Fierce

AT&T has become a major stakeholder in the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) ConnectHome initiative to connect low-income families with internet services, but critics question the availability of its new offerings. As part of its work with HUD, the service provider plans to host 30 events across 15 ConnectHome pilot communities located within AT&T’s 21-state wireline service area. During these events, AT&T will provide information about Access from AT&T, a low-cost internet service it launched in April. AT&T will also provide up to 100 Udacity Nanodegree program scholarships to select participants in designated HUD communities. Nanodegree programs are self-paced, online curricula that provide students in-demand skills to help obtain tech-related jobs. The courses will focus on web development, mobile development and data analytics. Set to start on September 10, the events will spread ConnectHome pilot communities in several cities across ten states: New York, Georgia, Louisiana, Oklahoma, California, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Illinois and Texas.

Households that qualify for Access from AT&T will be able to access three speed tiers: 10 Mbps, 5 Mbps or 3 Mbps available at their address. Speeds of 10 Mbps and 5 Mbps will cost $10 a month while 3 Mbps will cost $5. AT&T will waive installation and internet equipment fees for participating households. However compelling AT&T’s intentions are to bridge the so-called digital divide, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) said in a report that many of its affiliates that tried to help SNAP participants apply for Access were told the program was unavailable.

Cable One has responded to a customer complaint about its broadband usage caps with a three-page letter explaining why the data limits are crucial to the performance of its network and keeping customers. "Managing Cable One’s network for optimal performance is crucial for providing a reliable service," the company said. "Establishing reasonable data plans is an important part of that process."

Cable companies are required to respond to customers who render gripes at the Federal Communications Commission’s online Consumer Help Center. CableOne’s usage caps range from 300 gigabytes for a 100 Mbps service to 500 gigs for its $200-a-month gigabit-speed package. As the company explained in its letter, it no longer charges customers for overages. But subscribers get a letter (a polite one!) if they go over for one month and are automatically bumped to the next higher tier if they exceed their usage limit for three consecutive months.

CenturyLink revealed in its semi-annual broadband deployment report to the Federal Communications Commission that 51 percent of the living units in its more populated legacy Qwest territory can get 40 Mbps or higher. But rural areas overwhelmingly get much slower speeds, showing the disparity between different markets.

In the rural sections of CenturyLink’s legacy Qwest footprint, only 21.9 percent of households can get access to a 40 Mbps copper-based service. The disparity is due to the challenge of deploying copper-based broadband. Despite advances like VDSL2 and vectoring, CenturyLink is stymied by the physical limitations of copper plant that require electronics to be placed closer to each customer. The service provider saw similar variations between rural and non-rural markets for its 12 Mbps and 5 Mbps service. CenturyLink’s 12 Mbps service availability non-rural markets was 71 percent, a figure that drops to 47.6 percent in rural markets. Likewise, the 5 Mbps tier was available to nearly 80 percent of living units in non-rural Qwest markets, while only 61.3 percent could get the same service. Finally, the 1.5 Mbps service fared a bit better with service noted to be available in 95.6 percent of non-rural markets and 83 percent in rural markets. Regardless of the differences in the availability of copper-based broadband service speeds, CenturyLink is making progress across all of its markets to make higher speeds available to more customers.

The Alaska Plan approved recently by the Federal Communications Commission is going to work, said the Alaska Telephone Association (ATA), the leading proponent of the funding plan, mainly because it provides “predictable [Universal Service Fund] support payments” that are critical to keeping carriers in business in the United States’ highest-cost telecommunication operating area. Under the new plan, 15 wireline and wireless providers in the state will receive over $1 billion in federal funds over a 10-year period to invest in their telecommunications infrastructure. “Alaska represents the highest-cost local telecom construction and ongoing operating costs in the nation,” said Ed Cushing, president of the ATA. “Providing rural Alaskans with high-quality, affordably-priced broadband service simply is not possible without the predictable USF support payments secured by the FCC's approval of Alaska Plan." Under the plan, which differs quite a bit from other universal service funding in the lower 48 states, both wireline and wireless carriers in the state will receive funding that is fixed at adjusted 2011 rates.

AT&T is off the hook in a data throttling lawsuit that the Federal Trade Commission brought against the carrier. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the suit in a move that could have ramifications for both wireless and wireline data delivery. In its decision, the appeals court reversed the decision of a lower court, which had denied AT&T’s motion to dismiss the case, filed by the FTC in 2014. The FTC had accused AT&T of slowing the data speeds, or “throttling,” heavy users on its unlimited wireless data plan, in some cases by as much as 90 percent. The practice, according to the commission, was deceptive. For its part, AT&T didn’t deny that it had throttled some users, but instead argued that an exception is in place for common carriers. The Ninth Circuit agreed with this argument. The FTC has not yet said whether it would appeal the decision, saying that only that it is “considering our options for moving forward.”

Other battles over traffic prioritization, bandwidth throttling and other forms of traffic shaping were key factors in the passage of net neutrality rules by the FCC in early 2015. The rules specifically bar throttling. AT&T will probably not face any other actions around its wireless throttling. The FTC’s lawsuit was originally filed before net neutrality rules came into effect. Since the FTC isn’t suing about the fairness of the throttling practice itself, but about AT&T’s alleged failure to clearly disclose its throttling policy to customers, the judge says this is not an issue of regulatory overlap.

CenturyLink announced that it will be the exclusive broadband provider to up to 12,000 homes in a new development in southern Denver (CO). CenturyLink will offer its services – including a wireless access point and the opportunity to add its Prism TV offering – to residents at the development starting at $85 per month. CenturyLink will run up to 1 Gbps services over Lumiere Fiber’s network at the development. Lumiere Fiber is an affiliate of Sterling Ranch Development Company, the company behind the massive development.

As the exclusive provider of fiber services, CenturyLink appears to have beaten Comcast and others to supply services in the 3,400-acre, master-planned community dubbed Sterling Ranch. “Sterling Ranch’s vision to elevate their infrastructure to give residents forward-thinking digital experiences like eHealth, distance learning, community engagement and smart home control presents a unique opportunity for CenturyLink to deliver an exceptional broadband service offering speeds up to 1 gigabit per second to an entire community,” said Chris Denzin, vice president of national field and partner sales for CenturyLink.

Shentel may not be the size of its larger incumbent local exchange carrier compatriots, but the service provider is being no less aggressive in pursuing dark fiber deals with school districts and wireless operators in its largely rural territory. What’s helping Shentel get the attention of wholesale and retail customers is a fiber network that currently consists of nearly 5,000 route miles of fiber throughout Virginia, West Virginia and parts of Maryland. Ed McKay, SVP of engineering and planning for Shentel, said that the fiber network is being used to satisfy external and internal needs. One of those needs is being able to backhaul traffic on its growing wireless network. The telecommunication company has built fiber to over 240 of its own cell sites and it has 60 more in construction. “We’re using it to not only go after fiber customers, but also to reduce our operational costs,” McKay said. “We’re interconnecting our cable networks and providing backhaul to our own cell sites.”

The FirstNet Board approved a major budget package, which at $6.585 billion would support a wide swath of developments targeted for Fiscal Year 2017. In addition to $85 million for FirstNet operations, the budget included $6.5 billion obligated toward supporting a network contract in FY17. FirstNet would contribute up to that amount to enable a public/private partnership in the contract, as well as 20 Megahertz of low-band spectrum.

“This mission-driven budget reflects our goals for the organization, for the Network, and for public safety,” said FirstNet Chair Sue Swenson. “It will drive the achievement of major milestones along our Strategic Roadmap in what will be a pivotal year for FirstNet, including critical post-award priorities such as State plans and continued outreach to public safety.” The development couldn’t come soon enough for first responders counting on the network to transmit life-saving information between centers such as police departments, fire departments or emergency medical services. Such responders been told to wait for years now, but are also in a profession that waits for no one.

CenturyLink and Education Networks of America are suing the state of Idaho for $37 million over claims that it broke the terms of their broadband agreement, one that includes expanding their fiber network to support a state broadband project for local schools. This suit follows a decision made by Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden demanding the two companies repay the millions of dollars that the state had paid them for services.

CenturyLink and Education Networks of America said in a Salt Lake Tribune article that the contract was void due to missteps taken by the state. The pair said they want to be paid for the work they did. Additionally, the two companies said they want to be compensated for the investment they made to meet the future terms of the contract, including the extension of fiber facilities to hard to reach rural areas. In its lawsuit, CenturyLink officials said that state officials -- including Gov CL "Butch" Otter (R-ID) and other legislative leaders -- told them that Idaho should pay for the network services the telecommunication company provided to them. Although state lawmakers proposed an $8 million settlement, Idaho will have to pay out a larger amount of money for the troubled state broadband plan. The project, which was launched in 2008, aimed to provide one broadband network for all schools across the state. To date, Idaho taxpayers have paid over $29 million for the project.

Verizon's landline and wireless voice customers in New York’s Madison County are back on line after the telecommunication company repaired a severed fiber line that provided service to about 1,500 of its own customers as well as Frontier and Windstream customers. The state's Public Service Commission is taking a look at the incident.