Telecommunication

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), in ongoing efforts to ensure reliable and affordable telecommunication services, approved Verizon Communications’ acquisition of TracFone Wireless with consumer protection conditions to ensure the acquisition will be in the public interest. The CPUC's Decision finds that in order for Verizon and TracFone to meet the burden of proving their acquisition is in the public interest, they must adopt a number of specific measures to protect consumers-including California Lifeline customers-from price increases and service disruptions.

As wonderful as telehealth is, it has a serious Achilles' heel. The fate of telehealth adoption is tied to the fate of broadband adoption. And broadband in millions of additional homes isn't strong enough to drive telehealth. Redlining, politics, and adverse economics leaves low-income communities stuck with outdated, broken infrastructure. Annually, billions in government spending to replace obsolete networks passes over big cities and are squandered by large telecom and cable companies before broadband reaches rural homes.

The Federal Communications Commission proposed an enhanced competition incentive program to encourage licensees to offer opportunities for small carriers and Tribal Nations to obtain spectrum via lease, partition, or

The National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) and the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition wrote a joint letter of support urging the Senate Commerce Committee to quickly conduct hearings and speedily confirm President Biden’s nominees to the Federal Communications Commission and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

Verizon may not be pursuing a massive expansion of its fiber footprint like some competitors, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t see value in the smaller scale work it’s doing with Fios. Verizon CFO Matt Ellis said the company is working to add around 400,000 open-for-sale locations within its incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) footprint in 2021 and for “at least the next two to three years.” Some of these additions are related to new build activity, with Verizon swooping in to “wire Fios in upfront” in houses and apartment buildings as they’re constructed by developers.

The Federal Communications Commission seeks comment on the requirements for the Affordable Connectivity Program and a timeline for its rapid implementation. On November 15, 2021, President Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Infrastructure Act or Act), which modifies and extends the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program (EBB Program) to a longer-term broadband affordability program to be called the Affordable Connectivity Program. The Infrastructure Act directs the FCC to undertake a proceeding to adopt final rules for this modified program.

With the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), Congress has taken a significant step forward in achieving the Biden Administration’s goal of providing broadband access to the entire country.

President Joe Biden's nominee for Federal Communications Commissioner, Gigi Sohn [Senior Fellow and Public Advocate at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society], is a prominent liberal activist and a former Democratic staffer at the FCC who favors net neutrality, stronger government regulation of the broadband industry, and the breakup of Big Tech companies. Senate Republicans strongly oppose her confirmation, criticizing her not only as a left-wing ideologue who would favor heavy-handed regulation but also, unusually, as a threat to censor or block conservative speech.

Leichtman Research Group found that the largest pay-TV providers in the US – representing about 93 percent of the market – lost about 650,000 net video subscribers in 3Q 2021, compared to a pro forma net loss of about 90,000 in 3Q 2020. The top pay-TV providers now account for about 77 million subscribers, with the top seven cable companies having 41.9 million video subscribers, other traditional pay-TV services having over 27.5 million subscribers, and the top publicly reporting Internet-delivered (vMVPD) pay-TV services having 7.5 million subscribers.

The House Commerce Committee passed 12 bipartisan bills on November 17, 2021. The Committee passed the following telecommunications bills: