Library Grants Reinstated

In November, the U.S. District Court in Rhode Island ruled that the Administration had to distribute all of the grants to libraries that had been authorized by Congress. The Administration had decided not to distribute all of the grant funding normally handled by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, an agency created by Congress in 1996 to consolidate grants for libraries. This court order has possible relevance to broadband since NTIA has refused to distribute grants from the Digital Equity Fund and is hinting at not distributing BEAD non-deployment funds.

Altice Sues Its Creditors

In a curious lawsuit, Altice, which recently rebranded as Optimum, has sued Apollo Capital Management, BlackRock, and six other financial firms and accused them of colluding to block the company from refinancing its debt. The group of companies each holds a share of Altice debt. The lawsuit says that the group signed an agreement in July 2024 that requires two-thirds of the creditors to approve any new financing deals with Altice.

Consumers Hanging on to Smartphones

A survey conducted by Reviews.org found that people are hanging onto phones an average of 29 months, and that the number is increasing. This is obviously a major concern for handset manufacturers and cellular carriers, which use the replacement and upgrade of  smartphones as an opportunity to lock customers into a new contract. I don’t know about readers of the blog, but I’m not seeing any major upgrades that are enough incentive to upgrade sooner.

Chinese LEO Satellites

On December 6, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. announced the fourteenth launch of LEO satellites that will be used for broadband. Guowang (the National Network) has plans to launch a constellation of 13,000 satellites for broadband to compete with Starlink and Amazon One. There is a second effort constellation underway called Quinfan (Thousand Sails), being funded by the city of Shanghai, that has plans for a constellation of 15,000 satellites. These efforts are significant because they can create a lot of competition for Starlink and Amazon LEO around the globe.

Acceptance of 5G

According to a survey conducted by YouGov, 62% of Americans now say that 5G has improved their digital experience. Approval is higher (67%) for those between the ages of 18 and 30. The highest approval of 5G, at 69%, comes from households that earn twice or more of the median household income.

Congress Takes up Wi-Fi

 Congressmen Troy A. Carter, Sr. (D-LA) and Bob Latta (R-OH), along with Senators Pete Ricketts (R-NE) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV), announced they will co-chair the relaunch of the bipartisan, bicameral Wi-Fi Caucus. Initially founded in 2018, the Wi-Fi Caucus is dedicated to assisting Members of Congress in better understanding how Wi-Fi benefits the American public, consumers, economy, and the larger geopolitical standing of the United States. This is an interesting effort when considering that Congress passed legislation that required the FCC to fine 800 megahertz of mid-range spectrum for auction, some of which likely will come from the 6 GHz Wi-Fi band.