Wireless Telecommunications

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.

Verizon and Amazon's Project Kuiper announced a strategic collaboration to develop connectivity solutions for unserved and underserved communities. Project Kuiper is an initiative to increase global broadband access through a constellation of 3,236 satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) around the planet. The system will serve individual households, as well as schools, hospitals, businesses and other organizations operating in places where internet access is limited or unavailable.

Universal service is the principle that all Americans should have access to essential communications services, like phones and broadband. You may not have heard much about it, but a universal service crisis is right around the corner. Due to Federal Communications Commission inaction, nearly 800,000 people could lose phone service on December 1. On that day, changes in the FCC’s Lifeline program, which provides a modest monthly discount for communications services, mean that voice-only services like a home landline telephone and/or a cellphone will no longer be eligible for the discount.

Australia is backing the purchase of mobile networks in six Pacific countries, a move that foreign-policy experts say is designed to block a military rival from buying the strategically important assets. The government said its export-finance arm agreed to provide $1.33 billion in funding to support the $1.6 billion purchase by Telstra Corp, Australia’s biggest communications provider, of the networks in Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Nauru, Samoa, Tonga, and Vanuatu.

This proposal that would approve Verizon Communications’ acquisition of TracFone Wireless with consumer protection conditions to ensure the proposed acquisition will be in the public interest.

T-Mobile continues to update its network to 5G, but Sprint's 3G network has a few more months before it's taken offline. The carrier originally planned to shut down its antiquated network on Jan. 1, but it appears one of the company's partners needs more time with Sprint's 3G network. The 3G network will stay up until Mach 31, 2022, T-Mobile said.