Competition/Antitrust

The National Advertising Division (NAD) of Better Business Bureau National Programs has upheld some claims made by Cox in television and radio advertising for its Gigablast internet service but has advised Cox to make changes to the advertisements. BBB National Programs is a non-profit organization that resolves disputes between advertisers. The decision came in response to a challenge from AT&T. In the ads, Cox states that it has gigabit available everywhere – a claim that NAD said is true throughout areas where the advertising has run.

As a Commissioner focused so deeply on the digital divide, I’m especially thrilled about what a golden era in commercial space could mean for broadband. New satellite broadband systems promise more choice and better performance for many Americans, including those who live, work, and travel in some the toughest-to-serve places. Making space innovation sustainable is a multidimensional problem. They can even improve the reach of terrestrial broadband networks, through satellite backhaul and, perhaps one day soon, base stations flying in low-Earth orbit.

Big telecommunication companies (telcos) and almost every large cable company use what the industry calls "hidden fees." These fees are not mentioned when advertising for a service but are put onto customer bills. There is a class action lawsuit in California that shows why broadband providers are not worried about using hidden fees. In times past, when the big companies were regulated, they might have been ordered to make a 100% refund of a fee that regulators decided was questionable.

The use of open-access internet networks to help close the country’s digital divide has excited many groups who see them as a viable connection strategy for communities where there is little fiber or competition between broadband providers, or where one incumbent provider dominates, as is the case in many cities. There are already some examples of successful open-access networks in the US, albeit driven by the local governments themselves.

Comcast recently launched a TV ad and erected a dedicated website that takes aim at the capabilities and features of T-Mobile's 5G-powered home broadband service, charging that they come up short when compared to what's delivered via Comcast's wired broadband services. In what's expected to be the first in a series of ads either targeting T-Mobile's service or perhaps the broader fixed wireless access (FWA) sector, Comcast's tongue-in-cheek "Vampires" ad features a family of four in a therapist's office lamenting the performance of T-Mobile's offering.

Should network usage fees be imposed on content and application providers to support internet infrastructure? New research from Analysys Mason shows such a mandate would be harmful to end users and the global internet ecosystem.

Although Rep Ro Khanna (D-CA)'s district includes a wide swath of the tech industry's homes in towns like Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Santa Clara, and Fremont, he is an advocate for laws that would curb Big Tech's power. Among the restrictions Rep Khanna favors would expand privacy protections beyond California's existing law as well as a change in antitrust law that would shift the burden of proof in large deals, requiring the acquiring company to prove a deal won't hurt competition. Members of Congress have proposed new bills around privacy and antitrust and children's online safety, but so far

Pledges to tackle data surveillance practices, harm to children's mental health, and tech giants' power over wide swaths of the economy haven't yet translated into passing new laws, and the clock is running out. High-profile bills that would heap new regulations on the tech industry have advanced, but they've yet to cross the finish line into law. On antitrust, the House of Representatives passed a bill in September 2022 that will raise filing fees for large mergers, using the proceeds to fund antitrust enforcement efforts.

A new report entitled “U.S. Cable: What is Embedded in Valuations?” is optimistic about cable’s broadband prospects. Analysts at MoffettNathanson say they believe the market is undervaluing cable’s growth prospects. Moffett's analysis shows a big part of the stock drop can be traced to the current cost of capital, which is something that can change in the future and doesn’t go to the underlying prospects for cable’s broadband business.

MetroNet's focus on building quickly and considerately is helping it win over mayors and other local officials in an increasingly competitive fiber market. The operator currently has construction underway in all 14 of the states where it operates, with work covering more than 90 cities.