Competition/Antitrust

The Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are releasing a draft update of the Merger Guidelines (Draft Guidelines), which describe and guide the agencies’ review of mergers and acquisitions to determine compliance with federal antitrust laws. The goal of this update is to better reflect how the agencies determine a merger’s effect on competition in the modern economy and evaluate proposed mergers under the law. Both agencies encourage the public to review the draft and provide feedback through a public comment period that will last 60 days.

Municipal broadband providers, which play a vital role in bridging the digital divide, should have equitable access to federal funding regardless of state regulatory roadblocks, said Gigi Sohn, executive director of the American Association for Public Broadband.

Ookla's Market Reports identify key data about internet performance in countries across the world. In the United States in second quarter 2023, T-Mobile was the fastest mobile operator with a median download speed of 164.76 Megabits per second (Mbps). T-Mobile also had the fastest median 5G download speed at 220.00 Mbps, and lowest 5G multi-server latency of 51 milliseconds (ms). Spectrum edged out Cox as the fastest fixed broadband provider with a median download speed of 243.02 Mbps. Verizon had the lowest median multi-server latency on fixed broadband at 15 ms.

It’s becoming clear that we are now deep into a fiber land-grab. By that, I mean that companies that overbuild fiber are moving as quickly as possible into markets to build fiber. The biggest broadband providers have publicly discussed their plans for building a lot of fiber in 2023. I call it a land grab because these providers are all hoping to get to towns and neighborhoods first in order to dissuade anybody else from building fiber there.

American Association for Public Broadband Executive Director Gigi Sohn’s hope is that the incumbents that oppose community broadband will come to realize that there are better business opportunities for them to support the concept rather than fight it. For instance, they could have bid on the project in Bountiful City (UT), rather than use shadowy tactics to try and kill it. For decades, these incumbents have argued that taxpayer dollars should not be used to compete against their private investments. In response to that, Sohn said, “I’m sorry to laugh.

A Republican, a Libertarian, and a Democrat meet over a beer in the small town of Liberty, Maine. Bob Kurek, Joe Meadows, and Phil Bloomstein, each a selectman from their respective towns, may disagree on many issues, but they unanimously agree when it comes to broadband funding: Public funds should support publicly owned fiber-optic networks. Kurek, Meadows, and Bloomstein are three of Waldo Broadband Corporation’s (WBC) five volunteer directors.

Ajit Pai recently wrote an article in the National Review where he talks about how his decision as head of the Federal Communications Commission to repeal net neutrality was the right one. He goes on to claim that repealing net neutrality was the driver behind the current boom in building fiber and upgrading other broadband technologies.

Providing internet to every household and small business by 2030 may not take a village, but it will require the efforts of local officials and service providers working together to pave the way for fast and efficient construction, an effort that the National Association of Counties (NACo) says its members have been steadily working on. “About two years ago, we put together NACo’s Broadband Task Force,” said Seamus Dowdall, NACo's Associate Legislative Director for Telecommunications & Technology. The task force generated a report to define how counties could facilitate the deployment o

People continue to cut ties with cable broadband providers as reports from MoffettNathanson show cable broadband subscriber growth numbers are plummeting year over year.  Broadband cable started 2021 with 6.9 percent growth year over year and continued to fall roughly 1 percent each quarter throughout the year, ending with 3.8 percent growth.

The second quarter (Q2) of the year is usually a tough stretch for cable operators.