July 2022

Should higher-than-market rates be allowed on a broadband network that is being subsidized with public funding? Should an agency that awards grants or other broadband subsidies somehow insist that broadband rates are somehow tied to market rates? That’s a lot harder question to answer than you might think because the question implies that these agencies have the power to regulate or cap broadband prices in grant areas. The Ajit Pai Federal Communications Commission voluntarily gave away the right for the FCC to regulate broadband rates when it gave up Title II authority.

Comcast failed to gain broadband subscribers for the first time in its history. Comcast had 32.16 million subscribers at the end of the second quarter, the exact same number it had at the end of the first. The company lost about 10,000 net broadband residential subscribers compared with the first quarter, while it added about 10,000 business-services broadband customers. Despite the broadband-subscriber slowdown, company executives said there have been few broadband customers leaving Comcast. In past quarters, the company has attributed the slowdown to fewer people changing homes.

Commnet Broadband plans to acquire Sacred Wind Enterprises, a move that would unite two broadband providers focused on serving tribal areas. Commnet Broadband, a subsidiary of ATN International, traditionally has focused on the wholesale market in tribal and other rural areas, but more recently has begun expanding its network to serve consumers and businesses directly. Sacred Wind, founded in 2006, provides fixed wireless and fiber broadband to the Navajo Nation and neighboring areas of New Mexico.