Bernie Arnason

TDS revealed 3Q 2020 results and both video and broadband -- specifically fiber broadband -- are leading the charge. Customers are adopting higher speeds and it’s driving revenue growth. About 12% of TDS broadband subscribers now take gigabit service. And over 38% take 100 Mbps or faster service. These higher speeds have pushed broadband ARPU up 5%. TDS now reaches 280K locations with fiber broadband, both in its incumbent territory and in its expansion territories. That translates to 34% coverage of its footprint with FTTP.

Comcast now has over 30 million broadband customers, by far the largest broadband provider in the US. Usually, Comcast’s broadband gains overshadow modest broadband performance at rivals AT&T and Verizon. But broadband growth during COVID-19 is shared. Combined, AT&T and Verizon added nearly 500K fiber broadband subscribers during the third quarter of 2020 -- as Comcast added 633,000 customers. 

AT&T reports it now has 4.7 million fiber subscribers, adding 357K net new fiber subscribers in 3Q 2020, up over 12% from 3Q 2019. AT&T now reports 33% penetration of its fiber homes passed. Verizon reported 139K net adds for consumer Fios fiber subscribers, the most net additions since 4Q 2014. That’s up over 450% from 3Q 2019. Verizon now counts 6.1 million fiber subscribers.

T-Mobile is expanding its fixed wireless markets, bringing the service to 450 additional cities and towns. T-Mobile claims many of those markets are experiencing AT&T’s recent stoppage of new DSL orders, giving impacted subscribers a new option for home broadband. T-Mobile says this fixed wireless markets expansion will reach 20 million people. T-Mobile Home Internet uses 4G LTE-based fixed wireless service to deliver average speeds of 50 Mbps for $50 per month.

The US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved Frontier's bankruptcy plan which will reduce the company’s debt by $10 billion, giving the company what it says it needs to emerge from bankruptcy and position itself for long term growth. Much of the company’s debt was accumulated from high profile acquisitions of Verizon network assets.

Verizon executive Ronan Dunne, group CEO for Verizon Consumer, laid out a vision for Verizon 5G Home that foresees a time when consumers will buy home broadband service in the same way they buy wireless service today. It is just buying another line, or another device in Dunne’s vision, just like consumers do today with their wireless buying habits. “The nature of the line between the wireless business and wireline business is blurring,” said Dunne.

Windstream reported its 1Q 2020 financial results, sharing what it calls record-breaking broadband results. Residential broadband is helping the carrier improve its financial results and will be key to its future as the carrier emerges from bankruptcy later in 2020. Windstream added a net 18K broadband subscribers in 1Q 2020, its highest ever quarterly result in new net broadband adds. Importantly, demand for broadband has increased during the pandemic, Windstream reported, with 10K of these net broadband adds occurring in March 2020 alone.

The CARES Act, which addresses the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, has allocated an additional $100 million towards the US Department of Agriculture ReConnect rural broadband funding program. USDA has announced that denied ReConnect grant applicants can now reapply for this new funding with priority access. The additional funding has been allocated as grants to rural broadband providers to “…prevent, prepare for, and respond to the coronavirus.” USDA is setting this $100 million aside, making it available until September 30, 2021.

A Cincinnati Bell, Butler Rural Electric Cooperative partnership will expand fiber broadband to parts of rural Ohio. The deal highlights the potential growing interest in telco electric partnerships for rural broadband. The Cincinnati Bell, Butler Rural Electric partnership will initially bring Cincy Bell’s Fioptics fiber broadband service to approximately 2,000 Butler Electric members, beginning in late 2020. The offering will include 1 Gig service, home phone, whole-home Wi-Fi, and internet security.

A CenturyLink fiber expansion plan will see the carrier add 4.7 million miles of fiber across the US and Europe, creating what the company calls the “largest ultra-low-loss fiber network in North America.” CenturyLink reports the first phase of this construction was completed in June, comprising 3.5 million miles of fiber, creating an expansive US inter-city network. The global carrier was able to leverage existing multi-conduit infrastructure for this first phase, connecting more than 50 US.