As Charter Communications' wireless business grows, it's tough to peg when its losses peak and it begins swinging toward profitability, said Chief Financial Officer Chris Winfrey in an analyst call Tuesday as the company announced Q1 results. CEO Tom Rutledge said Charter is testing its Spectrum Mobile wireless product to see if mobile capabilities can be increased by using Dual SIM technology along with unlicensed and potentially licensed spectrum. It said it added 176,000 mobile lines in the most recent quarter, ending with 310,000. "Mobile is ramping nicely," Winfrey said. He said the bulk of capital spending, such as setting up retail locations, should be in 2019. The company said revenue in the quarter was $11.2 billion, up 5.1 percent year over year. It said during the quarter it had residential and small and mid-sized business internet net adds of 428,000, video net losses of 145,000 and wireline voice net losses of 99,000. It ended the quarter with 15.95 residential video customers, 24 million residential broadband customers and 10 million residential voice.
Matt Daneman
Matt Daneman, Senior Editor, covers pay TV, cable broadband, satellite, and video issues and the Federal Communications Commission for Communications Daily. He joined Warren Communications in 2015 after more than 15 years at the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, where he covered business among other issues. He also was a correspondent for USA Today. You can follow Daneman on Twitter: @mdaneman
Opponents of SpaceX's plans to relocate much of its non-geostationary orbit broadband satellite mega constellation to a lower orbit aren't likely to file applications for review of the FCC International Bureau's OK given Friday (see 1904260071), a satellite lawyer told us. OneWeb, which filed a petition to deny, didn't comment. Kepler Communications Director-Launch and Regulatory Affairs Nick Spina emailed that the company is working "to try and establish an appropriate way forward, ensuring everyone's best interests are accounted for." Kepler also filed a petition to deny. A satellite lawyer said the FCC likely didn't want to stop the company from going forward, but also knows there's a backlog of applications at ITU so its conditioning approval on the company getting a favorable or qualified favorable ITU finding was reasonable. The bureau approval said if SpaceX gets an unfavorable ITU finding, the company must adjust operations to satisfy ITU requirements and that any operations before the ITU finding "are at SpaceX's own risk." SpaceX plans to launch its first batch of broadband satellites in May. The FCC told us it will separately address a pending, related special temporary authority beng sought by SpaceX (see 1904190011).
An additional $65.7 million annually over the next 10 years in alternative connect America cost model (A-CAM) support means an added 106,000 rural customers getting improved broadband service from rate-of-return companies, the FCC said Monday. Bringing and maintaining broadband "in deeply rural America is not at all easy," NTCA said. "But the connections these funds will enable will help to drive commerce, unleash innovation, and promote distance learning and telemedicine in communities across rural America currently waiting for higher speed connectivity." The companies commit to building out 25/3 Mbps broadband to those 106,000 sites that otherwise would have received slower 10/1 Mbps service -- which Chairman Ajit Pai tweeted Monday was "good news on the rural broadband front!" It helps further close the digital divide, he said. Alaska, Arizona, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming will have more than double the number of customers served by 25/3 service, the agency said. Massachusetts will have the smallest gains, at 9.1 percent. Minnesota will have the biggest jump in number of sites, with 11,358 additional sites getting 25/3 service under the A-CAM funding, the FCC said. Others with big jumps are Oklahoma with 7,724 additional sites and Texas with 7,025. Of the 186 rate-of-return companies receiving the money, Minnesota's Arvig Enterprises is the biggest single recipient, with $24.7 million annually. Also receiving substantial funding: Pioneer Telephone Cooperative ($24.42 million), Great Plains Communications ($22.52 million), Telephone and Data Systems ($20.32 million) and Blackfoot Telephone Cooperative ($13.67 million). "This program is great for all rural America," said Arvig Chief Financial Officer Staci Malikowski in an interview. She said the money helps "us do what we do ... a whole lot faster" and can make the difference in broadband being provided at all. Malikowski said rural customers, and the funding helps pay for deployment of such technologies as copper or fiber, plus electronic upgrades of existing infrastructure. The 186 companies had been authorized to receive A-CAM support but had picked revised offers that carried extended funding and new deployment obligations, the FCC said.
Whatever C-band clearing plan the FCC takes up for terrestrial 5G use will likely be a compromise, but finding that compromise looks elusive. A Capitol Forum event had debates about the relative merits and shortcomings of rival clearing plans and jostling over whether C-band satellite operators are fully using what they have now.
With scattered holes in enhanced 911 coverage around the U.S. slowly getting filled in, there's no consensus on when or if the U.S. ever will get universal coverage. Experts told us the issue could be mooted by next-generation 911 systems, though many communities without E-911 still are working toward that less-advanced goal. For a Special Report story on NG-911's rollout in New Jersey (see 1904230021).
With scattered holes in enhanced 911 coverage around the U.S. slowly getting filled in, there's no consensus on when or if the U.S. ever will get universal coverage. Experts told us the issue could be mooted by next-generation 911 systems, though many communities without E-911 still are working toward that less-advanced goal. For a Special Report story on NG-911's rollout in New Jersey (see 1904230021).
Don't let the direct broadcast satellite rules revision proceeding become a promotion of use of DBS spectrum for other services, said satellite operators in docket 06-160 replies posted Tuesday, after initial comments urged the FCC to delve into 12 GHz band use (see 1903270006). Multichannel video and data distribution service operators -- urging two-way terrestrial mobile service in the 12.2-12.7 GHz band -- don't give any good reasons why, instead "recycl[ing] a litany of excuses" about why MVDDS deployments have "been practically non-existent," OneWeb said. It opposed allowing fixed satellite service downlinks to operate under primary status in the 12 GHz band. SES said it and other satellite operators use the 12 GHz band for FSS on a nonconforming basis, and allowing FSS protected status would meet demand for more FSS downlink spectrum. Beyond its previously urged extension of the license term for nonbroadcast DBS satellites to 15 years and requirement applicants that DBS services at reduced orbital spacing coordinate with existing DBS systems within six orbital degrees, AT&T said the FCC should decline here to address aggregate interference. Intelsat urged rejecting use of a corporate guarantee as an alternative to a surety bond. It also filed an opposition to 2016 petition for reconsideration filed by SES and New Skies seeking clarification of U.S. market access rules adopted the year before (see 1609200049), defending the U.S. two-step licensing process related to ITU submissions as giving equal opportunity to U.S. and other licensed operators.
Since ATSC 3.0 won't be backward-compatible with 1.0, a big broadcast industry challenge is showing a clear transition plan to get TV manufacturers interested in turning out 3.0 TV sets, Sasha Javid, Spectrum Co. chief operating officer, said at an FCBA event Monday. That was a big motivator of the NAB Show announcement that 3.0 services will roll out to the top 40 U.S. TV markets by the end of 2020 (see 1904080071), he said.
Commissioners Mike O'Rielly, Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks all pushed back against Commerce Department suggestions regarding the orbital debris proceeding (see 1904080033). After Friday's agency meeting, O'Rielly said he was "troubled" by the Commerce notion the FCC should pause its proceeding given that Commerce hasn't made any proposal to move forward on its own. Rosenworcel said she was concerned about the idea that the FCC, with authority over commercial spectrum and commercial actors, cede that authority to Commerce, which oversees federal actors. "The space age is big enough to accommodate both" and the FCC "should be sitting in the front" instead of "letting others take the lead," she said. Echoed Starks, "We have a congressional and statutory mandate to be in this lane" and the agency needs to address the issues in the fashion Congress tasked it with doing. Commissioner Brendan Carr said he hadn't read the Commerce filing. Chairman Ajit Pai's office didn't comment.
The FCC, asked by the Commerce Department to pause its orbital debris proceeding (see 1904080033), is expected to comply. With Commerce also talking about interagency discussions on one federal authority for all things orbital debris related, some experts said single-agency oversight makes sense.