Wireless Telecommunications

Amazon’s ambitious satellite-internet project, Project Kuiper, aims to launch its first two prototype satellites in the fourth quarter of 2022 according to an experimental launch license filed with the Federal Communications Commission. Called KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2, the two prototypes are supposed to launch on an experimental new rocket called the RS1, currently being developed by startup ABL Space Systems based in El Segundo (CA).

President Joe Biden‘s $1.7 trillion-plus Build Back Better legislative package has more than $1 billion for various better broadband building programs. According to a draft copy of the framework unveiled October 28, it includes:

Regional US operator Shenandoah Telecommunications (Shentel) kicked its fiber plans into high gear, raising its expansion target by 50 percent and aiming to reach 450,000 serviceable addresses by 2026. At the same time, however, the operator said it would pause further expansion of its Beam Internet fixed wireless access service. Shentel CEO Chris French cited “strong momentum” behind its Glo Fiber product's business development, construction and sales as driving factors for the move.

Private wireless networks are poised to play an important role on the nation’s farms, potentially creating opportunities for rural network operators. A deal between computing provider Trilogy Networks and Inland Cellular aims to provide farm-wide coverage and address connectivity as an obstacle to the adoption of precision agriculture. It calls for Inland Cellular to offer private wireless to farms in its service area in the northwestern US to blanket the farm with wireless coverage.

The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau granted twenty additional 2.5 GHz spectrum licenses to serve Alaskan Native communities. To date, 292 applications received through 2020’s FCC Rural Tribal Priority Window have been granted, paving the way for new advanced wireless services – including wireless broadband – for underserved rural Tribal communities. In Alaska, 99 applications have now been granted.

Access to reliable connectivity causes a divide between youth who have access and those who do not. Currently, 35 percent of low-income households lack any access to broadband service at home. This leads to an issue known as the “homework gap” among students who lack proper internet access. To close this gap, UScellular has launched the After School Access Project, a program that provides free mobile hotspots and service to nonprofits that support youth after the school day has ended and provides safe internet access for homework and education.

The state of broadband in the US’s farmlands is a mixture of the good, the bad, and the apprehensive. The good: successes and advancements brought on by broadband and various digital technologies. The bad: many farms still have to rely on pitifully weak technologies such as satellite and DSL. The cloud of apprehension: we spend $6 billion in broadband grants yearly with surprisingly little to show for it, and yet we’re ready to do it again next year.

Comcast raked in 300,000 broadband net additions in Q3 2021, a figure that was less than half the number it added in 2020 and lower than the pre-pandemic gain it posted in the comparable period of 2019. The operator added 633,000 subscribers during the pandemic in Q3 2020 and 379,000 broadband customers in Q3 2019. Comcast CFO Michael Cavanagh previously warned that the operator expected net additions to slow in Q3.

Dish Network, which is in the process of building a fourth nationwide US wireless network, has enlisted the help of Helium to extend 5G signals through customers’ hotspots. The plan calls for customers to install transmitters in their homes or offices. These devices work on unlicensed 5G airwaves and customers will be paid in cryptocurrency to host the hotspots. Dish is under pressure to build a next-generation 5G network using its arsenal of airwave licenses that carry a use-or-lose requirement.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) just announced plans to unleash more than $1 billion in fresh funding for rural broadband via its Broadband ReConnect Program, but not everyone is rejoicing. Claude Aiken, CEO of the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA), warned new rules adopted for the latest funding round could effectively cut fixed wireless access providers out of the running.