Network management

The Federal Communications Commission is considering putting new restrictions on wireless use of C-Band spectrum, including a nationwide power reduction, as the Biden Administration works on how best to free up that spectrum for 5G without risking interference to critical aviation communications. Wireless deployments in the band were delayed from fall 2021 given concerns by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), but are now scheduled to launch January 5, 2022.

There is no such thing as a 25/3 Mbps broadband connection, or a 100/20 Mbps broadband connection, or even a symmetrical gigabit broadband connection on fiber. For a long list of reasons, the broadband speeds that make it to customers vary widely by the day, the hour, and the minute. And yet, we’ve developed an entire regulatory system built around the concept that broadband connections can be neatly categorized by speed. What do regulators mean when they set a speed definition of 25/3 Mbps?

Overseas telecom providers, increasingly frustrated with American tech firms whose apps are gobbling up bandwidth, are pushing them to pay more for it. Any effort to reslice the "cost of internet bandwidth" pie could shake up the entire industry, make new winners and losers, and put new pressure on US tech giants.

AT&T and Verizon said they will limit some of their fifth-generation wireless services for six months while federal regulators review the signals’ effect on aircraft sensors, an effort to defuse a conflict that has roiled both industries.

This 5G Americas white paper evaluates current technology trends and suggests how to enhance existing technologies towards the future evolution of wireless cellular networks beyond the current 5G. It emphasizes the need for extremely performant, trustworthy, intelligent, cognitive, flexible, and sustainable wireless communication NextG networks.

The Federal Communications Commission has voted to approve—with strong consumer protection conditions—the transfer of control of TracFone Wireless from América Móvil to Verizon Communications. After rigorous review, the FCC found that the transaction, as modified by Verizon’s enforceable commitments, will make Verizon and TracFone stronger providers of prepaid and Lifeline services. Given the communities that TracFone primarily serves within the US, the FCC adopted a number of binding conditions to address potential harms and to ensure the transaction will be in the public interest.

Diversified broadband provider Cable One is on a path to launch 10 Gbps service. The company said it has already made gigabit service available to 99 percent of its footprint across 24 states, first offering it back in 2016. Cable One is actively upgrading its network to facilitate DOCSIS 4.0, which is the cable industry’s answer to the proliferation of fiber broadband from primarily telco competitors.

In January 2022, America’s wireless providers will begin using a set of radio waves known as C-Band spectrum to expand 5G service to communities large and small across America. But the truth is, we’re playing catch-up. C-Band spectrum is already the backbone of 5G networks around the world because it offers the unique ability to provide high speeds over a wide coverage area, making sure no one gets left out of the new 5G Economy. Nearly 40 countries are already using this spectrum.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike is ready to make money — potentially tens of millions — by selling space on a new broadband system along the toll road in Eastern Pennsylvania. The agency has nearly completed two projects totaling $95 million to install fiber-optic cable under the berm of about 220 miles of the highway, split almost evenly between the main line from Harrisburg to the New Jersey border and the Northeast Extension.

The number of US broadband users who regularly push the upper limits of their provisioned internet speed at the 9 pm hour increased 400 percent from May 2020 - September 2021, according to new data provided by analytics and software provider OpenVault. The phenomenon is known as "speed clipping." OpenVault says it occurs most often with multiple members of a subscribing household simultaneously taxing the network with high-bandwidth applications such as video streaming, video gaming and video conferencing.