Fierce
Mears Broadband spins off to support surge in broadband builds
Mears Broadband, a fiber network construction contractor, has launched as a standalone company just in time to support the flood of broadband deployment slated for later in 2024. For the last five years, Mears Broadband was a division of Mears Group, a subsidiary of Quanta Services that provides construction services for fiber broadband projects. CEO Trent Edwards explained the untethering will allow Mears Broadband to make decisions without impacting the 13 other companies within Mears Group.
Google Fiber bets on Las Vegas for Nevada debut (Fierce)
Submitted by zwalker@benton.org on Fri, 02/02/2024 - 16:35States are challenged with BEAD challenge process; VETRO can help (Fierce)
Submitted by zwalker@benton.org on Fri, 02/02/2024 - 16:34Consolidated shareholders approve private equity acquisition
Consolidated Communications is one step closer to taking its company private, as shareholders approved the proposed $3.1 billion acquisition by Searchlight Capital Partners and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI). Approximately 75% of Consolidated’s shareholders voted yes on the private equity deal, which is expected to close by the first quarter of 2025.
T-Mobile’s network chief awaits remaining 2.5 GHz
T-Mobile has yet to take possession of the 2.5 GHz spectrum that it acquired via auction in 2022 to fill holes in rural territories across the US, but it’s ready to roll when the spectrum does become available. Congress passed legislation requiring the Federal Communications Commission to release the 2.5 GHz spectrum from Auction 108 and President Joe Biden signed the 5G Spectrum Authority Licensing Enforcement (SALE) Act into law in December 2023.
Department of Justice asks court to dismiss Ligado's $40 billion claim (Fierce)
Submitted by benton on Wed, 01/31/2024 - 17:16Cable keeps lagging in customer satisfaction, compared to fiber and fixed wireless access
It seems cable internet providers are still lagging behind in customer satisfaction, especially when it comes to cost. In a 2024 CableTV survey, the best major internet service providers for overall satisfaction were either fiber or wireless providers, those being Google Fiber, T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T.
US population growth stalls but wireless subscription growth booms
During the fourth quarter 2023, the top three wireless operators in the US reported a total of 1.78 million new postpaid phone subscribers. How can each carrier report growth in postpaid phone subscribers each quarter in a country whose population is not growing very much? Recon Analytics Analyst Roger Entner said that question is top-of-mind among the operators, who pay Recon substantial sums of money for survey data to try and figure out the answers.
Broadband across the nation: 2024 funding tracker
Tracking broadband funding awards as they happen. In January 2024: