Network management

Consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge took issue with the idea that AT&T’s copper retirement plan could leave customers without a wireline replacement, arguing wireless options may be insufficient to meet modern speed needs. Analyst firm New Street Research separately warned states seeking to close the digital divide might not look kindly on such a move. “The problem is not retiring copper in and of itself. The problem is retiring copper without a suitable replacement that is as good or better than the copper,” said Jenna Leventoff, Public Knowledge’s senior policy counsel.

Verizon has entered into agreements with satellite providers for early clearance of additional C-band spectrum the company acquired in 2021, providing an opportunity to deploy America’s most reliable 5G Ultra Wideband service to more customers in more places in 2022. With this early clearance of the second phase of C-band spectrum, originally scheduled to be cleared in Dece

AT&T announced that it has plans to cut its copper network footprint in half by 2025. However, Jeff McElfish, the CEO of AST&T’s Communications division, said the company isn’t planning to forcibly move customers off copper as they decommission copper. According to McElfish, customers are naturally migrating off copper. I find that hard to believe. CCG Consulting is still seeing DSL penetration rates in cities between 10 percent and 40 percent.

The tech world order that came together in the '90s at the Cold War's end is falling apart as a new rift between Russia and the West opens and a great retrenchment begins. The breakup of the USSR in the early '90s opened an era in which internet use rapidly spread around the globe and US tech companies viewed the entire planet as both factory floor and market. Working from that assumption helped a handful of companies grow to previously inconceivable size, wealth and power.

Sens John Cornyn (R-TX) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) introduced the Safely Accessing Telecommunications (SAT) Act, which would authorize the US State Department and Department of Defense to enter into contracts with satellite cellular and internet providers to provide direct connectivity in conflict regions. The SAT Act would:

Charter Communications continued a multi-year march to double the entry-level speed available on its Spectrum Internet service, rolling out 200 Mbps service in more than three dozen new markets. The 37 markets where the faster service is now available cover more than 5 million homes and include Bakersfield (CA), Bangor (ME), Binghamton (NY), Dayton (OH), and Green Bay (WI).

Lawyers for Cox Communications will begin oral arguments on March 9 in the appeal of a $1 billion copyright infringement award that it says is not only wrong on a legal basis, but could upend the entire broadband industry if it is allowed to stay.

A recent report by BroadbandNow made the rounds in February 2022, with the authors concluding that the average price for broadband access across all major speed tiers for Americans has fallen, by an average of 31 percent or nearly $34/month, since 2016. At a glance, this is great news – perhaps affordable Internet access for all is within reach? Yet the reality is that this report from BroadbandNow, unfortunately, poorly frames the national broadband marketplace.

Comcast announced that it has increased speeds for its most popular Xfinity Internet tiers, providing an extra boost for millions of residential customers across 14 northeastern states from Maine through Virginia and Washington (DC).