Diana Goovaerts
Frontier CEO says copper decommissioning is 3-5 years out
Frontier Communications still has hundreds of thousands of copper passings, but it doesn’t seem like that footprint will be taken offline anytime soon.
Grain says not all private equity broadband investors are created equal
Private equity (PE) money has been flooding into the broadband market over the past two years. Everywhere you look, someone has a PE partner of some kind.
Lifeline in crosshairs as Senate weighs USF reforms
Is the Lifeline program effective? Should E-Rate be expanded to cover school-related connectivity outside of campuses? Would it make sense to fold the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) into the Universal Service Fund (USF)? These were some of the questions asked and answered at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on the state of universal service. Sen John Thune (R-SD) claimed the Lifeline program is “riddled with waste, fraud and abuse” and chided the Federal Communications Commission for failing to evaluate whether the program is functioning as intended.
TIA CEO: BEAD hinges on workforce and waivers
Workforce and waivers. Those were two of the key themes and indeed the potential stumbling blocks for Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program deployments, said TIA CEO Dave Stehlin. Now that the US government has issued a waiver for its Middle Mile grant program, the prospect of forthcoming relief for the BEAD program seems more promising. The waivers in question relate to Buy American requirements associated with the Middle Mile and BEAD programs.
Will BEAD fund RDOF overbuilds? It’s complicated
Lingering concerns about whether money from the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program will be used to fund overbuilds of other government-subsidized projects flared up again recently. Concerns seemed to center on what BEAD will mean for those receiving funding from the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) program.
Frontier says its fiber-to-the-tower business is booming
Frontier Communications inked a high-profile fiber-to-the-tower (FTTT) deal with AT&T in February 2023, but it’s not the only wireless carrier buying up Frontier’s fiber wares.
States, NTIA say municipal broadband laws won’t delay BEAD funding
State and federal government officials said that state laws restricting municipal broadband deployments aren’t expected to delay the distribution of funding from the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. BEAD support is expected to be divvied up among all 50 states in the coming months, but, as BroadbandNow noted, rules for BEAD stipulate that states with laws that either restrict or prohibit municipal broadband must disclose whether or not they plan to waive such laws.
Google Fiber CEO Dinni Jain says the company is growing up
North Carolina native Dinni Jain doesn’t just run Google Fiber. In his spare time, he also helps oversee an equally complex business: a farm. Both endeavors have involved a lot of trial and error thus far. But with a winning formula for each now sorted out, the time has come for both businesses to mature from experimental adolescence to adulthood. According to Jain, Google Fiber’s willingness to experiment with new ideas – both good and bad –was almost the antithesis of the telecommunications model he was familiar with.
Open access networks could give T-Mobile a seat at the fiber table
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.
Verizon built a walled garden with Fios, but it badly needs watering
They don’t talk about it much these days, but Verizon is a veritable fiber powerhouse and, as telecommunications consultant Sean McDevitt put it, the OG fiber-to-the-home player. Because it was among the first to move on fiber and has deployed significant density across its footprint, Verizon has built something of a natural immunity to risk-averse overbuilders. Verizon first deployed Fios in 2005, originally aiming to reach 18 million passings across a service territory which then included more than 30 million serviceable locations.