Light Reading

Much as it is in North America, Europe's wireline future is tied to fiber. However, widely deployed hybrid fiber/coax (HFC) networks will continue to live on and support customers for years to come. Fiber is clearly the fastest-growing access technology in Europe.

Millions of new fixed wireless access (FWA) customers at Verizon and T-Mobile haven't affected the performance of the operators' respective 5G networks, according to new findings from network-monitoring company Opensignal. "Despite adding more than eight million 5G FWA subs using 400+ GB per month of data since Q1 2021,

In the world of rural broadband, all eyes are on the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program as individual states continue to assemble their plans. NTCA—The Rural Broadband Association CEO Shirley Bloomfield believes that BEAD has interesting potential for her members, while acknowledging that there are some wrinkles that need to be ironed out.

Amid slowing broadband subscriber growth, service providers are exploring ways to drive up overall revenues alongside average revenues per user with new services and applications. Some operators are pursuing that with premium whole-home Wi-Fi offerings, low-latency gaming tiers and home security or bundling in streaming services that take advantage of the high data speeds. Support of such strategies and initiatives is of growing importance at the Broadband Forum, an organization that works with standards that support the end-to-end broadband ecosystem.

As May nears its final days, so does the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). The ACP, which entered a partial payment period at the start of the month, will officially end on May 31, unless Congress decides to save it. While there are myriad efforts underway to compromise on a path forward, saving the program is still seen as unlikely.

Slowing growth in the market for telecommunications services appears to be putting additional pressure on network operators in the US. Mergers and acquisitions are on the rise. Layoffs appear to be accelerating.