[00:00:04] Hello and welcome. You're listening to the Broadband Exchange, the podcast from your friends at telecompetitor. I'm Ian Descher, Pivot's Director of Media and Story and Managing Editor of telecompetitor. It's time to review this week's broadband news. Let's get into it. We'll start with a significant FCC decision involving SpaceX. The commission authorized the company to deploy and operate a new constellation of 15,000 satellites designed to communicate directly with mobile devices.
[00:00:31] SpaceX's planned system is separate from the company's familiar satellite home broadband network and represents a substantial expansion of its direct to device ambitions. The new satellites would operate in nine orbital shells just 326 to 335 kilometers above Earth, much lower than the main Starlink broadband constellation. The authorization covers direct to device service using mobile satellite spectrum and supplemental coverage from space.
[00:00:57] Some requests were deferred and the use of certain spectrum being acquired from EchoStar remains subject to conditions including completion of the spectrum transfer. This will be a long term buildout. Under the FCC's schedule, SpaceX must deploy at least half of the authorized constellation by October 2032 and complete it by October 2035. The decision gives SpaceX a regulatory path to much greater satellite to phone capacity.
[00:01:22] SpaceX also made news last week with a different approach to selling Starlink connectivity. The company is seeking community hosts who would install Starlink equipment and sell short term Internet passes to people nearby. The proposed model offers hourly, daily, weekly and monthly passes. The first three options cover one device, while the monthly option can cover as many as four. Starlink would manage payments, user access and connectivity, and hosts would handle installation and earn revenue from connections. There are no prices listed on the Starlink site yet, and the program's broader launch remains uncertain.
[00:01:56] Still, the idea is notable for rural markets. Rather than requiring every household to buy its own kit and subscription, Starlink is exploring pay as you go access through local hosts. Staying with wireless New research from Ookla offered a reminder that a newer network technology doesn't automatically produce a better customer experience.
[00:02:14] Ookla compared call Setup performance for 5G voiceover, new radio and 4G V LTE.
[00:02:21] Among eight operators examined, only six connected calls faster using VonR, and for some operators, the slowest 5% of VonR calls took considerably longer than their 4G equivalents. Ookla's conclusion was that VONR performance depends on how well the network is implemented and optimized. They noted that for consumers, the test is simple. When they make a call, how quickly does it connect and does it stay connected now to broadband marketing, where T Mobile fiber largely prevailed in an advertising challenge brought by Charter Communications, the National Advertising Division reviewed comparisons between T Mobile's fiber service and traditional cable Internet. It found support for claims involving upload speeds and latency, as well as certain peak hour performance and future proofing messages. But there was an exception. T Mobile had encouraged customers to break free from big cable contracts.
[00:03:12] The National Advertising Division said that wording could misleadingly suggest that large cable providers, including Charters Spectrum, generally require long term contracts or impose early termination fees.
[00:03:24] It recommended that T Mobile modify the message, and T Mobile said it would comply. I always find these decisions interesting because they draw helpful lines around what you should or shouldn't be saying in your marketing, especially when it comes to talking about a competitor's business practices.
[00:03:38] Moving along Customer experience was the focus of new research from Parks Associate conducted in partnership with techsea. The researchers found that customers dealing with WI fi dead spots, slow downloads and poor customer service were about six times more likely to consider changing providers than than customers without those problems. 43% of people experiencing all three issues said they were likely to switch within a year, compared with just 7% among those without them. The study drew on surveys of 8,000 U.S. internet households. It also found that home networking support tools remain underused.
[00:04:13] Only about 7% of households used a router or gateway app to contact support. While many smart home device owners reported connectivity problems, Park's associates pointed to visual AI support tools that can help identify problems such as poor router placement without immediately sending a technician, the research concluded what we all A provider can deliver plenty of bandwidth to a house and still lose the customer if the WI fi experience inside that house is frustrating.
[00:04:39] Cybersecurity offers another possible point of differentiation for customers, according to research presented by STL Partners. In a survey of more than 900 consumers in the United States and Europe, 85% that cybersecurity made a broadband offering more appealing. Yet only about one in 10 currently buys cybersecurity services from their broadband provider. The messages that resonated best focused on the outcome automatic protection from scams, fraud and malware. Technical explanations and references to AI were less persuasive. And while some consumers were willing to pay extra, many expected security to be part of the broadband package. Of course, the threats behind those services are real. Comcast Business released its annual Cybersecurity threat report, analyzing 79.3 billion security events detected across its customers over a 12 month period ending in February. The report found that attackers are using AI to develop and launch attacks faster, even when the underlying techniques are familiar. Phishing accounted for 25.4 billion events, while drive by compromise accounted for another 21.9 billion. Comcast also identified stolen identities and credentials as a major problem. Attackers can log in as legitimate users rather than trying to break through the network perimeter and compromised routers, cameras and other devices can become part of proxy networks that disguise malicious traffic. The research also highlighted risks involving non human identities, including AI agents and application programming interfaces, or APIs, which can have extensive permissions for providers and their business customers. Identity controls and close attention to unusual behavior are increasingly important parts of security.
[00:06:18] Turning to broadband construction, a new analysis estimated the considerable workload Bede fiber projects could create for the nation's 811 utility locate system. Researchers with the Advanced Communications Law and Policy Institute estimated that Bede projects will deploy nearly 272,000 miles of buried fiber. That represents about 58% of the fiber miles associated with the program.
[00:06:41] Before crews dig, they need utility locates to avoid damaging existing underground infrastructure. The analysis estimated that Bede construction will generate about 1.4 million locate tickets. Since each ticket can require notifications to several utilities, that translates to roughly 8.1 million individual facility locates.
[00:07:00] About two thirds of those locates would involve service drops to homes and businesses rather than the main fiber routes.
[00:07:06] The question the report raises is whether there's enough locating capacity to keep construction moving safely.
[00:07:13] In other rural broadband funding news, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians received an approximately $11.7 million USDA Reconnect grant for a fiber project in Oregon's Lincoln County. The network is planned for areas south of Siletz, the community of Fruitvale and homes along Yakina Bay Road and Hidden Valley Road. USDA officials said it would improve access to education and telehealth while supporting local businesses.
[00:07:38] Tribal leaders also stressed the importance of building local skills to operate and maintain the network. They described that capacity as part of digital sovereignty, ensuring the community can shape its technological future rather than simply receive a connection.
[00:07:51] Another report last week explored a barrier that persists even after broadband becomes available, which is language. The Coalition on Digital Impact examined how the world's more than 7,000 languages are represented online.
[00:08:03] More than half the last mile organizations it surveyed said the communities they serve could not effectively navigate the Internet in their native language. The report identified gaps in available content, the ability to find information, and online trust and safety. It urged funders and technology developers to consider language inclusion from the start rather than treating translation as an afterthought and we'll finish with an acquisition that connects directly to Last week's podcast LUMOS announced that it will acquire Allo Fiber's network in Joplin, Missouri. Lumos, which is part of T Mobile Fiber Home Internet, plans to continue expanding the Fiber infrastructure there. Existing Allo customers will keep their service during the transition, with Lumos expecting to move them onto its service near the end of the year. You may remember that last week we discussed an OOKLA analysis that identified Aloe Fiber as one of seven providers whose characteristics could make them interesting candidates for merger and acquisition activity. This deal is an acquisition of a particular local network, not Allofiber as a whole company. But still, the timing makes this an interesting follow up and and an impressive one. If you're ookla.
[00:09:07] Thank you for listening to the Broadband Exchange. You can read all the articles we talked about
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