Thursday, August 1, 2024
In February of 2017, Tom Rutledge, then-CEO of Charter, was asked how changes in Washington were about to impact the company.
Ciena is well known in the telecommunications space as an optical transport vendor, but when the company saw all the money becoming available from the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program, it wanted to get in on that action. About two years ago, the company made the decision to get into the fiber access business to homes and businesses. Recently Ciena CEO Gary Smith said that investments in fiber broadband access, fueled by "massive public funding around the world," are projected to grow the 10G and above PON market by a 55% CAGR to approximately $7 billion by 2027.
In 2024, the Federal Communications Commission ordered Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile to pay nearly $200 million total for sharing customers' location data. The FCC fined AT&T around $57 million, Verizon around $47 million, and T-Mobile $92 million (including $12 million for Sprint, which merged with T-Mobile in 2020). The companies, which paid the fines under protest, now want appellate courts to reverse the FCC's ruling. “The Commission’s forfeiture order is unconstitutional, inconsistent with the limitations of the Communications Act, and arbitrary and capricious,” AT&T writes in
Altice USA reported results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2024. Fiber customer growth continued in Q2 2024 with 40k fiber net additions, driven by migrations of existing customers and fiber gross additions. Penetration of the fiber network reached 15.3% at the end of Q2 2024, up from 9.4% at the end of Q2 2023. Optimum Mobile line net additions of 33k in Q2 2024, compared to 16k in Q2 2023. Mobile customer penetration of the broadband base was 5.8% at the end of Q2 2024, up from 3.8% at the end of Q2 2023. Broadband net losses were 51k in Q2 2024, compared to 37k in Q2 2023.
The Chamber of Progress wrote to Donald trump asking him to clarify his position on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act as voters and donors assess the candidates in this year’s general election. Section 230 is the legal bedrock for online speech. People deserve to know whether Trump still plans to repeal the law that’s enabled online platforms to host user posts, or whether he plans to rewrite the rules for speech online. Republicans often rail against Section 230, but it’s a key tool in enabling free expression online.
The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has approved Montana, Oklahoma, and Vermont's Initial Proposals for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program. This approval enables Montana, Oklahoma, and Vermont to request access to funding and begin implementation of the BEAD program—a major step towards closing the digital divide and meeting the President’s goal of connecting everyone in America with affordable, reliable, high-speed Internet service. One year from Initial Proposal approval, states must submit a Final Propos
The Federal Communications Commission intends to recharter the Disability Advisory Committee for a period of two years. The FCC is seeking nominations for membership. The mission of the Committee is to make recommendations to the FCC regarding disability issues specified by the Commission.
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