Linda Hardesty

When the internet was new, people talked a lot about long-haul networks in the United States. That’s because a lot of the early data centers were on the East and West coasts, and they needed to be connected. These days long-haul networks are largely overshadowed by last mile builds. There’s a lot of existing long-haul and middle-mile fiber that can be patched together to create the desired routes for any business.

Cable companies Charter and Comcast have been wooing subscribers to their mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) services. But they can’t convince all their internet customers to include wireless in their plans. The stumbling block seems to be inertia.

Individuals are filing comments with the Federal Communications Commission about their experiences with bulk billing. They’re complaining that they’re forced to pay for cable TV when they don’t want it and they’re forced to get broadband from cable providers even if they currently have fiber broadband, which they love.

In response to claims that Mercury Broadband has overstated its ability to provide fixed wireless access (FWA) in 12 Michigan counties on the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) broadband map, the company has released its own map of coverage in the counties in question. Mercury said it uses Forsk’s Atoll software for its mapping. The company stated in an email, “Mercury does not intentionally overstate speeds or coverage.

The city of Joplin (MO), has taken broadband competitiveness into its own hands and has wooed ALLO Fiber to build a fiber network in the city that will compete against the long-time incumbent Cable One. This is bad news for Cable One. But it could also spell bad news for cable providers all over the country. For several decades cable operators have been careful to respect each other’s footprints, rather than competing against each other in many markets.

One tactic that both private and public fiber companies are using to raise capital is to tap asset backed security (ABS), according to the analysts at TD Cowen. ABS is a type of financial investment that uses income-generating assets as collateral and is an alternative to other ways of raising capital, such as corporate bonds.

A private equity firm based in Canada may prevent a lot of rural US Midwesterners from getting fiber broadband. But that’s OK with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) because it’s all perfectly legal. Mercury Broadband, which is majority owned by the private equity firm Northleaf Capital Partners, has claimed it covers vast swathes of Michigan, Kansas and Indiana with its fixed wireless access (FWA) broadband service.

Tillman Fiber is expanding its fiber networks in Florida, and it has confirmed that it’s “collaborating” with T-Mobile on the project. The fiber network expansion will serve four areas of the state, including the cities of St. Petersburg, Fort Myers, Naples, Pensacola, Miami, Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale and Kissimmee. We already knew that Tillman was working with T-Mobile in the Florida counties of Pinellas and Polk, which includes St. Petersburg and Lakeland.

Wireless internet service providers (WISPs) hit a homerun when federal officials clarified that areas covered by broadband running on Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) spectrum could be marked as served for purposes of BEAD. Many folks in the fiber broadband community are not familiar with wireless internet service and the rules regarding wireless spectrum.

The Michigan High Speed Internet Office kicked off its BEAD challenge process this week, and it’s doing everything in its power to scrub the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) map of locations where providers are overstating their coverage. The state is receiving a historic $1.56 billion BEAD funding allocation—the fourth highest in the nation.