May 2021

Once it sheds its media business, AT&T will be a smaller, less-indebted company devoted to selling cellphone plans and broadband internet access. In other words, customers and investors will see an AT&T much like the one that existed before its foray into streaming video and satellite TV. But its rivals haven’t been sitting still. “AT&T has a lot of catching up to do,” said Craig Moffett, a longtime telecom analyst at industry research firm MoffettNathanson LLC. “They’re almost certain to be a third player in a three-horse race.” AT&T is still the country’s No.

The Washington Post recently reported that Verizon is telling low-income, Emergency Broadband Benefit Program participants that they can't stay on their “old” data plans, so they’ll have to switch. For home Internet, Verizon doesn't make the subsidy available at all on legacy DSL plans, which it offers in areas where it hasn't upgraded copper lines to fiber.

The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC) in the greater Phoenix (AZ) area comprises two Native American tribes: the Onk Okimel O’odham (Pima) and the Xalychidom Piipaash (Maricopa). Like many Native American communities, it has limited broadband and telecom options. But Saddleback Communications, a provider of fiber-based voice and data communications to business and residential customers, recently completed a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) deployment, enabling internet access up to 500 Mbps to all homes in the community.