"It's disappointing to see the spike in robocalls in March, after six consecutive months averaging less than 4 billion robocalls," YouMail CEO Alex Quilici said in a prepared statement about the report.
"Big Cable has had a pretty good run charging people whatever they want and calling it a promotion. We figured it was time to offer something radically different, like one clear price that doesn't slowly morph into something horrifying."
Put together, the two companies pass ~7.1 [million] locations in 26 states. The two companies overlap in only three counties in Texas (109k locations). Texas and Illinois will have the largest footprint for the combined entity. Cable and Fiber will cover an almost equal share of locations for the combined company.
A 40% reduction in USF support would mean that broadband operators couldn't continue operations on existing networks, threatening the long-term viability of broadband access in rural areas. About half of the cost of network operating expenses are due to labor costs, which rise faster than inflation in rural areas.
Eight of the municipal networks studied beat their local provider competitors in median upload speed. Sherwood Broadband - in the town of the same name in Oregon - was the only one to beat its local competitor in median download speed.
The goal of the new USTelecom program is to show consumers, businesses, civic leaders, and policymakers why maintaining legacy copper for the small portion of end users is not an efficient approach. A key part of this is explaining why modern technology is better.
GFiber has always been about pushing the boundaries of what's possible for internet speed and service. This partnership with Astound and Stonepeak is the next step in our decade-long mission to redefine what customers can expect from their internet provider. It's a strategic opportunity to scale our customer-focused approach to connect more households to a truly different type of internet service.
Beyond traditional connectivity, 6G wireless networks will become the fabric for physical AI, enabling billions of autonomous machines, vehicles, sensors and robots and significantly increasing demands for security and trust. Yet legacy wireless architectures were not designed to meet these requirements, creating challenges as networks increase in complexity.
Consumers are not passively renewing mobile plans. They are actively evaluating them, comparing value, scrutinizing pricing, and reassessing providers more frequently. Mobile is evolving from a static utility into a dynamic service relationship, and the next era will belong to those who reduce complexity, communicate transparently, and activate seamlessly.
FCC OIS detected similar fraud in the system in a 2017 report, which resulted in the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC), the Lifeline program administrator, beginning a "death check" as part of the enrollment process. However, the FCC allowed three states (California, Texas, and Oregon) to opt out of the death check process. The most recent OIG report specifies that the $5 million in fraud was all in the opt-out state
Ookla said the growing use of ChatGPT and other AI tools places much more demand on mobile networks than the typical activities of browsing social media and the web, watching videos, texting, and making the occasional phone call. As a result, more speed and expanded capabilities will be necessary. The report said advanced AI capabilities like AI-enabled glasses will put a particular strain on upload connections in the future.
A Verizon outage started a few hours ago and has led to customers seeing nothing but an SOS option if they are trying to use the cellular service. In response, a post by T-Mobile went viral because it doesn't mince words: "T-Mobile's network is keeping our customers connected, and we've confirmed that our network is operating normally and as expected. However, due to Verizon's reported outage, our customers may not be able to reach someone with Verizon service at this time."
T-Mobile's Q4 results reflected strong operational momentum offset by workforce restructuring costs. Service revenue climbed 10% YoY to $18.7 billion, driven by postpaid service revenue growth of 13.9%. Operating cash flow surged 20% to $6.65 billion, while adjusted free cash flow reached $4.2 billion. The earnings miss stemmed from $390 million in severance costs ($293 million after-tax) tied to workforce transformation initiatives. Without this charge, operational performance remained robust, with full-year 2025 core adjusted EBITDA hitting $33.9 billion.