telecompetitor

Cal.net, a service provider focused on offering fixed wireless access (FWA) and fiber broadband to California’s Central Valley and rural northern California, has a new CEO and new funding.

Consolidated Communications now offers 2 Gbps symmetrical service to more than 3,000 homes and small businesses in parts of rural Maine. The deployment was funded, in part, through money awarded to the company and to the Maine Connectivity Authority. The funding came through the Broadband Infrastructure Program administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

The government funding that Charter has received for rural broadband deployments generates revenue opportunities for the company beyond the funded areas, said Charter CEO Chris Winfrey. He noted that while the company has cited rural internal rates of return (IRR) in the mid- to high teens, “what’s not included in that return is a bunch of other opportunities.” He added that “Now you have the option to extend your footprint even further with new passings” and referred to this phenomenon as “a machine of continuous return.” He noted, for example, that Charter made service available to 145,00

The Federal Communications Commission's update of the National Broadband Map has received considerable criticism.

Fixed wireless access (FWA) generates the least revenue of eight 5G service types studied by professional services giant PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in a 5G revenue analysis. The researchers estimate that FWA service generates just 14 cents of revenue per gigabyte (GB) based on a price of $50 a month. The service type that generates the most revenue per GB, according to the researchers, is internet of things (IoT) connectivity for low-usage plans.