General

Broadband Bytes, November Issue 1

This edition includes Bell Canada to buy Ziply Fiber while Ziply Fiber acquires more fiber assets, Digital Equity Capacity Grants update, Fiber expansion updates GoNetspeed, Metronet, Race Communications, Ting Layoffs and $100M Last Mile Funds TN.1. Bell Canada buying Ziply Fiber for $7 billion. Bell Canada announced on November 4, 2024, that it was acquiring Ziply Fiber for $3.65 billion in cash plus the assumption of debt, resulting in a transaction value of about CAD $7 billion (USD $5.1 billion). This deal follows Verizon’s recent announcement that it’s acquiring Frontier for $20 billion. The announcement between Bell Canada and Ziply would make Bell the third largest fiber internet services provider in North America, after AT&T and Verizon. Currently, AT&T passes 28 million locations with fiber and Verizon passes 17.8 million. After the close of the Ziply deal, Bell Canada will have about 9 million fiber locations, combining its 7.7 million locations in Canada with Ziply’s 1.3 million in the U.S. Read More.2.  Cox-owned UPN/Segra sells some commercial fiber assets to Ziply. Cox Communications owns two companies that provide fiber broadband for enterprises — Unite Private Networks (UPN) and Segra. Cox cleaned up the portfolio of these companies by selling the Pacific Northwest assets of UPN to Ziply Fiber. Both UPN and Segra provide fiber optic communications services to commercial enterprises as well as organizations such as schools, governments, service providers and hyperscalers. Ziply will acquire UPN’s fiber assets, network and customers in Washington, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. The acquisition will add more than 7,000 fiber miles in these states, allowing Ziply to provide both lit and dark fiber services to its commercial customers. Read more.3. NTIA Announces Approval of Eleven States’ Digital Equity Capacity Grant Applications. Update 11/1/2024.  The NTIA approved seven more states’ applications for funding from the Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program this week. The awards come from the first round of the Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program, which made more than $800 million (of the total $1.44 billion State Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program) available to states. Read more. Alabama: $13,702,566Connecticut: $9,183,114Minnesota: $12,033,288New York: $36,984,641Utah: $7,795,149West Virginia: $9,011,588Wisconsin: $13,248,029The NTIA previously approved four states’ applications for funding from the Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program on 10/25/2024. Those four awards were:California: $70,226,453Georgia: $22,455,639Indiana: $15,096,770New Mexico: $8,673,9754. GoNetSpeed Brings 100% Fiber Network to Utica, New York. GoNetspeed announced on 11/4/2024 that residents and businesses throughout the City of Utica can now access 100% fiber internet with service installation officially available in initial construction areas. GoNetspeed’s fully funded $60 million investment will connect more than 38,000 homes and businesses throughout Utica to high-speed 100% fiber internet service with access to symmetrical upload and download speeds. Construction is expected to be complete by the winter of 2025. Currently, Cheektowaga, Depew, Geneva, Newark, Palmyra, Seneca Falls, Waterloo and several more communities throughout the state have access to GoNetspeed’s service. Read more.5. Metronet Brings 100% Fiber Network to Machesney Park, Illinois. Metronet announced its service is officially available in Machesney Park, Illinois. Residents in initial construction areas can sign up for multigigabit speeds up to five gigabits and businesses can tap into speeds up to ten gigabits. Metronet’s Machesney Park construction project began this past May. As it moves from neighborhood to neighborhood, more households and businesses will gain access to the 100% fiber-optic service. Metronet has invested heavily in Illinois, building fiber-optic networks to serve customers in Bloomington-Normal, Dekalb, East Moline, Geneva, Moline, Oswego, Plainfield, Rock Island, St. Charles and more than 30 additional Illinois cities. Read more.6. Race Communications Brings 10G Fiber to Four Markets in California. Race Communications, announced the expansion of its fiber-optic network into four new communities across the state. The cities of Merced, Turlock, Porterville and Atwater are the latest to join the Race Communications’ coverage areas, gaining access to fiber internet in California. Construction is underway to bring service to 82,000 homes and businesses. Some residents will be able to get service in early 2025. Read more.7. Ting Internet announces major layoffs. Ting Internet is being targeted for layoffs by their founding company, Tucows, which has announced plans to slash the company’s workforce by 42 percent. The announcement is part of a Tucows effort to “move towards Ting becoming self-sufficient.” The goal is to turn Ting into a cash-generating venture that can self-sustain growth. Ting was active in sixteen markets as of 2023. Read more.8. Five internet service providers have been awarded millions of dollars for last-mile broadband projects in Tennessee. Over $34 million in last-mile broadband grants have been awarded as part of a $101.6 million funding wave in the second round of Tennesse’s broadband and digital opportunity grants. Five service providers were awarded the funds, which were announced last week by the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (TNECD). Below is a list of the recipients for the latest round of funding. Read more.       Spectrum Southeast      $12,466,143.31 – Serving parts of Carroll, Meigs, Moore, and Roane Counties       Skybest Communications       $5,056,150.54 – Serving parts of Johnson County       United Communications       $8,137,109.73 – Serving parts of Marshall County       Ben Lomand Communications  $4,671,173.00 – Serving parts of Moore County       Comcast Holdings Corporation  $4,211,950.16 – Serving parts of Roane County    Broadband Bytes is a regular feature by David Levine of UCL Swift. David is a graduate of Northern Illinois University, a certified BICSI RCDD,and a 35-year industry veteran in fiber and copper solutions.He currently works as a Business Development Manager for UCL Swift.

Dec 31, 2024

General

Broadband Bytes, December Issue 1

This edition includes more on the impact of the changing political landscape: BEAD, USF, Rip and Replace, M&A forecast looks strong. States start accepting BEAD Applications despite political rumblings.1. Donald Trump’s selection of Brendan Carr for FCC Commissioner could lead to BEAD changes. Carr said the commission will have to have an important discussion about the future of the BEAD program. Carr posted on “X” that “…the $42 billion program for expanding Internet infrastructure (was led) into a thicket of red tape and saddled with progressive policy goals that have nothing to do with quickly connecting Americans…There will be an important discussion about the program’s future, given that the lion’s share of the money has not been spent.” Carr also shared some “starting thoughts” in his post. “DEI requirements? Afuera!” Carr wrote. “Climate change agenda? Afeura! Price controls? Afeura! Technology bias? Afeura!” (Afuera translates to “out”.) Read more.2. Senator Ted Cruz, who will likely become Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, questions much of the Infrastructure Investment law, including BEAD. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) seems to question many things about the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which Congress passed in 2021 with bipartisan support. Last week, Cruz sent two letters to Alan Davidson, who oversees the NTIA. Cruz warned that Congress will review the BEAD program early next year and he alluded to possible changes including getting rid of the preference for fiber; the requirement for an affordable option for low-income recipients; worker-protection guardrails; and climate change assessments. Cruz didn’t vote for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, but it is current law. Any changes will have to be through votes in Congress. Texas recently became the final state of the 56 states and territories to have their BEAD funding approved. Texas received $3.313 billion in BEAD funding, more than any other state. Read more here and here.3. Supreme Court to Consider Universal Service Fund: Panelists Say It is a Good Time to Redesign. The FCC’s Universal Service Fund (USF) continues to be a highly important program for rural homes and businesses in need of broadband connectivity. But its future is in doubt for both financial and legal reasons. The Supreme Court announced on November 22, that it will hear and decide whether the Universal Service Fund is constitutional. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans in July ruled against the entire USF program, saying that its contribution system amounts to an illegal tax. USF collects fees from interstate and international telecommunications carriers, who in turn recoup their cost from consumers. Two other circuit courts of appeals have ruled in the other direction. Participants at the US Telecom Broadband Investment Forum last week were ready for the government and industry to begin considering decisions needed to keep USF going. Some redesign ideas to increase revenue are to require internet providers and “big tech” companies (Amazon, Meta, Alphabet, etc.) to contribute. Another possible USF redesign could see Congress directly appropriating the billions needed annually to sustain the program. Read more. 4. FCC Chair Sounds Alarm on Rip-and-Replace Program. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel wrote an open letter to U.S. Representative Steny Hoyer last week urging action to provide more funding for the rip-and-replace program and warning of the dangers if no action is taken. Rosenworcel—who announced that she will leave the FCC in January when the Trump administration takes power—sounded the alarm for the rip-and-replace program. According to Rosenworcel’s letter, the program, officially known as the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program, is billions of dollars short in funding. “This program to replace insecure equipment in the networks of 126 carriers faces a $3.08 billion shortfall,” wrote Rosenworcel, “putting both our national security and the connectivity of rural consumers who depend on these networks at risk.” Read more.5. Broadband M&A Set to Grow with a Stronger Market and Bundle Opportunities. Merger and acquisition activity in the broadband service sector is poised to pick up due to lower interest rates, moderating labor and equipment costs and national wireless operators’ insatiable appetite for growth. According to a new report from CoBank’s Knowledge Exchange, buyers in the broadband space have expanded beyond cable companies and traditional telecom or pure-play fiber operators. National wireless operators have been actively buying fiber companies for growth and to complement their smartphone service with the new “killer bundle,” a smartphone plan bundled with home internet. “We see M&A interest from wireless operators such as T-Mobile and Verizon as the main catalyst fueling deal activity over the next couple years,” said Jeff Johnston, lead digital infrastructure economist with CoBank. “Wireless networks have less operating leverage compared to fiber networks, so increasing their fiber exposure makes good business sense. And beyond the subscriber bundle benefits, fiber has much better margins than the capital-intensive wireless industry.” Read more.6. Ramping up the BEAD Workforce: 5 Things States, ISPs and Construction Firms Can Be Doing Now. NTIA encourages grantees to act now to ensure workers are on board and trained so that BEAD deployment remains on track. Every state and territory’s BEAD Initial Proposal includes a workforce readiness plan. And so far, more than 25% intend to allocate over $300 million in BEAD funding to support broadband workforce development initiatives. NTIA encourages State Broadband Offices (SBOs)—especially those with remaining BEAD funds after deployment obligations are met—to consider supporting workforce initiatives. To that end, NTIA has outlined a series of steps that SBOs can consider implementing now to get ahead of a potential broadband construction labor shortage. Read more.FUNDING AWARDS1. Yet BEAD still marches on: Georgia and Missouri Accept BEAD Applications: Georgia has begun accepting applications in the BEAD broadband funding program and Missouri plans to do so beginning on 12/5/24. Both states were allotted relatively large amounts of funding for the program. Missouri has $1.3 billion to award and Georgia has $1.7 billion. Georgia’s applications are due by January 15. Missouri’s applications are due February 20. Applicants for both states must qualify to receive funding. In Missouri, the deadline to apply to prequalify is February 5. Read more.2. Washington Accepts BEAD Applications. Washington is the latest state to begin accepting applications in the BEAD broadband funding program. The state has $1.2 billion to award. Applications are due January 31, 2025.  Rules for the BEAD program call for deploying fiber broadband except when cost-prohibitive. Read more.3. Pennsylvania Accepting BEAD Applications. The state of Pennsylvania has begun accepting applications for the BEAD broadband funding program. The state has more than $1.1 billion in BEAD funding to award to cover some of the costs of deployments to unserved and underserved areas of the state. Eligible parties have until January 21 to apply. The state plans to do a second funding round later next year. Read more.4. And other sources of funding still march on: North Carolina Set to Award Millions in Rural Broadband Funding. The state of North Carolina has begun accepting applications for millions of dollars in broadband funding to cover some of the costs of deploying fiber to unserved and underserved rural areas of the state. Funding will come through the Completing Access to Broadband (CAB) Program, which is administered by the North Carolina Department of Information Technology (NCDIT) Division of Broadband and Equity. Applicants must commit to providing matching funds totaling at least 30% of project costs. More than 40 providers are eligible to apply. Read more.5. Internet for All Funding by State/Territory. Read more.    Broadband Bytes is a regular feature by David Levine of UCL Swift. David is a graduate of Northern Illinois University, a certified BICSI RCDD,and a 35-year industry veteran in fiber and copper solutions.He currently works as a Business Development Manager for UCL Swift.

Dec 31, 2024