Bipartisan bills in the U.S. House and Senate may breathe new life into the now-defunct Affordable Connectivity Program with millions in new funding to sustain it through the end of the year and shore up financial support for the FCC’s underfunded rip-and-replace program. Impact: Last week, the Senate Commerce Committee advanced Senator Peter Welch’s (D-VT) …
Even though on the surface 2023 may not have seemed like a busy year for broadband mergers and acquisitions, the industry actually saw plenty of activity, most of which related to fiber and private investors. Impact: With the lure of billions in BEAD funding, investment firms and private equity groups spent the year circling fiber …
Recapping a Fairly Active Year for Broadband M&A Read More »
Depending on their size, broadband providers have six or 12 months to come into compliance with the FCC’s Consumer Broadband Label guidelines. Impact: In an Oct. 10 press release, the FCC announced that most providers will have to start using the mandated broadband nutrition labels within six months, requiring full compliance by April 10, 2024. …
FCC Makes Broadband Nutrition Label Deadline Official Read More »
After the FCC paused its efforts to establish consumer broadband labels for several months to address providers’ requests for changes, the labeling process appears to be moving forward again. Impact: The labels, more colloquially known as “Broadband Nutrition Labels,” have progressed to the point where they’re under review from the Office of Management and Budget …
FCC Broadband Nutrition Labels Move Closer to Reality Read More »
State allocations for the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program that aims to extend high-speed broadband service to millions of unserved and underserved locations across the country were finally revealed this week Impact: In an event at the White House, President Biden introduced the BEAD program to the country as the federal government’s …
With the next version of the updated nationwide broadband map published on May 30, a review of the changes to availability and location data should provide a clearer picture as to how NTIA will use the map for the upcoming BEAD funding distribution. Impact: The latest iteration of the map that includes availability data reported …
Latest FCC Broadband Map Released, Will Be Used for BEAD Funding Read More »
The FCC has yet to reveal how many broadband availability challenges to its new broadband map were received by the January 13 deadline but given the number of concerns raised publicly about the process, we expect a fairly large number. Impact: Prior to the deadline last week, FierceTelecom reported that more than 300,000 challenges …
FCC Broadband Map Moves Into the Next Phase After Challenge Deadline Read More »
The findings of a new study from the CyLab Security and Privacy Institute at Carnegie Mellon University on the topic of the coming FCC broadband “nutrition” labels got a lot of attention last week, with the deadline for the FCC to reveal the labels fast approaching in November. Impact: The FCC first unveiled a …
New Study Reveals What Consumers Want in Broadband Labels Read More »
Concerns are rising among smaller broadband providers that they won’t be able to meet the FCC’s September 1 deadline to submit their coverage data in order to be eligible for participation in the upcoming Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment program. Impact: The first hint that anything was amiss with the FCC’s broadband mapping schedule came …
Smaller Providers Facing Problems Ahead of FCC Mapping Deadline Read More »
Cable operators struggled through a tough quarter of broadband subscriber growth in Q2, with Comcast reporting flat growth (negative on the residential side), Charter sliding into the negative, and Altice reporting its fourth consecutive quarter of losses. All three cable operators attributed some of their struggles to the same issues: low move activity combined with …
