Benton Institute for Broadband & Society - Wall Street Journal

Verizon to Buy TracFone in Deal Valued at Up to $7 Billion

benton — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 15:24:14 +0000

Verizon agreed to buy TracFone, a provider of wireless prepaid services, in a deal worth up to $7 billion in cash and stock, further consolidating the US cellular market. TracFone, a unit of Mexico’s América Móvil SAB, has about 21 million prepaid customers in the US under its namesake brand as well as StraightTalk and Net10. The company doesn’t run its own physical network in the US and instead rides on other cellphone carriers’ systems for a fee and then resells service under its own brands. The move plunges Verizon deep into the prepaid market, a sector it has largely avoided by catering to more lucrative customers who pay for wireless service after it is rendered. Customers on prepaid plans tend to switch providers more often, which operators consider a risk. Verizon is the biggest US provider with about 120 million connections, but it has been competing in a mature market that is now dominated by three providers. TracFone, backed by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helu, grew into the biggest US cellphone reseller by catering to frugal customers through Walmart stores and other independent dealers. Its StraightTalk service offers data plans for as little as $34 a month. TracFone offers service for as little as $15 a month with limits on internet data as well as the number of texts and phone calls.

The deal is subject to approval from antitrust and telecom regulators. Federal competition enforcers have traditionally viewed virtual-network operators like TracFone as resellers of wholesale network capacity owned by companies like Verizon that own the cell-tower equipment and lines that carry their traffic, so the deal is unlikely to attract as much scrutiny as T-Mobile’s Sprint takeover did when it was announced in 2018. Verizon said it expects its transaction to close in the second half of 2021.

Benton Content:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/verizon-to-buy-wireless-reseller-tracfone-for-6-25-…

Teaser:

Move would bring about 21 million prepaid cellphone customers to the biggest U.S. wireless operator

Source:

Wall Street Journal

Author:

Drew FitzGerald

Send date:

Tue, 09/15/2020

Daily Digest:

Daily Digest 9/14/2020

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Publish Date:

Mon, 09/14/2020

Coverage Type:

Reporting

Ownership

Lifeline/Low-Income Consumers

Wireless Telecommunications

The People Left Behind in a Broadband World

Robbie McBeath — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 19:39:46 +0000

A photo essay by Liz Moughon.

As Americans anticipate the arrival of 5G wireless technology—with superfast data-transmission speeds expected to enable everything from superior home internet service to long-imagined technological advances like self-driving cars—it’s easy to forget that millions of people across the US still have no broadband internet access in their homes. In these photos, the toll that such a disconnect takes on people in southeastern Ohio is clear, from students to working people to business owners.

Broadband Access for Students: Elijah Byrd, 16, a junior at Federal Hocking High School, uses a $55 unlimited data card for his phone, purchased for him monthly by his grandmother. Until recently, Libby Hall, 13, traveled 30 minutes with her mother after school to Ohio University where she could use the internet for schoolwork.
Business Drawbacks: The Snowville Creamery dairy farm in Pomeroy (OH) faces operational obstacles without access to reliable internet service. With access to broadband, its owners could process data from bar codes on the company’s products as orders are fulfilled, allowing the farm to streamline shipping and inventory tracking and make mistakes less likely.
Teaching sustainable living without Broadband: Jay and Annie Warmke live in a home made from mud, tires, wood, glass bottles and cans. They are committed to educating others about sustainable living, which they do in part by giving tours of their property. But the lack of broadband at home makes spreading their message more difficult—the internet access they have can’t support file uploads or downloads or video calls. "If your motivation was to promote the economic activity in rural America, this would be the place you would start. There’s a lot of us—we’re just not clustered in one location," said Jay Warmke.

Benton Content:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-people-left-behind-in-a-broadband-world-1157350…

Teaser:

In southeastern Ohio, as in many rural areas, people aren’t waiting for 5G. They’re waiting for any broadband service at all.

Source:

Wall Street Journal

Author:

Liz Moughon

Send date:

Wed, 11/13/2019

Daily Digest:

Daily Digest 11/12/2019

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Tue, 11/12/2019

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California Advances Net-Neutrality Rules in Rebuke to Trump FCC

benton — Fri, 31 Aug 2018 12:01:50 +0000

California moved to reinstate Obama-era open-internet rules, challenging Trump administration rollback efforts and setting the state on a path to have the strongest net-neutrality rules in the nation. The California bill would forbid internet service providers from blocking websites, intentionally slowing down a website or app, or accepting payments to make online services go faster. The California bill also says interconnection agreements—in which an online service pays a cable or wireless provider to carry its traffic—can’t be used by companies like streaming video services to circumvent the open internet rules and improperly receive faster speeds. Such regulations resemble those adopted by the Obama-era Federal Communications Commission. The bill passed the California assembly by a preliminary count of 59-18, according to the clerk’s office, and now returns to the state senate, which previously passed a similar version. If it passes again there and is then signed by Gov. Jerry Brown (D-CA), California would have the nation’s strongest net-neutrality rules. Gov Brown hasn’t publicly indicated his position on the bill.

Benton Content:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/california-advances-net-neutrality-rules-in-rebuke-…

https://www.theverge.com/2018/8/30/17797958/california-sb822-net-neutrality-law-…

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-net-neutrality-assembly-vote-20180830-…

Teaser:

Source:

Wall Street Journal

Author:

Alejandro Lazo

John McKinnon

Send date:

Fri, 08/31/2018

Daily Digest:

Daily Digest 8/30/2018

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Not Available

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Publish Date:

Fri, 08/31/2018

Coverage Type:

Reporting

Internet/Broadband

Network Neutrality

AT&T Chief Says Hiring Michael Cohen as Consultant a ‘Big Mistake’

benton — Fri, 11 May 2018 16:22:18 +0000

Randall L. Stephenson, AT&T’s chief executive, said in a staffwide memo that the company had made a “big mistake” by hiring President Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen.

“Our company has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons these last few days and our reputation has been damaged,” Stephenson wrote. “There is no other way to say it – AT&T hiring Michael Cohen as a political consultant was a big mistake.” Stephenson insisted in the memo that “everything we did was done according to the law and entirely legitimate.” Nonetheless, he added, retaining Cohen “was a serious misjudgment.” “In this instance,” he continued, “our Washington DC team’s vetting process clearly failed, and I take responsibility for that.”

Stephenson also said the company’s top lobbyist, Bob Quinn, was retiring. The Wall Street Journal reported that Quinn is being forced to leave. Quinn joined AT&T in 1993 and took over the Washington office in October 2016. The DC office will now be run by the company’s general counsel, David McAtee. “David’s number one priority is to ensure every one of the individuals and firms we use in the political arena are people who share our high standards and who we would be proud to have associated with AT&T, “ Stephenson wrote.

The Dallas Morning News is updating this story

Benton Content:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/11/technology/att-cohen-trump-time-warner.html

https://www.wsj.com/articles/at-t-exec-who-oversaw-michael-cohens-contract-force…

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-att-michael-cohen-20180511-story.html

https://www.npr.org/2018/05/11/610419846/at-t-admits-mistake-in-hiring-trump-law…

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/387242-att-hiring-cohen-was-big-mistake

https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/11/17344040/at-t-michael-cohen-lawyer-lobbyist-b…

https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/at-t-admits-to-big-mistake-hiring-michae…

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/05/11/att-ceo-hiring-trum…

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/05/att-says-hiring-trump-lawyer-was-big…

https://www.fastcompany.com/40571384/big-mistake-read-att-ceos-letter-of-regret-…

https://www.dallasnews.com/business/att/2018/05/11/att-ceo-hiring-trump-attorney…

Teaser:

Randall Stephenson, AT&T’s chief executive, said that the company had made a “big mistake” by hiring President Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen

Source:

New York Times

Wall Street Journal

Author:

Drew FitzGerald

Send date:

Mon, 05/14/2018

Daily Digest:

Daily Digest 5/11/2018

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Fri, 05/11/2018

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FTC’s Data-Speed Lawsuit Against AT&T Can Proceed, Appeals Court Says

Robbie McBeath — Mon, 26 Feb 2018 21:25:01 +0000

A federal appeals court ruled the Federal Trade Commission can move forward with its lawsuit alleging AT&T misled wireless subscribers by reducing data speeds for several million customers who thought they had purchased unlimited plans. The ruling by the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals is a notable win for the FTC because it restores the agency’s regulatory authority over large internet service providers. In 2016, a three-judge panel on the Ninth Circuit had thrown out the FTC’s case, ruling the commission didn’t have the authority to bring a case against AT&T because of the company’s status as a common carrier. But the appeals court withdrew that opinion and, with a larger roster of judges participating, issued a new decision that sided with the government. The court agreed with the FTC’s argument that the lawsuit was valid because the commission was challenging AT&T for providing mobile data services that were not part of its status as a common carrier of traditional phone services.

Benton Content:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/ftcs-data-speed-lawsuit-against-at-t-can-proceed-ap…

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/02/26/in-a-blow-to-att-fe…

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/375661-court-allows-ftc-to-move-forward-wit…

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/washington/ninth-circuit-clarifies-ftc-com…

Teaser:

Source:

Wall Street Journal

Author:

Brent Kendall

Priority:

High

Send date:

Tue, 02/27/2018

Daily Digest:

Daily Digest 2/26/2018

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Not Available

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Publish Date:

Mon, 02/26/2018

Coverage Type:

Reporting

Advertising

Court case

Regulatory classification

Network Neutrality

Wireless Telecommunications

Wireless Internet

Trump Administration Weighs Building US 5G Network to Counter China

benton — Mon, 29 Jan 2018 12:08:15 +0000

Some White House officials view next-generation 5G wireless service as a “key area of competition,” and they say that the threat from China, in particular, justifies a “moonshot” government effort like the construction of the interstate highway system. A National Security Council memo urges the Trump administration to consider extraordinary efforts to clear the way for the new technology or even to help build it in order to counter the growing economic and political threat from China’s aggressive efforts to develop 5G.

“It is necessary and possible to build a secure, high-performance, world-leading 5G network platform by the end of the first term,” the memo says. The memo was first reported by news website Axios. Such an effort could secure the U.S. position as the world leader in internet technology and encourage a renaissance of U.S. telecommunications manufacturing, the memo suggests. The ambitious goals outlined in the memo, however, were greeted with skepticism by some telecommunications experts, who said the proposed effort’s rapid timetable was likely unrealistic, particularly given the huge costs associated with building a nationwide 5G network. They also predicted widespread industry opposition, as did the memo itself.

Benton Content:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-memo-urges-big-push-on-5g-wireless-technology-1…

https://www.axios.com/trump-team-debates-nationalizing-5g-network-f1e92a49-60f2-…

Teaser:

Source:

Author:

Priority:

High

Send date:

Mon, 01/29/2018

Daily Digest:

Daily Digest 1/26/2018

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Not Available

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Publish Date:

Mon, 01/29/2018

Coverage Type:

Reporting

Cybersecurity and Cyberwarfare

Government & Communications

Internet/Broadband

Universal Broadband

Wireless Internet

Think of the Public Before the Broadcasters

benton — Tue, 07 Nov 2017 12:07:13 +0000

[Commentary] As the son of a broadcast pioneer who got his license from the Department of Commerce in 1923 and as a former broadcaster myself, I read with great sadness “FCC to Lift Limits on Media Deals.” Although Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai justifies his proposal by saying it will lead to more news gathering locally and more news for consumers, my experience tells me it will be the opposite. First, viewers and listeners don’t need more news, they need better news. In my day the yardstick by which we decided what we covered was “Does the public need to know this?” Second, allowing ownership of multiple stations in a given market will drive the last nail in the coffin of the local “multiplicity of voices” that broadcasting originally sought to bring to the public. There will be but one voice, that of the corporate owner of the stations. Pai’s proposed changes are all about allowing the broadcasters to get bigger and make more money, and nothing about getting the public the fact-based, credible news we so drastically need. [Tom Morgan, Oviedo (FL)]

Benton Content:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/think-of-the-public-before-the-broadcasters-1510000…

Teaser:

Allowing ownership of multiple stations in a given market will drive the last nail in the coffin of the local “multiplicity of voices.”

Source:

Wall Street Journal

Author:

Tom Morgan

Priority:

Medium

Send date:

Wed, 11/08/2017

Daily Digest:

Daily Digest 11/6/2017

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Not Available

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Publish Date:

Tue, 11/07/2017

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The FCC Restores Net Neutrality—What That Means

zwalker@benton.org — Thu, 25 Apr 2024 17:15:48 +0000

Net neutrality, a set of policies designed to prevent internet-service providers from playing favorites among the websites they carry, is coming back. In a vote on April 25 the Federal Communications Commission classified internet service as a public utility. The definition is part of a new framework the FCC will use to regulate broadband networks. Net-neutrality rules typically bar internet-service providers from assigning priority to certain web traffic or creating so-called fast lanes for certain websites. They also restrict providers from throttling, or slowing down, traffic to websites that don’t pay up. Proponents say that the guardrails are critical to ensuring internet users have equal access to digital content and that deep-pocketed websites aren’t given priority over smaller ones. Opponents of net neutrality say the rules are unnecessary and allege that the FCC is using the policy to expand its regulatory remit.

Benton Content:

https://www.wsj.com/business/telecom/net-neutrality-fcc-internet-explained-29103…

Teaser:

Agency plans to start regulating internet service like a public utility, bringing back rules that ban ‘fast lanes’ for certain websites

Source:

Wall Street Journal

Author:

Patience Haggin

Send date:

Fri, 04/26/2024

Daily Digest:

Daily Digest 4/25/2024