The anticipated end of the Affordable Connectivity Program will bring big competition among broadband internet access service providers for low-income subscribers, according to telecommunications and wireless industry analysts. Multiple BIAS providers are already rolling out new low-cost offerings or pledging to temporarily subsidize ACP subscribers as they seek to capture or keep them. More providers will follow suit, we're told. With the last of its funding, ACP will provide a $14 reimbursement in May rather than the usual $30 (see 2404100082).Read More >>

Republican members of the House and Senate Commerce committees echoed arguments from opponents of the FCC’s draft net neutrality order in a letter to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel ahead of the commission’s expected adoption of the new rules (see 2404190038). The panels’ Republicans are eying a range of potential actions countering the net neutrality bid (see 2404180058). Meanwhile, House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta (Ohio) and 11 other Republicans urged Rosenworcel last Thursday to “leverage all resources at its disposal for a successful 5G Fund that maximizes the reach and effectiveness of the program.”Read More >>

AT&T added 349,000 net postpaid phone customers, which was far better than Wall Street expectations, and saw record low churn in Q1, CEO John Stankey said Wednesday as the carrier reported quarterly results. Stankey apologized for the nationwide wireless outage that hit customers Feb. 22 (see 2402220058). Compared to Verizon, whose shares sunk after it reported results Monday (see 2404220042), AT&T was up 1.88%, closing the day at $16.82.Read More >>

The FCC Media Bureau granted Mission Broadcasting’s application to buy WADL Detroit Michigan from Adell Broadcasting for $75 million, but with a number of conditions that would bar Nexstar from financing the deal, negotiating retransmission consent for WADL and limiting how much programming Nexstar could provide. If Mission doesn’t accept the conditions, the order says, the deal will be designated for a hearing, traditionally seen as a death sentence for transactions. The Media Bureau is “taking the application the FCC received and substituting it for a new one drafted by the agency,” said FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr in a statement: “That’s not the FCC’s job or role.”Read More >>

Representatives from ISPs, trade groups and state governments agreed that the FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund reverse auction process was flawed but disagreed about whether or how the agency should grant amnesty to some RDOF participants. “You should not be penalized for circumstances you could not have foreseen,” said Philip Macres of Klein Law Group, representing a coalition of RDOF participants calling for amnesty during a Broadband Breakfast panel Wednesday. Entities seeking amnesty after failing to meet RDOF obligations are just trying “to game the process,” said Republican Missouri state Representative Louis Riggs. “They treated us like a colony, you know-- extract wealth from us, give us nothing in return.”Read More >>

Carriers worldwide are moving to cloud-native networks in part because they have no choice, experts said Wednesday during a virtual TelecomTV forum on digital support systems. In addition, carriers, they said, increasingly want to work with hyperscalers, the large cloud service providers. Carriers seek access to their expertise.Read More >>

TikTok will challenge the newly approved “unconstitutional” law forcing ByteDance to sell the platform, it said in a statement Wednesday as President Joe Biden signed the measure.Read More >>

Controversy over a broadband bill spilled out into the open at a Louisiana Senate hearing Wednesday. The Senate Commerce Committee deferred the bill for a week as it attempts to resolve cable industry opposition to part of HB-700. That provision would require that Louisiana broadband grant winners collect data for the state broadband office about locations of new broadband infrastructure and “existing water, sewer, or gas infrastructure in the path of excavation funded through” the Granting Unserved Municipalities Broadband Opportunities (GUMBO) program. Lashing out against cable for what he claimed was a “hit piece” against his son, sponsor Rep. Daryl Deshotel (R) nearly spiked his bill. Committee members convinced him not to do so.Read More >>

Congressional Republicans have remained relatively quiet about the FCC’s draft net neutrality order since Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel released it earlier this month (see 2404030043) but are likely to become more active in opposition when the commission adopts it as expected…Read More >>