Wireless Internet

Verizon and Frontier Communications announced they have entered into a definitive agreement for Verizon to acquire Frontier in an all-cash transaction valued at $20 billion. This strategic acquisition of the largest pure-play fiber internet provider in the U.S. will significantly expand Verizon's fiber footprint across the nation, accelerating the company’s delivery of premium mobility and broadband services to current and new customers.

At the beginning of 2024, Verizon executives were skeptical about the direct-to-device (D2D) market, uninterested in using their spectrum for a satellite-based service. Now, Verizon is bragging about how it will be the first mobile carrier to commercially launch smartphone connectivity on Skylo’s non-terrestrial satellite network and be the first mobile carrier to launch a commercial D2D service offering. Not only that, but it’s made a $100 million investment in AST SpaceMobile, which will use 85

Even as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) moves forward with its long-delayed 5G Fund program to expand advanced wireless services in rural areas, the government and wireless industry are staking out the parameters of sixth-generation (6G) wireless. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) recently accepted industry comments from about 60 companies and associations on how government and industry should shape 6G, which some estimate could be deployed by 2030. Among the questions NTIA seeks to answer is how 6G enhancements could improve wireless network

In prisons and jails across the country, a bulky tablet enclosed in a screwed-on plastic case has become the hottest new device. Featuring limited online access, the tablets allow incarcerated people to make calls, send messages and watch movies from their cells.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted new rules to move forward with targeted investments in the deployment of advanced, 5G mobile wireless broadband services in rural communities.

Broadband subscriber additions from the first two quarters of 2024 give us an insight into some industry trends. Cable companies are starting to lose an increasing number of customers. Fixed wireless access (FWA) cellular carriers collectively added 933,000 customers in Q2. Telephone companies collectively showed a small gain for Q2, although all of the telephone companies reported significant fiber sales. 

At roughly the mid-point of the 5G cycle (assuming 10-year generational upgrade cycles), there’s seemingly widespread criticism that it hasn’t delivered on the promises it made. That’s largely related to the massive capital spend operators undertook to acquire new spectrum and put it into service, but without attendant major new lines of revenue based off of services only 5G could deliver. The fact of the matter is, though, that 5G is a technology that lacks the agency to do, or not do, anything.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) released long-awaited draft guidance on the use of non-fiber technologies for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, with unlicensed wireless spectrum and satellite broadband entering the funding fray.

What if you could deliver a connection that's as fast as fiber broadband but without the hassle and cost that comes with actually building fiber? Transcelestial, a Singapore-based startup, has a device that uses laser beams to transmit data between two end points, without the need for underground fiber infrastructure. The company's CENTAURI device, which comes in flavors of 10G and 25G, can “stabilize these laser beams over large distances” while taking into account various weather conditions. That ability caught the eye of a major operator.

Even though UScellular plans to sell off big chunks of its spectrum and subscribers to T-Mobile, that's not stopping the regional wireless carrier from pursuing its fixed wireless access (FWA) ambitions—even if that means going head to head with T-Mobile in some regions. In fact, now UScellular is working with Tarana Wireless to increase its FWA capacity in West Plains, Missouri, a town where the demand for FWA is high. So high that the carrier has been getting such good uptake of its fixed wireless in West Plains that it was about to run out of capacity on its mobile network.