The cable industry and local franchise authorities are at odds over the mixed-use rule, with both sides presenting conflicting takes in FCC lobbying last week. LFA arguments that the mixed-use rule doesn't follow the law and should be repealed (see 2401080032) are incorrect, NCTA said Thursday in docket 05-311. It said the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the FCC rule, "finding that the statutory interpretation embodied in the rule is compelled by the plain and unambiguous language." NCTA said the LFAs' argument that only the cost of an LFA's use of an institutional network -- and not the cost of the network's construction -- counts toward the 5% cap on cable franchise fees also runs contrary to the 6th Circuit decision. LFAs including Los Angeles County, Dallas and Boston in the docket recapped a meeting with Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel's office when they urged that the agency remand its 2019 LFA order that was subject of the 6th Circuit decision so that FCC rules don't "continue to misrepresent the state of the law, leading to confusion and opportunities for obfuscation."
Echoing its decision on a Verizon complaint (see 2401310009), the Better Business Bureau's National Advertising Review Board sided with T-Mobile against Comcast advertising. The board said Monday that, as with Verizon, it agreed with T-Mobile that Comcast's use of "10G" in its Xfinity 10G Network product name and description was misleading.
Eighty-six percent of consumers who recently obtained high-speed internet service say the service has improved their lives, Cox Communications said Thursday. Pointing to a poll done in December of 551 high-speed internet customers in new market areas previously considered unversed or underserved, Cox said 62% of respondents’ reported improved access to online jobs and remote work.
Comcast should drop "10G" from the name of its Xfinity 10G Network, the Better Business Bureau's National Advertising Review Board recommended Wednesday. The board upheld a Comcast-appealed decision by BBB's National Advertising Division against the use of "10G." The board said using 10G, which Verizon challenged, "expressly communicates ... that users of the Xfinity network will experience significantly faster speeds than are available on 5G networks," but there's no data comparing Xfinity network speeds with speeds 5G network subscribers experience. The board said Comcast agreed to modify its advertising.
Charter Communications joined the Automotive Edge Computing Consortium, the connected car group said last week. AECC said Charter will work with consortium members on meeting the "increasing high-bandwidth, high-speed connectivity demands of connected vehicles."
As part of Charter Communications' purchase of CCI Systems, the two companies are seeking FCC approval for a transfer of assets. In an application Friday, the companies said the deal covers CCI's Astrea cable, telecom and internet operations, brand and customers in more than 60 rural communities in Wisconsin and northern Michigan.
Peacock subscribers were up and residential broadband customers slightly down in Q4, Comcast said Friday as it announced its Q4 2023 results. In a call with analysts, President Mike Cavanagh said that while Comcast hopes to see renewed funding of the Affordable Connectivity Program, the company has begun communicating with its 1.4 million ACP participants and "will provide a range of options" if funding is discontinued. Revenue for the quarter was $31.3 billion, up 2.3% year over year, Comcast said. It added that during 2023, its network grew, passing an additional 1.1 million homes and businesses. It now has 62.5 million passings. Cavanagh said Comcast should be "at or above" that level in 2024. Comcast said it started rolling out multi-gig symmetrical speeds in some markets in Q4, and deployed mid-split technology to 35% of its footprint as of the end of the year as a route to faster broadband speeds. Chief Financial Officer Jason Armstrong said mid-split deployments should be across 50% of its network by year's end. Peacock ended the year with 31 million subscribers, adding 3 million in Q4, Comcast said. It said Peacock revenue for the quarter topped $1 billion, up 47%. Comcast ended the year with 29.7 million residential broadband subs, down slightly from 29.8 million in Q4 2022, and 6.6 million wireless lines, up from 5.3 million at 2022’s end. It ended Q4 with 14.1 million video subs, down 2 million year over year. Cavanagh said broadband competition "is likely to remain at these levels" for now; however, broadband remains "a very large, healthy and profitable market." LightShed’s Walt Piecyk posted on X that broadband subscriber trends aren’t likely to change soon, with revenue growth from price hikes instead. Asked about Comcast's participation in NTIA's broadband equity, access and deployment program, Comcast Cable CEO Dave Watson said the company "plan[s] to participate where it is consistent with our business goals," but the BEAD process "is still in flux." He said Comcast is looking at wireless/broadband bundled packages as a route to further wireless growth.
The National Content and Technology Cooperative signed a deal with AI services provider Actifai that will give NCTC members access to the Actifai platform and its e-commerce and call center software products, NCTC said Tuesday.
State and local interests continue to press for repeal of the cable mixed-use rules. According to a filing Friday in docket 05-311 recapping a meeting with FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks' office, the state and local interests also advocated for a ruling that cable franchise obligation compensation must be for marginal cost, not fair market value. The local and state interests -- including Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles County, Hawaii and the National League of Cities -- this month had a similar meeting with Commissioner Anna Gomez's office (see [Re:2401080032]).
Expect to see Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 adopted this year, driven by increased demand for newer generation Wi-Fi networks, NCTA Chief Technology Officer Rikin Thakker said Wednesday. Also driving popularity of Wi-Fi 6E/7 will be their ability to use 6 GHz band spectrum, particularly as more countries open up the band, he said. Thakker said more cable operators will upgrade plants to DOCSIS 4.0 in 2024 as they move to multi-gig speeds. He expects some will deploy extended DOCSIS 3.1 as a precursor to end-to-end DOCSIS 4.0. He also said NTIA's National Spectrum Implementation Plan will set out strategies for bands of importance to cable -- 3.1-3.45 GHz, 7.125-8.4 GHz and 37-37.6 GHz.