Competition/Antitrust

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.

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel shared a Report and Order and Declaratory Ruling that would promote competition and increase choice for broadband services for people living and working in multiple tenant environments (MTEs). The measures, if adopted, would halt practices that evade long-existing FCC rules intended to allow tenants to choose their own provider. To promote broadband competition and deployment in MTEs, the Order and Declaratory Ruling, if adopted by a vote of the full FCC, would:

Mediacom struck a settlement agreement with the city of West Des Moines (IA) to end a more than year-long scuffle over what the operator claimed was an illegal deal between the municipality and Google Fiber. The exact terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but the deal will allow the municipality to move ahead with the construction of a $50 million city-wide conduit network.

According to a speed test analysis released by WhistleOut, the average US internet speed increased 40 percent during the pandemic to 118.4 Mbps, versus an average of 84.5 Mbps pre-pandemic. The report, which is based on more than 717,000 internet speed tests, doesn’t explain exactly why the fixed internet became so much swifter, but it cites the fact that many US households upgraded their plans with their internet service providers, presumably to accommodate all that video streaming, those Zoom meetings, and other lifestyle changes necessitated by working and living at home 24/7.

A Senate panel approved antitrust legislation forbidding the largest tech platforms from favoring their own products and services over competitors’, scoring a win for backers of stricter Big Tech regulation against fierce industry opposition. The American Innovation and Choice Online Act moves next to the Senate floor, where several senators said they wanted to see additional changes before backing the measure. The January 20, 16-6 vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee showed the bill had bipartisan support but also raised bipartisan concerns.