Competition/Antitrust

The United States is pressing the EU to revise rules targeting digital giants to make them focus less on American companies and ensure they will also cover tech firms from outside the US.

Data from Ookla's Speedtest Intelligence shows exactly how much C-band has already affected 5G performance in the week following its launch on January 19, and how that might impact Speedtest Global Index Market Analysis rankings. Ookla saw a week-over-week increase in median 5G download speed of 13 percent when looking at all operators combined.

In a large number of communities across the United States, shopping for Internet access is really challenging. In recent years, groups like Consumer Reports and New America have called attention to the challenge and pushed for the explicit disclosure of service details like download speed, upload speed, monthly service cost, and other information that helps potential subscribers compare providers.

Brendan Carr, the senior Republican commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission, said he welcomes what he’s seeing in the

Fiber network consolidation continues with the news of a complementary merger between MetroNet and Vexus Fiber. MetroNet operates primarily in multiple Midwest and southeastern states, while Vexus has concentrated on Texas, New Mexico and Louisiana. Both companies have been expanding aggressively through internal growth. MetroNet and Vexus will continue to operate under their current brands with their current management teams.

Comcast said it added fewer broadband customers than in recent quarters, a slowdown that comes after record growth during the height of the coronavirus lockdowns. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said the company's Peacock streaming service and its broadband business were two of Comcast’s top priorities for the year ahead. The company added 212,000 broadband subscribers in the fourth quarter 2022, down 61 percent from the same quarter in 2021. Its cellphone business, Xfinity Mobile, added 312,000 customers, while Comcast’s pay-TV business continued to shrink, losing 373,000 subscribers.

The Federal Communications Commission proposed new rules that would require broadband providers to display easy-to-understand labels to allow consumers to comparison shop for broadband services. The proposal would require broadband providers to display, at the point of sale, labels that show prices, including introductory rates, as well as speeds, data allowances, network management practices, and other critical broadband service information.

During his time on the Supreme Court, Justice Stephen Breyer authored and signed onto a slew of significant antitrust and regulation opinions that loom large over the cases against Facebook and Google today. His departure from the bench will mean the loss of serious antitrust expertise — a development that will sadden some traditionalists and cheer progressive antitrust activists that say change is long overdue. Breyer’s views on corporate power shifted somewhat over the years, but antitrust experts point to his decision to sign onto Justice Antonin Scalia’s 2004 opinion in Verizon v.

Verizon’s Fios internet net additions may have slowed year on year in Q4, but CEO Hans Vestberg said its total for the full-year 2021 was the highest in more than five years. The operator posted 106,000 total broadband net additions in the quarter, up from 76,000 in Q4 2020. That figure included 78,000 fixed wireless access (FWA) and 55,000 Fios Internet adds as well as the loss of 27,000 DSL customers. While the quarterly Fios figure was down significantly from 95,000 net additions in Q4 2020, full-year Fios Internet gains in 2021 totaled 360,000.

• AT&T now shares the Games Experience award with T-Mobile.
• T-Mobile exceeds the 10 Mbps mark in Upload Speed Experience, having the fastest Upload Speed Experience.
• T-Mobile keeps hold of the Voice App Experience award, ahead of Verizon and AT&T which tied.