Linda Hardesty
Metro by T-Mobile pitches Home Internet for $20 with ACP discount
T-Mobile’s prepaid brand Metro is conducting a regional marketing campaign in the Midwest, pitching T-Mobile’s fixed wireless access (FWA) product called Home Internet. The promotion advertises the product for a cost of $20 per month, after a $30 per month Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) discount. Typically, T-Mobile’s Home Internet costs $50 per month if the customer signs up for autopay. It costs $55 per month without autopay. But Metro by T-Mobile is focusing on the $30 discount that subscribers can obtain if they apply for ACP.
How Apple is holding back rich communication services
The topic of rich communication services (RCS) doesn’t get discussed much in the wireless industry. And if we do touch on it, it’s usually about the backend systems that support RCS. RCS is the messaging standard established by the Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (GSMA). From a global perspective, India, Brazil and Mexico comprise 60% of RCS users, with the EU slightly ahead of the US. Many people, at least in the US, seem content with iMessage if they have an iPhone or Messages if they have an Android phone.
Aerial fiber is likely to play big role in BEAD deployments
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will announce the allotment of Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funds to the US states and territories in June 2023. And NTIA has indicated it wants areas that are unserved with broadband to receive the funds first. Jonathan Chambers, a partner with the fiber construction company Conexon, says that in terms of deploying fiber to unserved rural areas, deployments are going to be mostly aerial deployments as opposed to trenched deployments.
Dish, AT&T object to SpaceX and T-Mobile’s spectrum request
In April 2023, the Federal Communications Commission’s Space Bureau and Wireless Telecommunications Bureau opened a proceeding to accept comments on filings by SpaceX and T-Mobile to establish supplemental wireless coverage from space.
Mears cautions fiber hopefuls to engage construction firms early
Mears is a division of Quanta that provides construction services for fiber broadband deployment projects.
AT&T’s rate of fiber penetration is twice as good as expected
AT&T CEO John Stankey specified the main factors that AT&T considers for a fiber build. For about three years, AT&T has been clearly communicating its two main focuses—5G and fiber. In terms of fiber, it set a goal to pass 30 million locations with fiber by 2025. It closed 2022 with a total of 24 million passings. Stankey said the fiber build and the consumer response to it have been going well.
Private equity can move faster on fiber deployments than government
The prospect of billions of dollars flowing to states from the Broadband Equity Access & Deployment (BEAD) program is causing private equity companies to also flood the market with investment funds for fiber. On a panel at the recent Connect(X) conference in New Orleans (LA), panelists were asked if private equity companies will compete for BEAD funds or if they will add to the overall investment in fiber.
CEO Brian Roberts admits Comcast hasn’t competed well for low-end broadband
Billions of dollars are about to flow from the Broadband Equity Access & Deployment (BEAD) Program, which is driving all kinds of interest in delivering fiber broadband to unserved and underserved areas of the US. In addition, the wireless carriers, T-Mobile and Verizon, are deploying fixed wireless access (FWA) in many underserved areas where people have never been happy with their choices of low-speed cable or DSL. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said, “I don't think we competed as well for the lower end of the market.
Private equity firms discuss the business model of fiber deployments
WIA Connect(X) show panelists were asked if there is a magic number that developers should target for the cost per home passed with fiber. Beth Hoffman, managing director with Berkshire Partners, said that a lot of it depends on the density of the market. The cost per home passed in a dense city like San Francisco (CA) could be as low as $700.
Department of Defense may be causing the delay in FCC spectrum auction authority
Everybody in the wireless ecosystem is clamoring for Congress to reinstate the spectrum auction authority of the Federal Communications Commission. One former deputy at the FCC speculates that the delay may be related to the Department of Defense (DoD) wanting to wait for a spectrum report that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is working on. NTIA is doing an assessment of the use of the 3.1-3.45 GHz spectrum.