Telecommunication

Consolidated Communications has agreed to be bought for $3.1 billion, including debt, in a take-private deal that will remove the fiber company from the public markets as it grapples with higher interest rates and rising costs. Searchlight Capital Partners, a private-equity firm that already owns more than 34 percent of Consolidated Communications, and British Columbia Investment Management agreed to pay $4.70 a share for the company. The company has faced various challenges as it works to build up its next-generation fiber network.

Overall satisfaction among wireless internet customers (5G or 4G LTE home internet) averages 748 (on a 1,000-point scale), while overall satisfaction among wired (fiber and cable) and satellite internet customers averages notably lower (712 and 577, respectively) according to the J.D. Power 2023 U.S. Residential Internet Service Provider Satisfaction Study.

Comcast announced that it will roll out DOCSIS 4.0 in Colorado Springs in late October and to parts of Atlanta and Philadelphia before the end of 2023. The company claims this is a world first. “Initially, customers subscribing to X-Class Internet plans will use the newest Xfinity Advanced Gateway with a companion modem to deliver multi-gig symmetrical speeds,” said Comcast. “[In 2024], Comcast expects to introduce its first DOCSIS 4.0-capable gateways.” X-Class is a new brand name for its symmetrical internet offerings. Comcast will offer symmetrical speeds up to 2 Gbps.

The 2023 Broadband Pricing Index (BPI), the fourth installment of USTelecom’s annual report, shows continued good news for broadband consumers, including an 18 percent drop year-over-year in the price of providers’ most popular broadband speed tier (Real BPI-Consumer Choice) and a 6.5 percent drop year-over-year in the price of providers’ fastest speed tier (Real BPI-Speed). Even without accounting for inflation, this pricing trend is in direct contrast to the rising cost of overall goods and services, up nearly 5 percent in a similar one-year period.

Two areas in the draft Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Safeguarding and Securing the Open Internet: 

Net neutrality regulations have been dead for years, and they should stay that way. Unfortunately, the Federal Communications Commission has moved to reopen and re-litigate the issue. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has initiated a new rule-making that would enact what are largely the same net neutrality rules tried back in 2016. The law has changed and markets have changed, and yet the arguments for and against net neutrality have largely remained the same.

When Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel unveiled plans to restore net neutrality, she said reinstating the rule would “give the FCC and its national security partners the tools needed to defend our networks from potential security threats.” The rule—which gives the agency broad powers to regulate internet service as a utility, akin to water or electricity—hasn’t historically been invoked fo

Mediacom has completed a fiber-optic network expansion in rural Truesdale (IA), delivering phone plans and download speeds of up to 2 Gbps with a focus on low-cost accessibility. Truesdale is the tenth community that Mediacom, the fifth largest cable operator in the US, has constructed through collaboration with the Empower Iowa Rural Broadband Grant Program. The operator has expanded its fiber network to over 1,400 locations in rural Iowa through that public-private partnership.

Anna Gomez is the newest, and fifth, Commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission. This may allow the FCC to pursue a Democratic agenda to tackle various issues:

The fate of the Universal Service Fund (USF) remains uncertain, as the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held an en banc (before the entire bench) hearing to debate whether the current system is illegal The USF includes four main programs aimed at addressing the digital divide – High Cost, Lifeline, E-Rate (for schools and libraries) and Rural Health Care.