Commerce Secretary Lutnick looks to make BEAD more technology neutral; LiveOak Fiber & Seimitsu announce a strategic partnership for network expansion in Georgia; Shareholder approval for Charter’s acquisition of Liberty Broadband & tests are underway using AI to power closed-caption translation.  Those stories & more on This Week in the Broadband Universe.

Former FCC Chairman Michael Powell retires as President & CEO of NCTA; CPUC awards $9 Million for last mile broadband projects; Nexstar ordered to pay millions for fraudulently collected retransmission fees; Positive Q4 earnings for Frontier & Paramount+ & yet another under-sea fiber cable cut near Taiwan. Those stories & more on This Week in the Broadband Universe.

Sabotage of another sub-sea fiber optic cable; Telecom providers flock toward AI, creating a boom in data center expansion; A new research hub for AST SpaceMobile & A new Wi-Fi implementation guide for the global wireless ecosystem. Those Stories & more on This Week in the Broadband Universe.

$32.6 Million in CPF funding for Mississippi broadband projects; Proposed legislation in Washington State would limit recipients of certain broadband grants; Oral arguments are scheduled in the Universal Service Fund case before the Supreme Court & a temporary hold on the Paramount – YouTube TV spat. Those stories & more on This Week in the Broadband Universe.

I very much enjoyed catching up with NATE President & CEO Todd Schlekeway for a preview of the 30th Annual NATE UNITE Conference, slated for February 17-20 in Raleigh, NC. Thanks Todd for all you & the team at NATE do to keep our industry safe!

$48 Million in Last Mile Broadband grants awarded in California; NATO responds to the latest incident of underwater data cable sabotage; Big video subscriber losses for Comcast & Charter; AST SpaceMobile gets FCC approval for testing & The Department of Justice sues to halt HPE’s acquisition of Juniper Networks. Those stories & more on This Week in the Broadband Universe.