Competition/Antitrust

Appalachia represents a key test for President Joe Biden's $20 billion plan to get broadband access to communities that don't have it. President Biden, who said during his campaign that rebuilding the middle class in America is the "moral obligation of our time," faces a myriad of challenges in closing the gap, from actually laying down fiber-optic lines to educating consumers and ensuring that prices are affordable. In 127 of Appalachia's 420 counties, less than 75% of households had a connected device.

While the present day may not be perfect, I don’t think anyone disputes that we have fulfilled the promise of the deregulatory era. Prior to the Telecom Act, it was far from a foregone conclusion that we would graduate to a more efficient, competitive system. A change in national direction could have sent us back to the incumbent-driven system of midcentury. Instead, we came together, chose the free market and a light regulatory touch, and a quarter century of transformative innovation speaks to the wisdom of this choice.

Over the last two years, the R Street Institute has published the Broadband Scorecard, a project which ranks every state according to how well their laws govern the various aspects of broadband deployment.

Since Comcast is doing so well, one might think they could afford to be a good corporate citizen and community partner when it comes to bridging the digital equity divide. But apparently Comcast officials don’t have to play nice when they are the dominant game in town. Instead, the company has been at constant odds with Baltimore City officials and advocates over access to the internet services Baltimore children need for online learning.

Senate Antitrust Subcommittee Chair Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) introduced sweeping new legislation to reinvigorate America’s antitrust laws and restore competition to American markets. The Competition and Antitrust Law Enforcement Reform Act will:

 If you’re going to build broadband and have a choice of technologies, why is fiber the best choice?

In response to Comcast imposing a data cap on Massachusetts residents, state lawmakers have proposed a ban on data caps, new fees, and price increases on home-Internet services for the duration of the pandemic. The legislation was filed on Jan 26 by Democratic state representatives Andy Vargas and Dave Rogers.

AT&T added over 1 million new fiber subscribers in 2020, with 273K net adds in 4Q20 alone. AT&T fiber penetration now stands at 34%, up from 28% a year ago. That’s a 21% year-over-year improvement in AT&T fiber penetration, with the company now counting 4.9 million total FTTP connections. With this momentum, the company also announced plans to increase homes passed with fiber by an additional 2 million locations in 2021. While AT&T fiber penetration is on the rise, its legacy DSL and VDSL base is a drag on the company’s overall broadband numbers.

Monopoly control of high-speed internet access is leaving many Americans — particularly rural communities and communities of color — disconnected, underserved, or, at best, paying too much for substandard service. While community scaled internet service providers are more effective at delivering fast, affordable, and reliable Internet, monopolies, state-level regulations, and other factors stand in the way of these locally driven solutions to America’s broadband challenges. The report recommends a range of policy actions for improving broadband at the local level, including: