October 2015

Frontier supports the Federal Communications Commission's move to include broadband service as part of the Lifeline reform process, but it is concerned that the regulator's 10 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream speed requirement could prevent some rural customers from being able to use Lifeline for wireline Internet.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler announced in May a number of new proposals that he says will restructure and modernize the regulator's $1.7 billion Lifeline voice service program by redirecting funds to extend broadband to lower income residents. In an FCC filing, Frontier said that while setting minimum standards is a not a bad idea, it "must not prevent or limit consumer choice." What this means is that some rural customers might not be able to use Lifeline for wireline broadband if they reside in a market where a 10/1 Mbps service isn't supported by their local provider.

Verizon Wireless is going to run out of spectrum over the next few years but could get a lifeline if it strikes a spectrum leasing agreement with Dish Network, according to a report from analysts at New Street Research. In a research note, New Street analysts Jonathan Chaplin, Spencer Kurn and Vivek Stalam repeated a contention they made in July that Verizon will run out of spectrum capacity in the next two to three years even if it refarms all of the spectrum it is currently using for 2G and code-division multiple access (CDMA) services.

The analysts acknowledge that their "supply/demand analysis is inherently simplistic. Neither network engineers nor spectrum bands are created equal; Verizon has consistently delivered a better experience with fewer cell sites and less spectrum than peers. The analysis is intended to demonstrate that Verizon will run out of capacity before others will. If usage continues to grow, they will need significantly more spectrum or they will lose share."

CenturyLink has deepened its 1 Gbps service presence by enabling about 1,000 select business locations in Lehi and Park City (UT). Leveraging its growing fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network, the 1 Gbps speeds are available to a total of 20,000 Utah-based small and medium-sized business locations that reside near its fiber network backbone.

The service is now available in fiber-fed multi-tenant unit office buildings in Lehi, Ogden, Park City, Salt Lake City, St. George and surrounding communities. With this FTTP foundation in place, CenturyLink can layer on a host of new IP-based and cloud services that had traditionally only available to large businesses. Some of these services include its Microsoft Office offering.