Competition/Antitrust

Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts said that despite slowdowns in broadband growth, he sees little threat to the business from new competitors like fixed wireless, adding that rural expansion, offering a competitive product and bundling with mobile should help subscriber additions continue to rise. Roberts said he sees four areas where the company can boost broadband growth: expanding its footprint, competing more aggressively, bundling with other products like wireless and growing its business services reach.

Home internet is one of the most maddening services in the United States. But since the pandemic showed just how bad things have become, we’re beginning to see some change. Decades of one failed policy show how far the US has to go to achieve better, fairer online access for all. Over the past two decades, government regulators have written and rewritten rules that have landed on a straightforward goal: that Americans who live in apartment buildings may pick their internet provider, even if the landlord has a preferred provider.

Verizon will cover more than 175 million people with its 5G Ultra Wideband service by the end of 2022, according to executives. In 2021, Verizon said it expected to provide service Ultra Wideband 5G to 175 million people over the course of 2022 and 2023, so it’s hitting that target significantly faster than previously planned. They expect to cover at least 250 million people by the end of 2024. Verizon currently serves 100 million people with its C-band 3.7 GHz spectrum.

Verizon has set a goal of becoming the only nationwide broadband provider. According to the company, this will be made possible through a combination of Fios fiber broadband, Verizon Home fixed wireless, and satellite broadband service. The company already has Fios available to 16 million locations, which will increase to more than 18 million by year-end 2025, when the company expects to have 8 million Fios internet subscribers.

AT&T recently announced multi-gigabit broadband plans on its fiber connections. The company has priced 2-Gbps broadband at $110 per month and 5-Gbps broadband at $180. AT&T isn’t the first company to offer multi-gigabit broadband speeds and joins other large internet service providers (ISPs). For now, multi-gigabit broadband is mostly a marketing gimmick. It’s a way for an ISP to tell the public that its networks are fast.

Public Knowledge filed a Petition for Declaratory Ruling urging the Federal Communications Commission to declare Voice over Internet Protocol as a Title II “common carrier” telecommunications service. Communications Workers of America, Center for Rural Strategies, National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates, Next Century Cities, The Public Utility Law Project of New York, and The Utility Reform Network joined the filing.

President Biden's transformative push to expand internet service by treating broadband more like a public utility is on a collision course with laws in 17 states. And, the potential conflict is raising questions about whether his administration is willing to use federal infrastructure dollars to twist the arms of mostly Republican-run states to change laws they have on the books restricting municipal broadband projects.

WideOpenWest (WOW!) unveiled plans to invest $215 million in capital expenditures this year, including $80 million in expansion efforts, and named Orange County (FL) as its second greenfield target market. CEO Teresa Elder said the company expects to spend $40 million over the next two to three years to build fiber to more than 40,000 homes in Orange County. The project is the second greenfield market the company has announced in the state. It named Seminole County (FL) as its first target earlier in February, outlining plans to reach 60,000 locations there.

T-Mobile struck out again in its effort to claim America’s most reliable 5G network after an unsuccessful appeal to an advertising industry review board. T-Mobile said it will follow recommendations from the National Advertising Review Board (NARB) to stop all express and implied claims of having the most reliable 5G network based on data from network testing company umlaut.