AT&T Seeks Fiber Expansion, States Still Have Muni Network Barriers, Ziply Buy Comments

October 24, 2022 – Bloomberg reported Wednesday that AT&T is working to create a joint venture to invest billions of dollars in a fiber network expansion in the country.

Citing anonymous sources, Bloomberg said AT&T is working with Morgan Stanely to invest $10 billion to $15 billion to bring in on an infrastructure partner, which it said it could find by this year or next, the story said.

The plan is to move fiber-to-the-home infrastructure into new underserved markets, said AT&T CEO John Stankey, according to Bloomberg.

BroadbandNow tallies 17 states with restrictions on municipal broadband

Seventeen states still have barriers to municipal broadband projects, which could jeopardize their pursuit of billions in federal infrastructure dollars, according to a Sunday report from data aggregation company BroadbandNow.

Specifically, those states may have a hard time getting any of the $42.5 billion from the Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment program, a pot of money created out of infrastructure legislation by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The BEAD program bars states from rejecting considerations for municipal builds.

BroadbandNow, a sponsor of Broadband Breakfast, said the laws could restrict the expansion of public broadband networks, limit public funds to public-private partnerships, or force municipalities to sell broadband under a wholesale-only model. This makes municipal broadband projects difficult to initiate for states, it said.

FCC seeking comments on Ziply-PriorityOne acquisition

The Federal Communications Commission said in a public notice Friday that it is seeking comments on an application by Ziply Fiber to acquire PriorityOne by November 4.

Ziply is proposing to acquire the rights, property and assets from PriorityOne, which will result in “continued expansion of PriorityOne’s fiber-based service to more business and residential customers across the state of Oregon,” the applicants said, according to the notice.

Reply comments are due on November 14.