NTIA awarded more than $73 million in tribal broadband connectivity program grants to nine tribal entities Wednesday. The new funding will connect more than 3,000 unserved households, businesses and anchor institutions, said a news release. "The Biden administration is committed to fostering meaningful partnerships with tribal nations," said Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo: "These grants ... highlight the Biden administration’s unprecedented commitment to closing the digital divide in Native communities."

NTIA awarded about $21.9 million in funding through the broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program and Digital Equity Act to three states Tuesday. Florida got more than $7.4 million, Utah more than $5.6 million, South Dakota more than $3.1 million, and Mississippi more than $5.8 million.

Optical transport equipment revenue declined 6% year-over-year Q3, Dell’Oro Group said Wednesday. “The main culprit for this market revenue decline was the lack of component supply needed to make finished goods,” said Jimmy Yu, Dell’Oro vice president: “Optical vendors have a growing amount of backlog due to higher demand for [dense wavelength-division multiplexing] equipment but are not able to deliver completed systems when they are short on one component or two. Another factor lowering the market revenue is the strengthening US dollar. Since the market revenue is based on US dollars, most sales in Europe and Asia are converted to fewer US dollars and reducing the reported market size.” Among the regions studied, North America remained “slightly positive” while Europe declined at the highest rate. Dell’Oro said in a second report “preliminary findings suggest” the slow down in the momentum of the radio access network market in the first half of 2022 continued into Q3, declining “year-over-year for a second consecutive quarter.” Following “four years of extraordinary growth that catapulted the RAN market to record levels in 2021, the RAN market is now entering a new phase,” said Stefan Pongratz, Dell’Oro vice president: “Even with 5G still increasing at a healthy pace, comparisons are more challenging and the implication for the broader RAN market is that growth is decelerating. Still, one major difference between 4G and 5G is the fact there are now more frequency options for the operators to pursue, which helps to curb the decline in the post-peak rollout phase.” The top five global suppliers in the quarter were Huawei, Ericsson, Nokia, ZTE and Samsung, the report said.

NTIA awarded about $29.5 million in funding through the broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program and Digital Equity Act to five states Monday. Georgia and North Carolina each received more than $6.4 million, Iowa received more than $5.7 million, and Delaware and Rhode Island each received more than $5.5 million.

Australian telecommunications company BAI Communications closed on its buy of New York dark fiber backhaul company ZenFi Networks, BAI said Thursday. BAI said the deal helps accelerate its growth as a provider of connected 5G infrastructure in North America. The transaction also gives BAI a route to participate in the LinkNYC communications network that replaced payphones in New York City with kiosks that provide Wi-Fi, device charging and connections to city services.

Confusing broadband bills and a lack of competition "make it difficult for consumers to budget and compare prices with alternative service options," said Consumer Reports in a report Thursday. The group reviewed more than 22,000 consumer broadband bills and received speed tests from study participants. More than 18,000 bills with an internet price identified had an average monthly cost of high-speed internet was $74.99, the group said, saying bundles, discounts and other fees contribute to billing confusion. Consumer Reports also said the "overwhelming majority of bills" it reviewed "subscribed to the same ISP, or one of just two ISPs." A "large number of consumers" were found to have paid "as much or more for a sub-broadband plan" as those paying for advertised speeds of at least 300 Mbps. "While we expected some confusing bills, we were surprised to see how difficult it was for consumers to understand what they’re paying for and the frequency of hidden fees," said Senior Policy Counsel Jonathan Schwantes: "These findings should alarm policymakers and regulators about the lack of competition in the marketplace and the tactics providers deploy to increase profits.” The group recommended requiring the FCC's forthcoming broadband labels on "every monthly broadband bill" that are machine-readable, and data cap justifications. It also urged the FCC to "reassert its regulatory authority over the broadband internet service industry."

NTIA awarded more than $224 million in additional tribal broadband connectivity program support to 18 tribal entities Thursday. Tribes in Alaska, Arizona, California, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, South Dakota and Virginia received funding to reach 21,468 unserved tribal households, said a news release. NTIA said it plans to announce an additional notice of funding opportunity "in the coming months."

Routing 988 calls to the nearest call center is imperative, and the FCC needs to convene all the relevant stakeholders to hammer out problems surrounding 988 call relocation, the National Alliance on Mental Illness told an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, per an ex parte filing Thursday in docket 18-336.

The FCC committed nearly $84 million in additional Emergency Connectivity Fund support Wednesday (see 2211020074). The new funding will support more than 180 schools, 20 libraries and five consortiums from all three application windows, said a news release.

Fixed wireless/5G home internet services from T-Mobile and Verizon added about 920,000 subscribers in Q3, led by T-Mobile with 578,000, vs. 190,000 in the prior year, said a Tuesday Leichtman Research Group report. Over the past year, fixed wireless services had nearly 80% of the 3.3 million net broadband additions, said principal Bruce Leichtman. The largest cable companies, wireline phone providers and fixed wireless services acquired about 825,000 net additional broadband subscribers vs. 820,000 in the year-ago quarter, said the research firm. Cable companies added about 40,000 broadband subscribers in Q3 vs. 590,000 net adds in the year-ago quarter, while top wireline phone companies lost about 135,000 compared to 40,000 net adds in Q3 '21. Wireline telcos had 550,000 net adds and 685,000 non-fiber net losses, it said. Among wireline phone companies, AT&T lost 57,000 subscribers, Lumen lost 121,000 and Windstream lost 3,500, it said. Top cable companies have about 75.6 million broadband subscribers; wireline phone companies have over 32 million, and top fixed wireless services have 3.2 million, said LRG. Altice lost 53,000 subscribers in the quarter.