ISPs Already Fighting FCC Plan To End Anti-Competitive Landlord Broadband Deals

Earlier this month we noted how the FCC announced it would be taking a closer look at the dodgy deals big ISPs make with landlords to hamstring broadband competition. While the FCC passed rules in 2008 outlawing strict exclusivity agreements, big...

Broadband Across The Congo

If you live in much of the world today, high-speed Internet is a solved problem. But there are still places where getting connected presents unique challenges. Alphabet, the company that formed fro…

Data Again Shows That U.S. Broadband Is Painfully Mediocre

For literally twenty-five years we've thrown billions in subsidies, tax breaks, merger approvals, and regulatory favors at U.S. telecom giants in exchange for the promise of amazing, competitive, ultra-fast, widely-available broadband (and oodles...

How California’s Broadband Infrastructure Law Promotes Local Choice

The legislative session has ended and Governor Newsom is expected to sign into law S.B. 4 and A.B. 14, bills that stand as the final piece of the state’s new broadband infrastructure program. With a now- estimated $7.5 billion assembled between...

FCC Will Take A Closer Look At ISP/Landlord Broadband Monopolies

One of the tricks dominant broadband providers use to limit competition is exclusive broadband arrangements with landlords. Often an ISP will strike an exclusive deal with the owner of a building, apartment complex, or development that effectively...

FCC Bungled Broadband Mapping And Subsidies So Badly, It Got Boxed Out Of Broadband Infrastructure Plan

So we've noted for a long time how the FCC's broadband maps are a bit of a joke, routinely overstating broadband competitors, speeds, and service availability. We've also routinely noted how these bad maps go hand in hand with extremely...

California's 'Open Access' Fiber Broadband Plan Is Making Telecom Giants Like AT&T Nervous

Back in 2009, the FCC funded a Harvard study that concluded (pdf) that open access broadband networks (letting multiple ISPs come in and compete over a central, core network) resulted in lower broadband prices and better service in numerous...

Cable's US Broadband Monopoly Continues To Grow

We've noted a few times how US regulators often simply refuse to acknowledge that the US broadband sector is heavily monopolized. Regional cable and phone monopolies are the number one reason US broadband is patchy, expensive, and slow with...

The FCC finally made a new broadband map of the US

It only covers LTE and voice, but it’s a start.

Why Community Broadband Matters

President Joe Biden introduced “The American Jobs Plan,” a $2 trillion infrastructure plan that includes broadband upgrades, on March 31st. “Broadband

FCC Blocks Elon Musk From Getting Millions In Subsidies For Delivering Broadband To Traffic Medians

Late last year consumer group Free Press released a report showing how numerous broadband providers had been gaming the FCC's RDOF (Rural Digital Opportunity Fund) subsidy program to get money they didn't really deserve. The program doles...

Telecom Lobbyists Easily Weakened Language In 'Bipartisan' Broadband Infrastructure Bill

So we've already noted how the broadband component of the "bipartisan compromise" infrastructure bill was still helpful, but much weaker than many wanted it to be (pretty much the common theme across the infrastructure package). While...

After Exploiting Covid Broadband Program, Verizon Faces Unsurprising Opposition To Tracfone Merger

When last we checked in with Verizon, the company had just been caught exploiting the government's Covid broadband relief program to upsell struggling Americans to more expensive plans. Now, as Verizon tries to gain regulatory approval for its...

Millions of UK homes are set for a mega broadband speed upgrade

2.2m rural homes and businesses set to benefit

Broadband Portion Of Bipartisan Infrastructure Plan Appears Watered Down But Still Helpful

As we've noted previously, the broadband component of the Biden infrastructure bill has slowly been whittled down during "bipartisan negotiations." What was first a $100 billion proposal is now a $65 billion proposal, with things...

The Bipartisan Broadband Bill: Good, But It Won’t End the Digital Divide

The U.S. Senate is on the cusp of approving an infrastructure package, which passed a critical first vote last night by 67-32. Negotiations on the final bill are ongoing, but late yesterday NBC News had the draft broadband provisions. There is a...

ISPs Abuse FCC Covid Broadband Discount Program, Showing It's A Band Aid On A Much Bigger Problem

For more than a year the Covid crisis has showcased the essential nature of broadband and the high prices Americans pay due to limited telecom competition. While fixing this competitive logjam has long been a work in progress, the pandemic has...

AT&T Gets Loyal Lawmakers To Push A Broadband Tax For 'Big Tech'

Hoping to capitalize on legitimate animosity against "big tech," AT&T lobbyists and policy makers have been busy recirculating a fifteen-year-old talking point. Namely, that big tech companies should throw billions of dollars at big...

Victory! Californians Can Now Choose Their Broadband Destiny

Today, Governor Newsom signed into law one of the largest state investments in public fiber in the history of the United States. No longer will the state of California simply defer to the whims of AT&T and cable for broadband access. Now, every...

California legislature approves ‘historic’ broadband internet bill

The legislation prioritizes underserved areas