Greenlight Networks, a fiber-to-the-home provider in New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland, announced an agreement this week to acquire Pennsylvania-based FastBridge Fiber. The transaction is projected to close in mid-2026. The announcement follows Greenlight’s recent acquisition of Scranton, Pennsylvania-based Loop Internet and “builds on the company’s broader growth strategy,” a news release said. In April, Greenlight announced its expansion into Pennsylvania. The latest deal “not only positions us to accelerate our ability to serve more communities in Pennsylvania, but it also adds to our scale in Buffalo,” said Greenlight CEO Mark Murphy.
Other providers of incarcerated people's communications services joined Inmate Calling Solutions in filing their annual prison-calling reports at the FCC and seeking to have the data redacted for competitive reasons (see 2511030027). Among the filings posted this week in docket 23-62 were reports from Securus Technologies, Pay Tel Communications, Combined Public Communications and Smart Communications.
The FCC’s order to revise incarcerated people’s communications services (IPCS) rates on an interim basis, approved by commissioners 2-1 last week (see 2510280045), will “hike prices by as much as 83% compared to the rates announced last year,” the Prison Policy Initiative said Tuesday. “Ultimately, these higher rate caps further burden incarcerated people and their families, while lining the pockets of companies and facilities.”
HTDNet urged caution as the FCC considers what steps it should take to close a “gap” in its Stir/Shaken authentication rules (see 2507170032). In a filing posted last week in docket 17-59, the carrier described itself as a small, Virginia-based provider that offers “business-class VoIP, network and IT solutions” to other companies. As a provider "that relies on upstream carriers for network interconnection, we respectfully urge the Commission to ensure that new rules remain proportionate, technically feasible, and economically sustainable for small and mid-sized VoIP providers," it said.
Inmate Calling Solutions filed its annual prison-calling report at the FCC on Friday in docket 23-62, but all relevant data was redacted for competitive reasons, it said. “Public release of this information could significantly damage ICSolutions’ competitive position by divulging the Company’s proprietary contract and subcontractor information,” it said. “This data represents a disclosure of internal business processes or arrangements that could help a competitor understand ICSolutions’ management of its operating costs or strategic plans and thereby adversely affect its competitive advantage.”
Comments are due Nov. 26, replies Dec. 26, on the submarine cable Further NPRM that FCC commissioners adopted Aug. 7 (see 2508070037), the agency said Tuesday (docket 24-523). The NPRM proposes that submarine cable applications that meet certain security standards should be exempted from license reviews by the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the U.S. Telecommunications Services Sector. Rules in the subsea cable order that accompanied the FNPRM also take effect Nov. 26, the agency said.
Verizon and holding company Tillman Global have signed a deal that will see Tillman's Eaton Fiber build out fiber to homes and markets outside of Verizon's current Fios service. Verizon said Monday that Eaton will fund and build the network and oversee its maintenance, while Verizon will handle sales, marketing and end-user customer service. Verizon Consumer CEO Sowmyanarayan Sampath said the partnership "allows us to rapidly enter new markets, accelerate deployment speed and ensure we maintain the necessary flexibility to capture growth opportunities across the country.”
An array of faith-based organizations are lobbying the FCC's 10th floor to get it to reverse or alter course on the prison-calling draft order and Further NPRM that are before commissioners. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr circulated the draft order earlier this month (see 2510070044), proposing to change the agency's rate-cap-setting methodology and include security and surveillance costs in the rates. "Deeply held Catholic beliefs show that the lowest possible rates should be offered to families and incarcerated people," the faith groups said in a docket 23-62 filing posted Friday to recap meetings with FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty and staffers for Carr and Commissioner Anna Gomez.
Fiber operator Bluespeak, formerly Vast Broadband, said Monday it had upgraded speeds for more than 25,000 South Dakota and Minnesota customers for free, giving them a minimum of 300 Mbps. The company is moving toward multi-gig options in the near future, it added.
Plaintiffs' attempt to bring yet another amended complaint related to AT&T's ownership of old cables with lead contamination is a "brazen attempt to skirt the Rules," the carrier told the U.S. District Court for Northern Texas last week (docket 3:24-cv-01196). In an emergency motion to strike, AT&T said the amended class-action securities fraud complaint is an attempt to avoid responding to its pending motion to dismiss (see 2509170009). The amended complaint was filed earlier last week. Typically, plaintiffs get to amend their complaint once, and the third filing "flouts that rule," AT&T said. The company is being sued for allegedly having made “materially false and misleading statements” about its ownership of legacy telecom cables with toxic lead.