Fierce

[Commentary] NBC News released the results of a survey a few days ago showing that 49% of US consumers say they’re less likely to buy a product endorsed by the current US president. Despite the benefits AT&T and Charter might obtain from the Trump Administration, it might not make good business sense for these guys to fly too close to the sun. Not when he’s perceived as a black hole to more than half of the consumer base.

Indeed, captains of telecommunication industry need to understand that bedding with this administration could have serious long-term public-perception consequences. Just on an average Tuesday this week, the press secretary had to issue an apology for using a bad Nazi-era analogy. During Passover. If things were to get much worse, a CEO who got in too tight with the Oval Office could end up with a figurative public head-shaving.

Charter Communications has been hit with a class action suit in St. Louis (MO) for selling subscribers’ personally identifiable information. A subscriber said that between 2011 and 2013, Charter sold information such as names and addresses to unknown companies without customer consent. The plaintiffs are alleging that Charter violated Missouri’s Merchandising Practices Act. The subscriber claims he was not provided with a copy of Charter’s privacy policy, which is required under that law. The complaint also said Charter failed to obtain written consent to sell the information or provide an opt-out provision.

Notably, when Comcast, Verizon and AT&T each put out statements two weeks ago swearing to not sell private customer data in the wake of the Republican Congress’ decision to dispense of Obama-era privacy protections, the nation’s No. 2 cable operator was quiet.

A Q&A with former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler.

Asked, "Looking back on your time as chairman, what would you consider your highlights?" Tom Wheeler responded, "It was the most incredible privilege to be in that role as networks changed and thus changed the way we live our lives and do business. I’m proud that we brought the concept of agile software development to the FCC in the form of agile regulatory actions that respond to circumstances (e.g., the general conduct rule for the Open Internet, the “trust but verify” approach to cybersecurity, etc.). I’m proud of our efforts to expand access to networks (spectrum auctions, eRate, LifeLine, etc.); assure that those networks are fast, fair and open; to make the expectation of privacy a default for those who use networks; and to make network cybersecurity a major responsibility for the agency."

Maine Fiber Company (MFC), the company behind building the state’s wholesale dark fiber-based Three Ring Binder (3RB) middle mile network, is showing support for Maine lawmakers’ proposed LD 406 bill that’s designed to upgrade the state’s outdated pole attachment regulations. LD 406 was introduced by Senator David Woodsome of York, Maine, and co-sponsored by Representative Seth Berry of Bowdoinham and Senate President Michael Thibodeau of Waldo, Maine.

Former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler described the agency’s 600 MHz incentive auction as a successful event that should generate a “huge smile” for administrators.

“We were charged with creating a marketplace and that marketplace successfully performed to produce the second largest amount of spectrum ever auctioned; and to do so by reallocating spectrum to its highest and best usage as determined by the market,” Wheeler said. “When you think of the fact that no one in the world had ever tried this two-sided auction, and all the new and unique issues that had to be dealt with for the auction to take place, one can only have a huge smile.” Wheeler lauded Gary Epstein, the chairman of the FCC’s Incentive Auction Task Force and the regulator largely in charge of planning and executing the incentive auction, saying “I hope that when the auction closes, folks will begin to pay attention to the ground-breaking and back-breaking efforts of the Auction Task Force.” Wheeler’s comments are noteworthy as the FCC’s ongoing incentive auction winds down. Forward bidding in the event ended in February with bidders committing $19.63 billion for TV broadcasters’ airwaves, surpassing TV broadcasters’ asking price of $10 billion. Spectrum prices reached roughly $1.257 per MHz/pop, topping $1.25 per MHz/pop in the top 40 markets.

Reps from both sides of the aisle renewed calls to update the National Broadband Map, which was initially created by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Federal Communications Commission but has languished since 2014 due to lack of funding. "We must accurately collect and aggregate data to update the National Broadband Map," said House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) druing a hearing. The hearing covered legislation tied to President Trump’s plans to increase spending on the nation’s core infrastructure, and legislators generally argued that broadband networks should be expanded to unserved and underserved areas in the United States as part of that effort.

NTIA first released its national broadband map and broadband adoption survey results in 2011. Version 1.0 of the map, designed by Computech, showed broadband availability across the country, including the relative dearth of broadband access in rural areas. However, as noted on the map’s website, updates to the map stopped on June 30, 2014. “The Commission sought funding for FY 2016 to maintain and update the National Broadband Map, but this request was not granted,” the site stated. The map was updated with data from the NTIA’s State Broadband Initiative, and was created by the NTIA and the FCC. Interestingly, the NTIA largely managed to avoid the cost-cutting knife of President Trump’s federal budget.

Frontier Communications is looking to leverage some Connect America Fund (CAF) options to get additional funding in its quest to bring faster internet speeds to rural areas within its footprint.

The provider identified 515 census blocks in a filing for CAF Phase I Round 2 incremental support, focusing on locations it initially couldn't reach during CAF I that can't access even a minimum 3 Mbps connection. Frontier may also be able to get CAF II funding rather than CAF I incremental support to build to these areas, the provider noted in its filing. Joining fellow telephone companies Consolidated and Windstream, Frontier accepted $283 million annually in CAF II support from the FCC to deploy broadband to more than 650,000 high-cost rural locations throughout its current 28-state service area. The service provider noted that the locations it is targeting with the CAF II funds are those that are only served by Frontier and not a competitor.

AT&T is currently conducting Wireless Local Loop (WLL) technology tests on its LTE network in two locations in the United States, part of the carrier’s ongoing efforts to evaluate a range of high-speed transmission technologies in order to determine how they stack up against each other. John Donovan, AT&T's chief strategy officer and group president for technology and operations, explained that AT&T is testing a total of five different network technologies: G.Fast, AirGig, 5G, WLL and fiber to the premises (FTTP). To be clear, some of those efforts are further along than others; for example, AT&T has already deployed FTTP to roughly 4 million locations, a number AT&T’s CTO Andre Fuetsch said would triple during the next 36 months. “That’s obviously matured” as a technology, Fuetsch said. But some of AT&T’s other efforts are very much in the testing phase. For example, AirGig is AT&T’s new take on broadband over powerline (BPL) technology, which promises to transmit internet communications over power grids. AT&T announced its AirGig effort last year, and is now entering advanced discussions with a number of electric utilities and other companies about trialing AirGig in up to two locations this fall. And of course AT&T made waves last month when it announced it would launch its first “5G Evolution Markets” in the coming months in Austin (TX) and Indianapolis (IN) and it will build two new 5G test beds set to go on air this spring at the AT&T Labs in Austin.

Instead of sailing balloons around the world to deliver internet access, engineers at Alphabet's Project Loon will send small teams of balloons to form a cluster over specific regions where people need internet access—a discovery that will help reduce the costs of operating a Loon-powered network. In a post on its Google+ page, the Loon team explained that when they started a pilot test in 2013, they thought they’d need a continuous stream of balloons around the world such that, as one balloon drifted away, another would be ready to take its place. Their main task would be to manage the balloons’ paths during their round-the-world journeys just enough to get them to drift over their internet test locations in roughly equal intervals—so as one balloon moved out of range, another would move in its place.

[Commentary] As the third smallest town in Massachusetts, Mount Washington is not an obvious fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) buildout target.

Today, Mount Washington has a grand total of about 146 residents, a number of whom only spend up to two weeks of the year in the town as a vacation spot. But with few broadband options other than Verizon, the local incumbent telco, or expensive satellite service, the town sought a partner to construct a municipally-owned FTTH network. Upon completion, the network will outfit each Mount Washington household with dedicated fiber strands originating from MassBroadband’s middle-mile backbone termination point at town hall. The town hall will actually house the optical line terminal (OLT) that will deliver signals to the home. Those who choose to subscribe to internet and telephone services will pay a monthly fee to a third-party service provider. Working in partnership with White Mountain Cable (a subsidiary of Dycom) and eX2 Technology, Mount Washington expects construction of its active Ethernet network to be completed in about nine months.

Although most of Mount Washington’s residents consist of vacationers getting away from the hustle and bustle of city life, they expect a similar broadband experience.