Sean Buckley

In this report, we consider which carriers have implemented data caps and how large those caps are. Each provider is ranked by the size of the data cap they offer and the charge they incur for exceeding it. Service provider groups that have no caps are ranked according to company size.

AT&T and CenturyLink have cut back or delayed big purchases of next-generation optical gear. The slower spending trends at these two carriers combined with weak cloud and colocation capital expenditure spending by other providers drove what Cignal AI says is a weaker-than-expected North American optical capex situation. “Anemic cloud and colo optical capex—combined with brutal 200G pricing, weak deployments by incumbent and wholesale vendors, and a decline in long-haul WDM purchases—resulted in lower overall spending during 2017,” said Andrew Schmitt, lead analyst for Cignal AI.

President Donald Trump issued a new $1.5 trillion infrastructure package that his administration claims will help drive rural broadband and ease permitting processes for wireless operators installing small cell infrastructure. Under the plan, $50 billion would be made available to the Rural Infrastructure Program for capital investments in rural infrastructure investments. Out of the $50 billion figure, 80 percent of the funds under the Rural Infrastructure Program would be provided to the governor of each State via formula distribution.

AT&T is going to replace copper wiring in parts of its California market damaged by fires due to drought conditions and high winds with fiber facilities. Major damage to public facilities was caused five counties of Northern California: Napa, Solano, Sonoma, Lake and Mendocino due to the result of 21 reported fires. AT&T filed an application for emergency authorization under Section 214(a) of the Communications Act and Section 63.63 of the Federal Communications Commission’s rules to suspend AT&T’s interstate telecommunications services until services can be rebuilt.

So which US-based providers got the most amount of federal rural broadband funding in 2017?

As CenturyLink looks to continue its broadband expansion efforts in harder to build rural areas using a mix of wireline and wireless technologies, the service provider says the Federl Communications Commission should not alter the rules governing the Priority Access Licenses (PALs) that will be issued in the 3.5 GHz band. CenturyLink, which asked the FCC for permission last fall to test 3.4 GHz wireless spectrum in some of its rural markets, told the FCC that the “use of PEAs as the geographic license area for PALs will inhibit higher-speed broadband deployment in rural areas.”

AT&T has asked the Federal Communications Commission to realign the way it regulates how service providers shut down Time-division multiplexing (TDM)-based data and retirement services with the hope of creating incentives for service providers to invest in next-gen services. 

CenturyLink has inched closer to meeting its Federal Communications Commission CAF-II program commitments, reaching over 600,000 rural homes and businesses with broadband over the past two years. In August 2015, CenturyLink accepted $500 million in CAF-II funding. This money, combined with its own capital, will ultimately enable the telco to deliver broadband services to about 1.2 million rural households and businesses in 33 states over the next six years.

Frontier, Consolidated and Windstream told the Federal Communications Commission that to leverage wireless spectrum bands like 3.5 GHz to address rural broadband gaps, the current license size should be changed. In a recent joint FCC filing, the three service providers, which are all recipients of the regulator’s CAF II program, say that the larger license sizes—specifically partial economic areas (PEAs)—are too big and too expensive. As a result, the trio added that PEAs would preclude “potential participation from carriers considering deploying fixed wireless in very rural areas.”

Frontier has extended broadband service to over 275,000 households across CA, using a mix of its own capital and the Federal Communications Commission's Connect America Fund Phase II program funding.