Citing "extraordinary demand for access to the Starlink non-geostationary orbit satellite system," SpaceX asked the FCC International Bureau to modify its blanket earth station license to bump authorized units from 1 million to 5 million. Friday's application said it hasn't advertised the broadband satellite constellation, but close to 700,000 people in all states over a few days registered interest. Its license was granted in March.

Comcast is picking up broadband subscribers faster than expected even as cord cutting accelerates, analysts said Thursday after the company released results. Its cable business is doing well financially, while NBCUniversal will continue to suffer until there's a COVID-19 vaccine, Craig Moffett of MoffettNathanson wrote investors. Comcast said it was its best Q2 for broadband adds in 13 years, with 323,000. That doesn't count more than 600,000 "high risk" or free Internet Essential customers, it said. It ended the quarter with 19.47 million residential video customers, down 1.17 million year over year; 27.22 million residential broadband customers, up 1.59 million; 9.7 million residential voice customers, down 310,000; and 2.39 million wireless lines, up 807,000. Comcast said its Peacock streaming service, launched in April and taken nationwide in July, has netted 10 million sign-ups. Revenue was $23.72 billion, down 12%.

Comments are due Aug. 5, replies Sept. 4 on an NPRM on 5G backhaul and deployment of broadband services to aircraft, ships and other uses in 70/80/90 GHz, approved by FCC members 5-0 in June (see 2006090060). Dockets include 20-133, says Monday's Federal Register.

With broadband growth flat, the next ISP revenue growth opportunity is value-added services, blogged Parks Associates' David Drury Thursday. Adoption rate for stand-alone internet service grew from 34% in 2017 to 42% in Q1, said the analyst. Average service rates grew 36% from Q1 2012 to Q3 2019 to $60 monthly. That compares with average monthly rate growth from $107 to $127 for TV and internet service. “Providers have generally used [value-added services] VAS as a marketing tool to attract and retain subscribers," said Drury, so for them to successfully make the transition to a revenue-producing source, "companies need a clear understanding of the gaps in consumer satisfaction and demand for strategic and successful VAS deployments." VAS has little impact on ISPs’ average revenue per user because speed is the primary driver of ARPU, said Drury.

Now that the comment cycle is complete, move on proposals to allow TV white spaces (TVWS) devices to operate with higher power in less-congested areas, Microsoft and other commenters asked the FCC. Others continue to raise concerns (see 2005050033). Replies were posted through Wednesday in docket 20-36 on an NPRM that commissioners approved 5-0 in February (see 2002280055). Make the changes discussed in the NPRM but address other changes in future items, Microsoft replied. There's broad support for TVWS changes from service providers, tech companies, businesses and schools in rural areas and public interest organizations, the company said: “The record also demonstrates that the proposed rule changes will accelerate the pace of TVWS deployments and significantly improve the ability of TVWS technology to narrow the digital divide.” There's broad agreement “more robust rules” here “would improve connectivity in rural, tribal, and other unserved and underserved areas,” the Public Interest Spectrum Coalition said. New America’s Open Technology Institute, Public Knowledge, Consumer Reports, Access Humboldt, Next Century Cities, Common Cause, the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition and Benton Institute for Broadband and Society were among those on the filing. “Limit this proceeding to the narrow set of proposals set forth in the NPRM” and don't “consider extraneous requests that would dramatically expand those proposals or effectively rewrite Part 15 of the Commission’s rules,” NAB said. Some would expand the proceeding to consider “areas that have already been fully debated and where there have been no new developments that would warrant changes,” the group said. The National Public Safety Telecommunications Council endorsed the changes in general for rural areas, seeking companion tweaks for private land mobile radio operations on TV channels 14-20. NPSTC is “simply seeking to maintain an equivalent level of protection to that offered today,” the group said: “The proposed doubling of the allowed TVWS antenna height will have a significant effect on the separation distance needed to maintain an equivalent level of protection” to public land mobile radio operations. Wireless mic makers kept up their concerns. “Refine the movable platforms proposal by narrowing the scope of eligible vehicles and accounting for antenna height and directionality in the design of the rules,” Shure said: “Retain the less congested areas framework while rejecting impractical/computationally intensive alternative proposals centered around population density and/or terrain-based modeling.”

FCC members past and present want action on further using TV white spaces. Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Jessica Rosenworcel plus ex-member Mignon Clyburn spoke at a webinar. "It can happen this year," O'Rielly said of an FCC TVWS vote. He said the issue has the support of his colleagues but with all the other items on the agenda, it's a matter of priority. Having a statutory deadline helps, said Rosenworcel. O'Rielly preferred to defer to Congress, saying such guidance could be an impetus. Commissioners 5-0 approved an NPRM in February seeking comment on proposals to allow devices to operate with higher power in less-congested areas. The FCC declined to comment now. Morgan Reed, president of Tuesday's webinar host ACT|The App Association, said Congress should give the FCC the resources it needs. "We need every type of broadband infrastructure at our disposal" to ensure the U.S. can be connected affordably, Clyburn said. "Whatever's decided is not going to be perfect." The FCC must be mindful of harmful interference and do what it can to promote flexibility, she said: Regulatory certainty could help encourage equipment manufacturers to "do what they promised." There aren't "funding mechanisms for some of these investments" in precision agriculture or telehealth, said Nicol Turner Lee, Brookings Institution Center for Technology Innovation senior fellow. "Maybe we should move past some of these patchworks to fund these smaller projects."

Cable and phone MVPDs added 1.16 million broadband subscribers in Q1, the most since Q1 2015, reported Leichtman Research Group Wednesday. That compared with 955,000 subscribers in Q1 2019. Leading broadband providers have 102.4 million subscribers: top cable companies have 69.2 million; top wireline phone companies, 33.2 million, LRG said. Top cable companies had the most quarterly net additions for cable broadband services in 13 years, said analyst Bruce Leichtman. Comcast added 477,000 subscribers, to 29.1 million; Charter added 582,000, to 27.2 million. AT&T lost 74,000, to 15.3 million; Verizon added 26,000, to 6.9 million.

The FCC Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology certified Amdocs as an administrator for the citizens broadband radio service band spectrum access system. This covers the contiguous U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and Guam. A second Tuesday public notice greenlit Federated Wireless, already an accepted SAS in those areas, for American Samoa.

The growth in peak data traffic nationally seems to be slowing and, in some places, plateauing, NCTA said Wednesday. National downstream peak growth remains flat for the second consecutive week, up 0.65% last week, while national upstream peak growth continues to decelerate for the second consecutive week, it said. Upstream growth of 0.71% last week compares with increases of 4% and 7% the previous two weeks, it said.

Cable operators have been adding residential broadband share for a decade, and the pace picked up during the pandemic, when people are highly reliant on the service, New Street Research's Jonathan Chaplin wrote investors Tuesday. He said that trend isn't expected to reverse. Residential trends will face some headwinds from the recession, as household formations slow, pay TV declines, business failures accelerate and advertising drops, the analyst said. Residential broadband should grow through the recession, and cable is well positioned to take advantage of that, he said. Charter Communications reported it added 119,000 internet subscribers in March due to its 60-day free offer for new customers with students or educators in the household. The cabler said residential internet connects, excluding the free offer, also were up this March over March 2019.