Fierce

Altice USA followed rival AT&T in hiking service costs for consumers, raising internet pricing by $10 per month for new customers and also bumping up promotional rates for TV and phone service. An Altice representative stated the change applies to promotional rates for new customers rather than the monthly cost for existing customers, and said rates will vary by market.

The hits just keep coming for LTD Broadband. The Minnesota Telecom Alliance renewed an effort to block the operator from receiving millions in federal funding to deploy broadband in Minnesota, arguing LTD lacks the technical, managerial and financial capabilities needed to deliver the promised coverage. At issue is the $311 million in support LTD Broadband won in the Federal Communications Commission’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auction in 2020 to cover 102,000 residents in Minnesota.

When the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Phase I auction was held in 2020, there was no way the Federal Communications Commission could have known that Congress would invest heavily in achieving universal broadband coverage a few years later, according to New Street Research analyst Blair Levin. But once Congress passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), it was clear there would be tension between the two efforts, he said.

Experts from three key industry and worker groups dished on what they view as the key hits and misses in the US government’s broadband policy after the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) issued rules that will guide the distribution of $45 billion in funding for network rollouts. Among other things, they spotlighted a focus on fiber, secure networks, state planning grants and workforce provisions.