Competition/Antitrust

Cable companies could soon find themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place as battles with fiber-to-the-home providers for subscribers intensify. Analysts at Cowen Equity Research noted cable’s standard response to competition from these players has been to lock in subscribers with promotional rates.

The Federal Communications Commission heard from the public on April 7 as the agency focuses on plans to create broadband consumer labels. This was the second FCC public hearing on so-called nutrition labels as the agency revives an effort from late in the Obama administration to stick the information on internet service provider (ISP) plans. One common thread was that even when information is available on internet service quality, consumers don't know enough about the specifics to grasp what it means for their own online needs.

Google Fiber announced plans to move into its second city in Iowa, revealing construction is set to begin in the capital city of Des Moines (IA) later in 2022. The company said it is currently in the planning stages for the build, kicking off the permitting process ahead of actual its actual construction work.

AT&T and Verizon have talked up their copper retirement plans, but analysts say the technology is likely to stick around in the US at least until the end of the decade. That’s in part because copper is deeply entrenched in the country. There’s no question operators are eager to move away from copper and for good reason.

Consolidated Communications is building the biggest fiber-optic internet network in Maine and said it plans to offer connections to tens of thousands of homes and businesses by the end of 2022. It is building networks in Portland, Biddeford-Saco, the Augusta area, Rockland, Waterville, Falmouth, and Bangor. The goal is a comprehensive network covering nearly all the customers in the communities Consolidated has targeted.

On March 31, the House Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held a hearing called "Connecting America: Oversight of the FCC." Each of the current four Federal Communications Commissioners testified before the subcommittee, led by Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and including Brendan Carr, Nathan Simington, and Geoffrey Starks. Rep.

Senate Democrats used a parliamentary maneuver to advance President Biden’s nomination of Georgetown University law professor Alvaro Bedoya to the Federal Trade Commission, setting the stage for Democrats to gain a 3-2 majority on the panel.

Altice USA isn’t afraid to march to the beat of its own drum and actually thinks it’s going about network upgrades the smart way by jumping straight to fiber rather than following other cable incumbents in pursuing DOCSIS 4.0. The operator recently laid out a plan to overbuild its hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) network to blanket 6.5 million locations with fiber by 2025.

The US Census Bureau released new data showing how the population changed on a county-by-county basis between July 2020 and July 2021,  and information analysts say it offers interesting insights for cable companies, fiber players and policymakers alike. The Bureau's report shows Los Angeles (CA) and New York (NY) counties lost the greatest number of residents to migration, while Maricopa County (AZ), Riverside County (CA) and Collin County (TX) gained the most.

For the last twenty years, the industry has talked about broadband in cities as a duopoly, meaning there was competition between cable and telecom companies – competition between cable modem broadband and DSL broadband. Whether coordinated by backroom deals or by listening to smart advisors, both industries have given up trying to compete on price. By the time cable modem speeds hit 30 Mbps speeds, the market competition was over, and cable clearly won the price war.