Wireless Telecommunications

The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet Authority) is evolving and expanding FirstNet, the nationwide public safety broadband network, through strategic network investments. At a special Board meeting, the FirstNet Authority Board took action to increase coverage on the network and accelerate FirstNet’s transition to a full 5G network. This network investment follows completion of the five-year initial buildout by the FirstNet Authority’s network contractor, AT&T.

Based on conversations I've had with some of my peers, I have to ask: will fixed wireless access (FWA) peak soon? Every person I've asked has dismissed FWA wireless as a temporary technology with no real long-term legs. My peers say that FWA is already oversubscribed, cell towers aren't designed to handle all-day broadband connections, and that the service is just not good enough. Interestingly, the numbers seem to be telling a different story: T-Mobile and Verizon predict they will collectively reach 15 million FWA customers.

Comcast lost 34,000 broadband customers across consumer and business channels in the fourth quarter and bled 64,000 subscribers for the full 2023, results that might have tanked the cable company's stock in previous quarters. But the company’s shares are up nearly 4 percent. Sure, good news from theme parks and streaming platform Peacock have a lot to do with that.

I work with a lot of internet service providers that own rural fiber. Some owners have been successful in providing fiber to the cell sites located near their networks.  A few sell directly to a cellular carrier, but most of these connections are sold to an intermediate carrier that bundles together cellular connections across a large geographic area. This has been good business, but now I’m hearing about requests from cellular companies or intermediate carriers to increase bandwidth at cell sites.

The availability of high-speed internet has become one of the driving factors in attracting new residents to settle in the Monadnock region, giving some towns a competitive advantage for people who work or attend school remotely. Rebecca Morse, broker for RE/MAX Town Square in New Ipswich, said towns with lower internet services are generally less desirable, though not entirely off the table to most buyers, unless they have specific work-from-home needs.

Comcast Corporation reported results for the 4th quarter that ended December 31, 2023. Growth in residential connectivity revenue was driven by international connectivity revenue due to increases in wireless revenue, reflecting higher sales of wireless devices and services, and in broadband revenue, as well as the positive impact of foreign currency; domestic broadband revenue due to higher average rates; and domestic wireless revenue due to an increase in the number of customer lines.

Over the past year America’s spectrum policy faced an unprecedented set of challenges that jeopardize America’s 5G leadership and Americans’ ability to reap all of the economic and geopolitical benefits of a dynamic mobile broadband network and the ecosystems it supports. To overcome those challenges, 2024 must be a year of action for US policymakers if we are to maintain our global competitiveness, meet rapidly increasing consumer demand, and drive the innovation and growth we all want in the United States. Specifically, America’s wireless future hinges on:

The Federal Communications Commission updated its rules, and proposed additional updates, to improve communications network reliability, resiliency, and transparency during disasters and outages. The rule changes will increase participation in, and enhance the use of, the FCC’s Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS), in which service providers report on their operational status during emergencies. Certain types of communications providers are required to report network outages to the FCC’s Network Outage Reporting System (NORS) on an ongoing basis.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted rules to more precisely route wireless 911 calls and Real-Time Texts (RTT) to 911 call centers, which can result in faster response times during emergencies and ultimately save lives. Wireless 911 calls have historically been routed to 911 call centers based on the location of the cell tower that handles the call. But in some cases, the nearest cell tower may be in a neighboring jurisdiction. In these cases, the call may be routed to a 911 call center in that neighboring jurisdiction, not the call center that serves the caller’s location.

AT&T delivered strong fourth-quarter and full-year results highlighted by profitable 5G and AT&T Fiber subscriber gains. AT&T Fiber had 273,000 net adds in the fourth quarter and 1.1 million net adds for the full-year.