Fierce

Infinera will join the Build America, Buy America (BABA) movement by bringing semiconductor component manufacturing to the US. Infinera is joining a cohort of equipment providers that have onshored operations as the industry prepares for $42.5 billion in Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funding. To help operators comply with the BEAD's BABA requirements, Infinera will leverage its optical compound semiconductor facility in California and testing and packaging facility in Pennsylvania.

The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is a huge factor in the prepaid ecosystem. In the coming years, the two top sources of funding for this ecosystem will be the Total by Verizon store rollout and the ACP.

Midco is a midwestern service provider that offers broadband via hybrid fiber coax (HFC), fiber-to-the-home, and fixed wireless access (FWA). The company serves 490,000 homes and businesses in 400 communities in Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Midco is doing greenfield fiber-to-the-premise (FTTP) builds in new communities and to large multi-dwelling units. But in brownfields, it’s doing a mix, adding fiber deeper into neighborhoods, but also upgrading its cable plant.

In rural areas, many large internet service providers (ISP) offer voice-over-IP. Nathan Smith, Director of Economics and Policy at Connected Nation said, “It’s likely that a lot of [Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD)] sub-grantees will add voice for an additional revenue stream." However, the BEAD Notice of Funding Opportunity does not require grant applicants to offer voice service, though the actual grants will be made by state governments who set their own rules. Ciena’s Solutions Marketing Senior Adviser Vinicius Santos expects some state broadband offices to ask applicants

Frontier Communications CEO Nick Jeffery said the company's fiber securitization will give it funding through the end of its target year of 2025, and a “very clear path” to hit 10 million fiber passings. In August, Frontier closed its fiber securitization notes offering as part of a $2.1 billion financing, a significant jump from its initial goal of raising $1.05 billion.

Fallout continues from the Wall Street Journal’s investigative journalism exposé that showed telecommunications companies in the US have left behind a massive network of copper cables covered in toxic lead. AT&T CEO John Stankey said “there is no public health crisis” to worry about, citing the release of lead test results by AT&T, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the state of New York.

Despite the cable mobile virtual network operators' (MVNO's) success with bundled offerings and heavily discounted wireless service plans, don’t expect Verizon to follow suit. Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg dismissed the cable MVNO's strategy of offering free or discounted wireless service plans when bundled with broadband. “Lowballing and discounting won’t help us,” he said, adding that the company recently ended its $25/month discounted pricing for its 5G Home fixed wireless access offering.

Mobile operators are spending less on their 5G buildouts, but that doesn’t mean that the 5G deployment phase is over. Executives at the big-three tower companies —American Tower, Crown Castle, and SBA Communications — said that the tower leasing business is still thriving because mobile operators are still expanding their 5G networks, particularly in their mid-band spectrum, where much of the 5G traffic will be carried. Along with that mid-band expansion, operators are starting to densify their networks with small cells, particularly

The Federal Communications Commission released the funding structure for its Enhanced Alternative Connect America Model (A-CAM) program. With the new offer, existing A-CAM program carriers and carriers that are still receiving legacy support will be funded for the deployment of voice and broadband-capable networks in their operating regions. NTCA – The Rural Broadband Association's Executive Vice President, Mike Romano, said that as a result of the FCC’s new offers, NTCA members have more options to deliver on a mission of universal connectivity. Meanwhile, NCTA – The Internet & Televis

Vodafone’s announcement that it has formed a partnership with Project Kuiper, Amazon’s low Earth orbit satellite (LEO) communications initiative, joins a growing list of operator tie-ups with satellite service providers to solve backhaul and rural connectivity challenges. Vodafone and its African Vodacom group plan to use Project Kuiper’s network to extend the reach of 4G and 5G services to more of their customers in Europe and Africa, serving areas that “may otherwi