Competition/Antitrust

Altice USA followed rival AT&T in hiking service costs for consumers, raising internet pricing by $10 per month for new customers and also bumping up promotional rates for TV and phone service. An Altice representative stated the change applies to promotional rates for new customers rather than the monthly cost for existing customers, and said rates will vary by market.

Customer satisfaction with wireless service overall retreats 1.4 percent to a score of 73 (out of 100), according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) Wireless Phone Service and Cell Phone Study 2021-2022. Mobile network operators (MNOs) and full-service mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) are steady at 73 apiece. Satisfaction with value MVNOs also is unchanged yet still outperforms the other wireless categories. After a slight dip last year, customer satisfaction with cell phones is stable.

Leichtman Research Group found that the largest cable and wireline phone providers and fixed wireless services in the US – representing about 96 percent of the market – acquired about 1,065,000 net additional broadband Internet subscribers in first quarter 2022, compared to a pro forma gain of about 1,120,000 subscribers in first quarter 2021.

USTelecom recently sent a letter to practically every politician who might have a hand in deciding how broadband grants are awarded – the White House and key Cabinet officials, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the Federal Communications Commission, members of Congress, Governors, Mayors, other local officials, Tribal leaders, and state broadband offices.

The Federal Communications Commission seeks public input to inform the FCC’s required assessment of the state of competition in the communications marketplace in its upcoming Communications Marketplace Report (2022 Communications Marketplace Report) to Congress. Specifically, the FCC seeks data, information, and comment on a wide range of issues relevant to the state of competition in the communications marketplace as a whole.

Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan has a chance to work her way down her Big Tech to-do list, nearly a year into her tenure, now that she has a Democratic majority in hand. The Senate voted 51-50 — with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking a tie — to confirm privacy expert Alvaro Bedoya to the FTC. The Democrats' majority at the five-person agency now opens the door for Khan's agenda, expected to include:

Market share, not households new to broadband, is the focus of “intense competition” between four types of service providers, according to Kagan, the media research unit of S&P Global Market Intelligence. Here is how Kagan positions the four types of providers:

The Senate on May 11 voted to confirm law professor Alvaro Bedoya to serve on the Federal Trade Commission, solidifying a Democratic majority at the agency that will enable FTC Chair Lina Khan to move on her ambitious agenda to rein in Big Tech’s power. Fifty senators voted in favor while 50 voted against. Vice President Harris cast the tiebreaking vote in her role as president of the Senate.

Cable One saw an uptick in customer growth and revenue in first quarter 2022, driven by business acquisitions, and is seeking rapid fiber expansion with its Clearwave Fiber investment. CEO Julie Laulis thinks the latter especially puts the operator in a vital position against competitors.

Because the cost of producing information technology (IT) products is lower overseas, applying Buy America provisions to IT components of projects underwritten by the infrastructure bill will raise costs, reduce infrastructure build, and delay project completion—all without creating any net new jobs. Congress included in the recent infrastructure bill stronger applications of Buy America provisions, which govern the extent to which federal government purchases must be of products substantially made in the United States.