical speeds up to 2.5 Gbps.
Here’s where Comcast is expanding its network in 2023
Comcast is looking to accelerate its network expansion in 2023, aiming to ramp rollouts from the 840,000 new passings it achieved in 2022 to as many as 1 million in 2023. Comcast has expanded into the following states and regions:
Fiber Broadband Association Digs into Microtrenching’s Ability to Close the Digital Equity Gap
A new best practice white paper explores micro-trenching, an advantageous fiber broadband deployment method. The report compares micro-trenching amongst other deployment methods as a valuable option in the fiber broadband construction toolkit and it also details the scrutiny that micro-trenching faces, success stories, and best practices.
FCC funds cover all of Windstream’s costs to remove Huawei gear
Windstream, a privately held company that provides wired broadband, has completed the removal of all Huawei equipment from its network.
Supplement to Defeating the Digital Divide
Our analysis of 2021 American Community Survey (ACS) data shows that the Chicago Connected program helped to more than halve the connectivity gap for Chicago’s school-age children — from roughly 110,000 children in 2018 to roughly 46,000 children by the end of 2021 (19% disconnected in 2018 vs. 8% in 2021). The number of disconnected adults was also reduced in 2021 by 2% (from 15% to 13%) which amounts to a reduction of nearly 30,000 adults in 2021 alone.
Hughes satellite internet gets a little help from its (wireless) friends
Hughes has been offering geosynchronous (GEO) satellite-based internet service for a couple of decades. It has more than 1 million internet subscribers in the Americas. But now it’s boosting its service with the help of some terrestrial wireless providers. HughesNet Fusion is a new home internet offering that combines satellite and wireless technologies to improve latency.
Rural operators cheer, cable companies jeer proposed A-CAM changes
Charter Communications, Comcast, and Cox Communications all met with Federal Communications Commission officials earlier in March 2023 to discuss A-CAM issues. A-CAM refers to the FCC’s Alternative Connect America Model program, which supports broadband deployments in eligible high-cost areas.
Fiber infrastructure is not a ‘natural monopoly’
Some people in the telecommunications industry like to compare the copper or fiber lines transmitting data under our feet to railways. They are both natural monopolies, they argue: duplication is wasteful, the high costs of construction deter new entrants, and economies of scale are essential for survival. But laying fiber costs much less than laying a railway track. The very fact that over 100 alternative network providers — or “altnets” — have popped up, backed by billions in private capital, suggests the financial incentives are there to multiply the infrastructure.
Baltimore’s redlining legacy has lasting impact, residents tell FCC
Representatives of the Federal Communications Commission visited Baltimore to hear about residents’ experience of digital discrimination in the city. Some said the city’s past continues to affect technology access today. Some residents told the FCC that the city’s majority-Black population is concentrated in areas where internet service is slow. Others said multi-generational households often lack the funds to pay for high-speed internet service.