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Broadband Bytes, February Issue 2

1. NTIA Finalizes BEAD ‘Buy America’ Waivers. With the waiver now finalized, the NTIA is waiving a program requirement that certain electronics and equipment used in broadband projects funded by the BEAD program be domestically sourced in the United States. Read more2. USDA Extends ReConnect Round 5 Application Deadline. The Department of Agriculture extended by 30 days the deadline to submit applications for the fifth round of the ReConnect rural broadband funding program, by pushing the deadline to May 21. Beginning March 22, internet service providers, state and local governments, rural electric cooperatives, and other eligible entities will have 60 days to apply for loans up to $50 million or grants up to $25 million to support broadband infrastructure initiatives in rural areas. The funding from USDA’s ReConnect Loan and Grant Program will amount to $700 million if all available money is fully utilized.3. Charter potentially eyes a merger with Altice USA. Looks like Charter might be eyeing a takeover of fellow cable rival Altice USA. Sources told Bloomberg that Charter is working with financial advisors to determine if it makes sense to buy Altice. But there’s no telling if Charter would go through with the plan. Both Altice and Charter declined to comment. However, according to New Street Research’s Jonathan Chaplin, a Charter-Altice merger makes sense given their respective footprints. Read more4. FCC Urged to Grant Amnesty for RDOF Recipients Nearly 70 broadband experts, internet service providers, state and local officials, and nonprofits jointly urged the Federal Communications Commission Wednesday to grant limited amnesty to RDOF recipients so that those communities are eligible to receive BEAD funding.As outlined by the guidelines of the $42.5-billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment federal initiative aimed at expanding high-speed internet access, communities that have previously obtained grants from other federal broadband initiatives, including the FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunities Fund and Connect America Fund II, are ineligible from accessing any portion of the funding allocated under BEAD.5. Alabama is getting a major open-access fiber boost via private investment. Meridiam, an infrastructure investment firm, is kicking off a $230 million project to build an open-access network that will reach 17 Alabama cities, including Selma and Demopolis. 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.

Apr 01, 2024

General

Broadband Bytes, March Issue

This edition of Broadband Bytes includes articles on fiber penetration in the U.S. market, a new definition of broadband speeds, RDOF, and the impact on BEAD, municipal broadband, and broadband “nutrition” labels.1. Fiber now passes about 51.1% of US households, and fixed wireless access continues to make inroads. But cable is still the top tech for delivering broadband. Fiber network deployments have reached a milestone as they now pass more than 50% of US households, according to recent data from the Fiber Broadband Association and RVA Market Research and Consulting…fiber lines now pass nearly 78 million U.S. homes, up 13% from a year ago. Read more2. After nearly a decade, the FCC is finally raising the bar with a new definition for broadband of 100/20 Mbps. The upgraded definition for fixed broadband service could influence billions in federal and state broadband funding…and marks a substantial departure from its old benchmark of 25/3 Mbps, set in 2015. Read more3. The German news outlet Handelblattis reported that T-Mobile is about to enter a joint venture with Lumos Networks to build fiber networks in the U.S. T-Mobile would invest at least $1 billion in the joint venture (JV), according to Handelsbatt’s sources at T-Mobile’s parent company Deutsche Telekom. Initially, the JV plans to build fiber-optic connections in Virginia. Read more4. RDOF defaulters hinder state BEAD programs. There is a lot of talk about how the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) might make a mess of things with the Broadband Equity, Access & Deployment (BEAD) program. That’s because if a location is covered by an RDOF award, then it’s ineligible for a BEAD grant. Read moreUnfortunately, many RDOF awardees have officially defaulted on their obligations to build fiber, or they just haven’t made any progress in deploying the fiber. As a result, the locations that were supposed to be covered by RDOF could be left empty-handed. Read more5. Altice USA has joined a growing list of companies that have told the FCC they will not deploy high-speed broadband to areas for which they won funding in the 2020 Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auction. The company said it will relinquish 18 census block groups in Louisiana. Altice already had deployed service in parts of the area for which it won funding.The company said in a letter to the FCC that it was making the move to ensure that remaining unserved areas would be eligible to receive funding to receive symmetrical gigabit service through federal programs such as the BEAD program. Read more6. Municipalities can apply for BEAD. Will it matter? Despite (those opposed to) public broadband, municipalities will be allowed to vie for money from the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. Whether they’ll win BEAD grants or even bother trying, however, is still anyone’s guess… Public networks have seen opposition from incumbent providers and political adversaries. According to Broadband Now, 16 states have legislation that either restricts municipal broadband or bars it entirely. Read more7. And here is a municipal public broadband success story: Longmont Colorado Municipal Network Now Connects Customers Outside the City. Longmont’s fiber-optic internet service NextLight has now…expanded to serve customers beyond the Longmont city limits.When Longmont residents first voted in 2011 to let Longmont provide municipal internet service, the ballot issue allowed it to be built anywhere in the Longmont Power & Communications electric service area, which included some outlying neighborhoods. However, the bond issue that funded the initial build from 2014-2017 could only be used for construction within Longmont city limits. Colorado widened the potential options for growth in 2023 when it repealed the state’s restrictions on municipal broadband, allowing communities to explore all their choices and permitting municipal networks like NextLight to grow without being limited to a particular service footprint.  Read more8. The FCC’s new broadband ‘nutrition’ labels are designed to inject clarity into the often confusing process of shopping for broadband. As previously reported, The FCC has introduced a new regulatory requirement for internet service providers (ISPs) to display “broadband nutrition labels.” The initiative is a key component of the wider Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and mirrors the concept of nutrition labels on food products, providing a standardized format for ISPs to present critical information about their broadband services.The labels aim to enhance transparency and promote fair competition. ISPs with more than 100,000 subscriber lines are required to comply with the new labeling regulations by April 10, 2024. Smaller ISPs have a slightly extended timeline, with a compliance deadline set for Oct. 10, 2024. 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.

Apr 11, 2024