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Telecom Industry News

CWA in the News

Louisville Courier Journal, AT&T and its union start negotiations for a new contract. What this means for Kentucky, 7/3
IGN, Bethesda Games Studios Montreal Is the Latest Studio to Unionize, 6/26
In These Times, LGBT Workers Need Unions, Not Rainbow Capitalism, 6/24
GV Wire, Fresno Area AT&T Union Workers ‘Ready and Willing’ to Strike as Negotiations Stall, 6/19

Wireless

Wireless Estimator, T-Mobile may be first in line to take advantage of SCOTUS’s Chevron decision to vacate an $80 million FCC fine, 7/2
RCR Wireless, FWA tops list of 5G use cases in new Ericsson report, 6/26
Urgent Communications, FirstNet Authority board approves $684 million budget for FY 2025, 6/25
Mobile World Live, Verizon tees-up smartphone management service, 6/20
Phone Arena, After delay, T-Mobile’s unwelcome Home Internet change is going into effect, 6/19
Wireless Estimator, Dish adds another cut to the possibility of the contracting industry’s ‘death by a thousand cuts’, 6/16
Consumer Affairs, Wireless customers seeking good service should go to a store, not online, 6/12
RCR Wireless, Echostar accuses T-Mo of ‘anticompetitive’ acquisitions, 6/12
Light Reading, Crown Castle cuts jobs, small cell expansion plans, 6/11
Cord Cutters News, As Comcast & Spectrum Lose Internet Customers, T-Mobile & Verizon Are on Track to Add Over 2.2 Million 5G Home Internet Customers as Cord Cutting 2.0 Grows, 6/6
Urgent Communications, Verizon follows AT&T into space, 6/4

Wireline

Light Reading, Frontier sizing up fiber JV with Stonepeak – report, 7/3
Broadband Breakfast, TDS Telecom Requests FCC Approval of ILEC Ownership Transfer, 7/1
Fierce Telecom, Charter, Cable One plot price increases amid layoffs, 6/25
Montana Now, Ziply Fiber expands to Great Falls and other cities in Montana, 6/18
Telecompetitor, Windstream Offers Free Upgrades to Kinetic Fiber, 6/11
Fierce Telecom, States push back on ISP copper retirement plans, 6/10
Fierce Telecom, Gigapower CEO likens open access model to MVNOs, 6/5
Fierce Telecom, Intrepid builds more open access networks for T-Mobile, 6/4

Other Corporate Developments

Telecompetitor, AT&T CEO Underlines the Need for an Effective Implementation of BEAD, 7/5
The Verge, Verizon’s new V logo arrives as the lines blur between 5G, Fios, and streaming, 6/26
Light Reading, AT&T kills community forum website amid price hikes, 6/18
Reuters, Verizon uses GenAI to improve customer loyalty, 6/18
Fierce Telecom, 30 lawsuits against AT&T for massive data breach get consolidated, 6/12
Route Fifty, 23M households will no longer receive monthly federal internet subsidy, 6/3

CWA in the News

AT&T and its union start negotiations for a new contract. What this means for Kentucky
By Olivia Evans, 7/3/2024
Louisville Courier Journal

Louisville stands to see another summer ripe with labor activity, and even the potential for a strike to hit the metro.

The Communications Workers of America and AT&T have started labor contract negotiations for workers in the Southeast region; representing states Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Nationwide, CWA represents more than 150,000 AT&T workers across varying bargaining units. In Kentucky, for the current contract being negotiated, roughly 600 workers are impacted, according to Carolyn Cain, the Campaign Lead for CWA District 3. [Link to full article]

Bethesda Games Studios Montreal Is the Latest Studio to Unionize
By TAYLOR LYLES, 6/26/2024
IGN

Bethesda Games Studios’ (BGS) Montreal location is the latest studio to form a union.

In a thread on X/Twitter, the account for the BGS Montreal union, called the One BGS MTL, revealed it filed for certification with the Quebec Labour Board today. The union intends to unionize with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) Canada.

“As a union, we will strive to make BGS a supportive workplace that fosters creativity and talent,” One BGS MTL X/Twitter account wrote in one post. “This will allow us to keep creating some of the best video games in the industry, both in the jobs and at the studio we all love.” [Link to full article]

LGBT Workers Need Unions, Not Rainbow Capitalism
Major companies are weighing the benefits of pinkwashing as anti-LGBT extremism is on the rise. Doug Ireland’s 1999 piece reminds us what organized labor can offer queer and trans workers.
IN THESE TIMES, 6/24/2024

Anti-gay and anti-trans agitators have been making news by boycotting major corporations running Pride campaigns and stocking rainbow merchandise. While many corporations make profit-based calculations to decide whether to continue their support for the queer community, in 1999 for In These Times, Doug Ireland described how queer and trans workers were winning labor and gay rights battles by organizing across communities. Ireland’s words serve as a reminder of how capital has no vested interest in queer and trans liberation, but the labor movement should — and it can win meaningful, material protections for queer and trans workers.

In 1999, Doug Ireland wrote:

Tracy Cleverly worked at the Salt Lake City franchise of a national restaurant chain, where she received positive evaluations and a promotion. She got along well with her co-workers and manager, who knew she was lesbian. But when the restaurant hired a new manager, he announced that “I don’t want those kind of people working here.” Within weeks he fired Cleverly and other lesbian and gay employees.

Jesse Shaw worked as a social worker in a Whitfield, Miss., center for mentally disabled children. She brought to work photos of herself, her female partner and their two dogs to show a co-worker who had asked to see them- and left them on her desk. Ten days later she was fired. “Not because you’re gay,” she was told, “but because you brought in pictures of your lover.“ [Link to full article]

Fresno Area AT&T Union Workers ‘Ready and Willing’ to Strike as Negotiations Stall
By Jahz Tello, 6/19/2024
GV Wire

·       Contract negotiations between AT&T and workers have been going on since April 2024.

·       Wage inflation and benefits are the main reason the two parties can’t agree.

·       If protests continue, any services that AT&T offer may become impacted including: landline services, high speed internet, and mobile devices.

Jason Orozco, president of Communications Workers of America Local 9408 in Fresno, says workers are “ready and willing” to strike for a fair contract with AT&T.

The employees have been working under an expired contract since April, Orozco said. In addition, he said that AT&T’s offer raises healthcare costs and doesn’t include “a living wage.”

To signal their dissatisfaction with negotiations, Local 9408 members held an informational picket on Friday, June 14, at Peach and Dakota avenues in Clovis. [Link to full article]

Wireless

T-Mobile may be first in line to take advantage of SCOTUS’s Chevron decision to vacate an $80 million FCC fine
Wireless Estimator, 7/2/2024

On February 27, unaware that the following day, the US Supreme Court would decide to limit the broad regulatory authority of federal agencies such as the FCC, T-Mobile USA, Inc. filed a petition for review in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, contesting a substantial forfeiture order issued by the agency.

The outcome of this case, likely influenced by the SCOTUS decision, could set a precedent for how federal agencies interpret and enforce ambiguous statutes. A ruling favoring T-Mobile could limit the FCC’s future regulatory actions and interpretations, particularly concerning new or evolving technologies and data privacy concerns.

The proposed $80 million fine against T-Mobile and additional fines for three other carriers stemmed from allegations of mishandling customer proprietary network information (CPNI), specifically mobile device location data. [Link to full article]

FWA tops list of 5G use cases in new Ericsson report
By Catherine Sbeglia Nin, 6/26/2024
RCR Wireless

The Ericsson report also states that there are more than 1.7 billion 5G subscriptions globally

According to the latest Ericsson Mobility Report, there will be nearly 5.6 billion 5G subscriptions by the end of 2029. Further, the report indicates that, as 5G penetration grows, Ericsson also see increasing opportunities for Fixed Wireless Access (FWA).

Currently, stated the report, there are more than 1.7 billion 5G subscriptions globally, with roughly 160 million added in the first three months of 2024. As many as 600 million new subscriptions are expected in all of 2024. Regionally, North America is predicted to have the highest penetration by the end of 2029, with 90% (or 430 million) of subscriptions expected to be 5G.

When it comes to FWA, the prevalence of this service as a 5G use case is currently second only to enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB). In fact, 241 of the 310 communication service providers (CSPs) surveyed offered this service as of April 2024. Of these, 128 — or about 53% — included a 5G FWA offering, reflecting 29% growth compared to last year. [Link to full article]

FirstNet Authority board approves $684 million budget for FY 2025
By Donny Jackson, 6/25/2024
Urgent Communications

FirstNet Authority board members on Monday unanimously approved a $684 million budget for fiscal year 2025, marking the organization’s earliest annual budget approval and the largest annual total earmarked for investments and enhancements to the nationwide public-safety broadband network (NPSBN).

Of the $684 million total budget for the FirstNet Authority’s upcoming fiscal year, $100.2 million is allocated for the organization’s operations, and another $50.1 million (50% of the operating budget) will be held in reserve. The rest of the money—a whopping $534 million—is slated to fund network enhancements to FirstNet, including supporting the transition to 5G technology and efforts to expand the NPSBN’s coverage.

Historically, the FirstNet Authority board has approved the organization’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year in August. Monday’s budget approval marked a change, in terms of both the timing and the process followed to create the budget, according to FirstNet Executive Director and CEO Joe Wassel. [Link to full article]

Verizon tees-up smartphone management service
BY MIKE ROBUCK, 6/20/2024
Mobile World Live

Verizon Business unveiled a smartphone management service for mid-size businesses and enterprise customers, which it claimed marked an industry first in the US.

The Device-as-a-Service (DaaS) offering, dubbed Verizon Business Complete, offers business customers an end-to-end smartphone platform managed by the operator. It includes shipping, setup, replacement, recycling, and customer support for their employees.

The device rental-type service comes in two tariffs, premium and standard, and runs on Verizon’s 5G network. The smartphone line-up includes both Samsung and iPhone.

Iris Meijer, chief product and marketing officer for Verizon Business, told Mobile World Live customers are seeking alternatives to the bring your own device model by asking for flexible, consumption-based services. [Link to full article]

After delay, T-Mobile’s unwelcome Home Internet change is going into effect
By Adrian Diaconescu, 6/19/2024
Phone Arena

Unfazed by an avalanche of (formal and informal) complaints over a number of hugely unpopular changes and price hikes rolled out in the last couple of months alone, the mobile network operator that was once hailed as an industry-revolutionizing “Un-carrier” is preparing to infuriate yet another group of customers.

This time, we’re talking about those of you who use T-Mobile’s relatively young but rapidly expanding Home Internet service. Even more specifically, those who originally registered said service at a certain address and for some reason currently enjoy their ultra-affordable unlimited 5G Home Internet access elsewhere.

What’s happening and when?

The setup described above will apparently no longer be permitted soon, which shouldn’t come as a big surprise for our most devoted readers. That’s because T-Mo initially planned to start verifying the addresses at which its Home Internet network is being accessed in early May, delaying the controversial procedure to a later date. [Link to full article]

Dish adds another cut to the possibility of the contracting industry’s ‘death by a thousand cuts’
Wireless Estimator, 6/16/2024

In a recent legal battle, Dish Wireless Inc. emerged victorious against Crown Castle USA Inc., with a Denver jury ruling on April 11, 2024, that Dish did not violate the 30-year master lease agreement between the two companies. The dispute centered around Dish’s use of an additional three feet of space on cell tower sites, which Crown Castle claimed should have resulted in approximately $8 million in additional rent per year. Crown Castle argued that Dish’s cabinet doors extended at least 20 inches beyond their leased 5′ x 7′ space when opened for maintenance or repair on 3,339 sites.

The verdict was a rare piece of good news for the financially embattled EchoStar/Dish Network. It potentially saved them $325 million in additional rent over the duration of the lease. This decision temporarily relieved its dim financial outlook, allowing Dish to avoid significant additional costs and focus on other aspects of its business.

Controversial invoices to contractors

However, this legal triumph has been overshadowed by Dish’s subsequent and controversial decision. A month after the verdict, Dish sent invoices to some contractors who installed the disputed sites, demanding $5,000 per site for those constructed in Crown Castle’s compounds. Due upon receipt, the chargeback invoices included details such as the number of sites, site identifiers, and the item description: “Project Overhang Crown lease area remediation.” [Link to full article]

Wireless customers seeking good service should go to a store, not online
Wireless companies are more likely to get a 5-Star review if the customer has visited a store
By Mark Huffman, 6/12/2024
Consumer Affairs

Perhaps no one would be willing to give up their cellphone but very few consumers appear to like their wireless service provider very much. The big three providers – Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile – come in for most of the criticism.

When we looked at the verified reviews of these companies on ConsumerAffairs, we found that 93% of Verizon reviews only gave the company 1-Star and only 3% gave Verizon 5-Stars.

AT&T was a little better, getting a 1-Star rating from 85% of reviewers and a 5-Star rating from 6%. T-Mobile is between its two competitors, getting a 1-Star rating from 89% of reviewers with 6% awarding T-Mobile a 5-Star rating. [Link to full article]

Echostar accuses T-Mo of ‘anticompetitive’ acquisitions
By Kelly Hill, 6/12/2024
RCR Wireless

Every other year, the Federal Communications Commission asks for input on the state of competition in the domestic communications market, to help inform a report to Congress. This year, EchoStar—now the parent company of Dish Wireless—took the opportunity to accuse T-Mobile US of a series of “anticompetitive” acquisitions and actions, as well as to ask the FCC to impose and enforce a stricter spectrum screen in order to give players other than the three national incumbent wireless operators—like EchoStar—a better chance to compete.

“Excessive spectrum accumulation by incumbent carriers is a significant factor accounting for the lack of competition in the mobile wireless market, and rampant spectrum accumulation by the incumbents has increased market concentration to the detriment of consumers,” EchoStar declared in a filing with the FCC. The company said that the FCC and Department of Justice recognized “the harms of a three-player market” in the review of the T-Mobile/Sprint merger, in which EchoStar—then Dish Network—was positioned as a fourth, facilities-based carrier. But, the company said, despite its successful build-out of a national network and the technology agility enabled by its choice of Open RAN, its access to spectrum (relative to the other national carriers) is still hindering its competitiveness.

“EchoStar has worked hard to deploy a next-generation network that promotes competition in the wireless market. But, it has faced constraints that have made it harder to compete against the incumbent carriers. These constraints are in large part imposed by limited spectrum availability, including the Commission’s spectrum aggregation policies and the lax enforcement of those policies, as well as outdated rules that impact the utility of certain spectrum bands,” the carrier wrote in a filing with the Commission. [Link to full article]

Crown Castle cuts jobs, small cell expansion plans
Crown Castle initially hoped to build 16,000 new small cell nodes in 2024, doubling the 8,000 it built in 2023. But the company is now reducing that 2024 construction target by 3,000-5,000.
By Mike Dano, 6/11/2024
Light Reading

As part of its ongoing strategic review, Crown Castle said it will cut between 3,000 and 5,000 small cell nodes out of its 2024 construction plans. The company also announced it will cut 10% of its workforce.

Crown Castle’s move casts yet another shadow over the small cell industry in general. For years, companies in the US wireless industry have suggested that network operators would eventually invest heavily into densifying their networks with more small cells, as a way to improve their overall network capacity. But that big push hasn’t materialized.

“With this shift in approach, Crown Castle believes it can reduce the capital intensity of small cell projects by narrowing its investment focus to concentrate on a higher mix of collocations and continue building network-adjacent anchor nodes, while de-emphasizing greenfield locations the company historically targeted,” Crown Castle wrote in its announcement Tuesday. [Link to full article]

As Comcast & Spectrum Lose Internet Customers, T-Mobile & Verizon Are on Track to Add Over 2.2 Million 5G Home Internet Customers as Cord Cutting 2.0 Grows
By Luke Bouma, 6/6/2024
Cord Cutters News

2023 was a breakout year for 5G Home Internet providers led by T-Mobile and Verizon. Now in 2024 that trend is still on pace for them to add more than 2.2 million 5G home Internet customers.

Cord cutting 2.0 is continuing to grow as T-Mobile has reported that it added 405,000 5G home Internet customers in the 1st quarter of 2024. This is on top of the 541,000 added in the 4th quarter of 2023 and the 523,000 added in the 1st quarter of 2024. Verizon also added 151,000 5G home Internet customers in the 1st quarter of 2024.

All of this has happened as Comcast recently reported it lost 65,000 Internet customers during the 1st quarter of 2024. [Link to full article]

Verizon follows AT&T into space
By Mike Dano, 6/4/2024
Urgent Communications

Verizon plans to use the same satellite vendor – AST SpaceMobile – as AT&T in order to link its customers’ phones to satellites.

Under Verizon’s new agreement with startup AST SpaceMobile, Verizon will pay the company a total of $100 million in order to ensure AST SpaceMobile’s satellites can make use of Verizon’s 850MHz spectrum. That will allow all of Verizon’s existing customers – regardless of what phone they have – to connect to AST SpaceMobile’s satellites in areas where there is no Verizon coverage.

“We will now be able to use our spectrum in conjunction with AST’s satellite network to provide essential connectivity in remote corners of the US where cellular signals are unreachable through traditional land-based infrastructure,” explained Verizon’s Srini Kalapala, the operator’s SVP of technology and product development, in a release. [Link to full article]

Wireline

Frontier sizing up fiber JV with Stonepeak – report
Frontier is reportedly in talks with Stonepeak about forming a joint venture that would infuse about $500 million to $1 billion in capital toward fiber network investments.
Light Reading, 7/3/2024

Frontier Communications may indeed be taking a page from the Gigapower playbook.

Frontier, a telco that’s in the midst of a massive fiber network upgrade, is in talks to form a joint venture focused on fiber network investments, Bloomberg reported Wednesday, citing unnamed sources said to be familiar with the plan.

The JV could supply a capital injection of $500 million to $1 billion, Bloomberg reported. “Deliberations are ongoing and no final decisions on terms, including the size of the joint venture, have been made,” the report added. [Link to full article]

TDS Telecom Requests FCC Approval of ILEC Ownership Transfer
The companies told the FCC that the transaction will serve the public interest.
By Teralyn Whipple, 7/1/2024
Broadband Breakfast

Internet Service Provider TDS Telecom is requesting Federal Communications Commission approval of the transfer of two Virginia companies to RiverStreet Management Services, a subsidiary of Wilkes Telephone Membership Corporation.

TDS Telecom entered into a stock purchase agreement with RiverStreet to transfer ownership of two incumbent Local Exchange Companies in Virginia on May 31. The ILECs are Amelia Telephone Corporation and New Castle Telephone Company.

Eight local TDS Telecom Field Service associates will also transfer to RiverStreet as part of the agreement. [Link to full article]

Charter, Cable One plot price increases amid layoffs
By Masha Abarinova, 6/25/2024
Fierce Telecom

Charter and Cable One plan to raise internet prices come July
Both operators have also recently announced layoffs

With subscriber growth stalled, cable needs to grow ARPU, an analyst said

Charter and Cable One are planning to raise internet prices this summer – news that comes after both companies announced a batch of layoffs.

According to CNET, Charter plans to raise the internet base price on all plans by $3 monthly (or $4 for legacy plans). Those rates will take effect in July.

As for Cable One, a spokesperson told Fierce it’s increasing Sparklight high-speed internet rates by $5 per month effective July 1. However, customers can offset that by changing their payment method. [Link to full article]

Ziply Fiber expands to Great Falls and other cities in Montana
By Joee Taylor, 6/18/2024
Montana Now

Great Falls is one of five cities seeing fiber-optic networks coming to their homes as Ziply Fiber Expands throughout Montana.

“This is going to serve nearly 10,000 residents and businesses,” said Ryan Luckin, vice president of Ziply Fiber.

Ziply Fiber started in 2020 and serves four states: Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and Montana. [Link to full article]

Windstream Offers Free Upgrades to Kinetic Fiber
By Joan Engebretson, 6/11/2024
Telecompetitor

Windstream is offering free upgrades to its Kinetic fiber broadband service to 33,000 customers currently served by slower speed DSL infrastructure. The company is calling the initiative “Project Glass Echo.”

Eligible DSL customers can get speeds of 300Mbps at no extra charge on their monthly bills, regardless of what speed they were previously receiving, said Ben Midanek, Windstream’s chief marketing officer for Kinetic, in answer to questions from Telecompetitor.

“Fiber construction is already complete for these 33,000 customers,” Midanek said. [Link to full article]

States push back on ISP copper retirement plans
By Masha Abarinova, 6/10/2024
Fierce Telecom

·       Operators like AT&T and Lumen want to end carrier of last resort obligations in states where they wish to retire copper networks

·       California and Utah have rejected requests from those carriers

·       New Street says BEAD deployments will likely enable easier copper retirement, but it’s still unclear when those deployments will kick off

Telcos may want to ditch copper and focus on the next best thing (i.e., fiber). But states aren’t about to let them off the hook.

According to New Street Research, ILECs seeking to end their carrier of last resort (COLR) obligations are getting pushback from states because consumers might not have another option for internet access – including wireless.

A COLR is a telecommunications service provider that’s required to serve upon request all customers within its designated service areas. It must provide basic telephone service, such as free access to 9-1-1 and directory and operator services. [Link to full article]

Gigapower CEO likens open access model to MVNOs
By Masha Abarinova, 6/5/2024
Fierce Telecom

·       Gigapower CEO Bill Hogg said the network essentially has an “arms-length” agreement with anchor tenant AT&T

·       AT&T has the retail relationship with consumers, while Gigapower handles the ‘behind-the-scenes’ aspects

·       ISPs on open access networks can use bundling to stand out, he said

Gigapower, AT&T’s fiber joint venture with BlackRock, has been one of the bigger players to step foot into the open access space.

In a fireside chat with FBA President Gary Bolton, Gigapower CEO Bill Hogg talked about what exactly open access means for the JV.

Hogg said while open access means a lot of things to different people, in Gigapower’s case, it’s a commercial open access platform that has “arms-length” agreements with the ISPs that choose to ride on Gigapower’s network (AT&T is currently the only tenant). [Link to full article]

Intrepid builds more open access networks for T-Mobile
By Linda Hardesty, 6/4/2024
Fierce Telecom

·       Intrepid is building open access networks in Colorado and Minnesota and eyeing other locations

·       Its anchor tenant is T-Mobile

·       Intrepid’s CEO Jack Waters is a long-time telecommunications executive with lots of connections

Intrepid Fiber Networks is expanding its open access fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) networks with deployments in eight more communities in Colorado and eight more towns in Minnesota. These newly announced communities are in proximity to current Intrepid deployments, representing an organic expansion of its network.

These new locations will bring Intrepid’s network to over 400,000 homes and businesses passed across the two states.

Intrepid, which was founded in 2021, has quickly made a name for itself because its anchor tenant for its Colorado and Minnesota networks is T-Mobile. The company also scored with equity financing from Brookfield Asset Management. [Link to full article]

Other Corporate Developments

AT&T CEO Underlines the Need for an Effective Implementation of BEAD
By Ian Doescher, 7/5/2024
Telecompetitor

John Stankey, CEO of AT&T, named the effective implementation of BEAD Program funding—in service of closing the digital divide—as the most critical issue facing the telecommunications industry, in a speech at the US Telecom Leadership Summit last week.

At the Summit, held June 23-25 in Park City, Utah, Stankey named “the three most important issues before us today.” The first two issues both relate to bringing connectivity to all Americans: (1) “sound implementation of the historic opportunity to expand broadband,” and (2) replacing the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) with new subsidies for low-income households.

Calling closing the digital divide “today’s broadband universal service challenge,” Stankey praised congress for creating the BEAD Program as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. [Link to full article]

Verizon’s new V logo arrives as the lines blur between 5G, Fios, and streaming
The Verizon checkmark is gone as the company recasts itself as a ‘one-stop-shop’ for internet and entertainment.
By Wes Davis, 6/26/2024
The Verge

Verizon has ditched its checkmark logo for a red and yellow “V” and, with the change, introduced a new commercial that revisits its “Can you hear me now?” tagline. It also announced updated home internet plans, now called “myHome,” that include a slew of service bundles like Disney Plus and Netflix as well as cloud storage options or a Walmart Plus subscription.

In the ad spot, that “now” turns into a lot more than just talking, with streaming video, filming TikToks, gaming, and FaceTiming shown to hammer home the point that this connection does a lot more than it did in 2002 when the campaign started. (That Paul Marcarelli, the original Verizon guy, defected to Sprint in 2016 goes unmentioned.)

Here’s the old logo and the new one in case you want to play a little game of “spot the differences.” [Link to full article]

AT&T kills community forum website amid price hikes
AT&T, which is in the midst of a three-year, $2 billion cost-cutting program, said it will shutter its Community Forums website and will instead direct customers to its att.com/support site.
By Mike Dano, 6/18/2024
Light Reading

AT&T said it will shutter its “Community Forums” website later this month.

“After careful consideration, we’ve made the decision to sunset our Community Forums,” the company confirmed in a statement to Light Reading. “We’re committed to providing our customers with the best support experience possible, and we believe this can be accomplished through our dedicated expert care support channels where they have the option to engage with us directly.”

The company said it will discontinue the site on June 27, and customers will be directed to its att.com/support site for future support needs. [Link to full article]

Verizon uses GenAI to improve customer loyalty
By Supantha Mukherjee, 6/18/2024
Reuters

U.S. telecom company Verizon (VZ.N), opens new tab is using generative AI to stop 100,000 customers from leaving its service this year by predicting why a customer is calling, connecting them with a suitable agent and reducing store visit time, CEO Hans Vestberg said on Tuesday.

The company receives around 170 million calls every year and with GenAI it can now determine 80% of the time why a customer is calling, he said. “I have 60,000 call agents and I know what they are really good at so I can match your call with the right agent,” he added, saying this would mean 100,000 customers staying with Verizon.

Earlier this year, Verizon launched, opens new tab several GenAI-backed initiatives focused on customer service. Other companies such as Swedish fintech Klarna have been using, opens new tab GenAI to cut response time in handling customers and save costs. [Link to full article]

30 lawsuits against AT&T for massive data breach get consolidated
By Linda Hardesty, 6/12/2024
Fierce Telecom

·       30 lawsuits against AT&T related to a data breach revealed in March are being consolidated

·       The suits will be combined in the Northern District of Texas

·       One question in the suits asks if AT&T delayed in notifying customers

AT&T announced in March that the personal information of over 70 million former and current customers had been released on the dark web. That personal information included customer names, email addresses, mailing addresses, phone numbers, social security numbers, dates of birth, AT&T account numbers and passcodes.

Since AT&T’s disclosure, 30 class action lawsuits have been filed against company.

On June 5, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation ruled that all the lawsuits will be consolidated in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. [Link to full article]

23M households will no longer receive monthly federal internet subsidy
The Affordable Connectivity Program has officially run out of money. But more than a dozen internet providers have pledged to offer plans at $30 or less through 2024 for low-income households.
By Elizabeth Daigneau, 6/3/2024
Route Fifty

The Affordable Connectivity Program officially ended Friday after funding for the federal subsidy ran out. Now, for the more than 23 million households receiving the $30-a-month discount, internet bills are about to go up.

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel warned on Thursday of increased bills in a letter to Congress notifying lawmakers of the program’s end. She acknowledged the impact on seniors, veterans, school-aged children and Tribal households.

“It is regrettable that the FCC must bring to a close the most successful broadband affordability program in our nation’s history,” she wrote. “The end of the program means increased bills and increased disconnection. In fact, 77% of ACP households in a commission survey stated that losing the benefit would disrupt their service by making them change their plans or lead to them dropping internet service entirely.” [Link to full article]