Competition/Antitrust

Although fixed wireless is getting a lot of attention these days, the technology is not in Frontier’s plans “in a material way,” said Frontier Chief Network Officer Veronica Bloodworth, adding “we’re a fiber-first company.” Bloodworth is part of a new Frontier management team put in place as the company emerged from bankruptcy.

Verizon’s deployment of mid-band spectrum for 5G is delivering boosts to download speeds for users connected to C-band, according to new analysis from Opensignal –  getting the carrier closer as it works to catch up to speed leader T-Mobile. Verizon and AT&T both started activating C-band spectrum in the 3.7 GHz range on January 19.

There’s a lot of money flowing to 5G network buildouts right now as US wireless operators race to expand their 5G coverage. In fact, it’s likely that 2022 to be the peak year for 5G spending by US wireless operators. Stefan Pongratz, vice president at Dell’Oro Group, said that the company expects US wireless capital expenditures to grow at a double-digit rate in 2022 and then taper off in 2023 and 2024. One reason behind this is that both AT&T and Verizon are ramping up their mid-band 5G deployments in the C-band and the 3.45 GHz spectrum bands.

There has always been a valuation gap between public cable and private communication operators that offer internet, cable and phone services. In this report, we attempt to quantify the valuation gap and the factors driving it, and why it’s important to rural operators. We also weigh in on where we think valuations are headed. Key findings include:

A Google affiliate wants to offer its fiber broadband service in Colorado Springs (CO) in 2023 if the company can reach an agreement with Colorado Springs Utilities to lease its planned network. Google Fiber, owned by Google parent Alphabet, would become the second tenant on Utilities' planned 2,000-mile network, which is expected to get underway in summer 2022 and be available to its first residential customers early 2023.

President Biden's Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson hinted she may be open to a more expansive reading of antitrust laws during her confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 23.

The Federal Communications Commission announced that July 29, 2022, will be the start of bidding in Auction 108 for 2.5 GHz licenses. This auction will be for “white-spaces” of the 2.5 GHz band where no one owns the spectrum. T-Mobile is particularly interested in Auction 108 because it already owns or leases much of the 2.5 GHz spectrum across the United States, and it wants to fill in the gaps in its coverage. The auction will offer about 8,000 new county-based overlay licenses.

Meta —the parent company for Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp — could drag hundreds of competitors into its legal battle, aiming to slow the Federal Trade Commission's prosecution and "bury" its lawyers in paperwork.

In a series of confirmation hearings starting March 21, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee will question Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Biden’s pick to replace Justice Stephen Breyer on the Supreme Court — and while tech policy is not expected to be a major area of focus for either party, two issues in particular could come up. Critics of the tech industry’s treasured liability shield often claim judges have interpreted Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act too broadly.