Charter Communications and Cox Communications are justifying their planned $34.5 billion combination on flawed premises, a Public Knowledge-led group said in an FCC posting Tuesday (docket 25-233). PK, Communications Workers of America, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society and the Center for Accessible Technology have petitioned to block Charter/Cox (see 2511190049), and the filing was a reply to the Charter and Cox response (see 2512050028)
Neology, which provides a platform for tolling services that uses the 900 MHz band, filed a technical study at the FCC this week challenging arguments by NextNav in support of its proposal to use the spectrum for a “terrestrial complement” to GPS for positioning, navigation and timing (PNT).
Advocates of sharing in the citizens broadband radio service (CBRS) and 6 GHz bands remain concerned that parts of those bands could be reallocated for full-power licensed use, but decisions probably won’t be made for some time, Disruptive Analysis consultant Dean Bubley said Tuesday during a Broadband Breakfast webinar. Bubley and Dave Wright, policy director for Spectrum for the Future, said CBRS offers unique capabilities that many users want and that help the U.S. compete with China.
The U.S. government, CTIA and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce agreed in filings at the U.S. Supreme Court that justices should resolve a circuit split over whether the FCC properly handed down fines against AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile for violating the agency's data privacy rules. AT&T, which won its case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, had also urged SCOTUS to resolve the split (see 2512050055). Briefs were filed last week in docket 25-567.
The subsidized buildout of fiber and fixed wireless access to rural America will start eating into the potential market for SpaceX and Amazon Leo, CCG Consulting's Doug Dawson wrote Thursday. SpaceX's Starlink is notably more expensive than the cost associated with most ISPs building grant-funded networks, and even if it offers a cheaper service it still can't match the speeds of those terrestrial offerings, Dawson said. It remains to be seen whether Starlink and Amazon Leo are fierce competitors, or whether they collude on pricing, he said. Outside the U.S., both will see big competition from China's Guowang and Quinfan constellations, he said. Dawson said it's likely the Chinese offerings will undercut Starlink's and Leo's prices to try to corner the markets in Asia, Africa and South America,
Paramount Skydance announced a hostile takeover bid Monday to buy WBD, offering $30 each for all outstanding shares of the company. The move follows the announcement that Netflix struck an $82.7 billion deal last week to purchase WBD (see 2512050046). One analyst said he sees President Donald Trump's heavy involvement in the fight over WBD as an advantage for Paramount over Netflix.
Wireless ISPs continued to weigh in at the FCC last week to oppose major changes to rules for the citizens broadband radio service band (see 2512010052). Questions remain about the future of the band, with some wireless carriers looking at the spectrum for full-powered licensed use, and others urging higher power levels for some operations (see 2511260031).
AT&T became the latest carrier to reassure FCC Chairman Brendan Carr that it's moving away from any trace of diversity, equity and inclusion in its hiring and other practices. Verizon and T-Mobile previously made similar promises to win favor with the FCC and approval of transactions before the agency. Commissioner Anna Gomez warned AT&T that appeasing President Donald Trump's administration carries reputational risks.
Opensignal is deepening its focus on the consumer experience on wireless networks through the recently launched Global Network Excellence Index, said Sylwia Kechiche, the company’s senior director of industry analysis. “We want to explain that network excellence is not all about speed,” Kechiche said Friday during a Mobile World Live podcast. Opensignal uses a metric called “constant quality,” which measures subscriber experience doing “everyday tasks,” she said. “What we want to bring to the table” is an examination of whether “everyone can participate in the digital economy.” Opensignal wants to simulate “what will happen when you do certain things” online.
Recon Analytics is finding that the frequency with which consumers access and use AI is tied to how they get online, analyst Roger Entner said last week during a Fiber Broadband Association webinar. Among consumers who use satellite or DSL, only about 10% use AI on a daily basis, compared to 28% for fixed wireless access, 32% for cable and 45% for fiber, he said.