An FCC proposal to require cable companies to separately state a charge for cable modems is “unnecessary, legally flawed, and would be contrary to consumer interest," said Charter Communications in a meeting with staff from the Media Bureau, Office of Strategic Planning and Policy and Office of General Counsel July 7. Charter “supplies and maintains modems at no additional charge in conjunction with its high-speed broadband service offering,” the cable company said in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 16-42. “The Commission’s proposed regulation of cable modems is unsupported by the record and exceeds the Commission’s authority.” Proposals by commenters in the proceeding to establish a case-by-case complaint process should be rejected, since they would lead to regulating prices through adjudication rather than rulemaking, the company said. Requiring providers to separately state a non-zero modem price would be “non-transparent and could actively harm consumers by creating a new fee that the vast majority of subscribers would need to pay,” said the cable ISP.

Regulation is a concern to cable ISPs, but the business has an advantage in broadband and cord cutting may not accelerate much, MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett wrote investors in a 35-page note Wednesday. The analyst firm expects what it called the traditional pay-TV base to contract about 1.2 percent annually. On the "new bugaboo in the otherwise rosy Cable Story" -- regulation -- Moffett said many questions remain, as the FCC net neutrality order deemed broadband a Communications Act Title II service. "Despite the FCC's promises that Title II is not inherently price regulatory, the path to price regulation is straightforward enough from here," the firm wrote. "But we're getting way ahead of ourselves. There are a staggering number of questions that would have to be answered before one can jump to an end game of price regulation." The firm has for a decade or so called broadband regulation "inevitable," and "we still think regulation is the big concern, and we still think that if you look out far enough, regulation is inevitable," wrote the analyst. "But regulatory risk cannot be called a permanent rally killer" in cable stock prices, he said.

American Airlines hired ViaSat to provide in-fight connectivity to the Boeing 737 Max fleet, ViaSat said in a news release Friday. It said the jets will use ViaSat's existing Ka-band capacity from ViaSat-1 and ViaSat-2, with ViaSat-3 -- expected to launch in 2019 -- adding to that.

The Broadband Forum embraced open source and standards development at a three-day meeting in Atlanta this week, it said in a news release Thursday. The forum includes major telecom companies from around the world including AT&T, Orange and Vodafone. At the meeting, the association said its board agreed the forum should “instigate new methods for rapid delivery of innovative software and standards for key use cases to the community of manufacturers, service providers and open-source organizations that replace traditional Standards Development Organization (SDO) approaches.” The forum plans to increase collaboration with industry groups developing open initiatives, including members and nonmembers, it said. “Perhaps the most important message is that while we have made significant strides towards 'agile, programmable and ultra-fast networks' in the last year, we need to dramatically extend and accelerate delivery of standards and software to enable the innovation the broadband industry needs,” forum CEO Robin Mersh said.

In-flight connectivity is more important than in-flight meals to most airline passengers, according to In-Flight Connectivity Survey results released Tuesday by Inmarsat and market research company GfK. Eighty-three percent choose an airline based on broadband availability, more than 60 percent are willing to pay for connectivity on flights, and 78 percent expect in-flight connectivity to replace in-flight entertainment within a decade, it said. Inmarsat said survey results came from more than 9,000 air passengers in Europe, Asia, Australasia, and Central and South America between August and March.

Mozilla announced $150,000 in grants for education tech projects in Austin, Texas, that take advantage of the city’s Google Fiber network. In August, Austin will join other cities with gigabit connectivity set to receive cash from the Mozilla Gigabit Community Fund, a joint initiative with the National Science Foundation and US Ignite, Mozilla said Tuesday on its blog. Mozilla also will establish Gigabit Hive Austin, a web literacy network of individuals, schools, nonprofits, museums and other local organizations, it said. “Selected from a list of contenders from across the country, Austin stood out due to its existing city-wide digital inclusion plan, active developer community, and growing informal education landscape,” Mozilla Executive Director Mark Surman said. “When you couple lightning-fast Internet with innovative projects in the realms of education and workforce development, amazing things can happen.” In other Mozilla Gigabit cities -- Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Kansas City, Missouri -- projects include real-time water monitoring systems and 3D learning tools for classrooms, Mozilla said. Applications for grants open in August and will be accepted through Oct. 18. Mozilla plans to expand to two more cities over the next two years, it said.

Sprint launched a free public Wi-Fi network in Kansas City, Missouri, covering the 2.2-mile KC Streetcar line through downtown. The network also will connect city services, including maps and visitor information, on 25 interactive kiosks along the streetcar line and downtown, and a smart lighting system and video sensors for public safety and security, said Sprint. Sprint partnered with Cisco on the smart city initiative. “Sprint Wi-Fi will help streamline city operations, generate economic development, and improve the quality of life for Kansas City residents,” said Tim Donahue, Sprint president-Kansas and Missouri, in a news release.

Comcast is testing a 1 TB per month data allowance plan, an amount "so high that most of our customers will never have to think about how much data they use," said Marcien Jenckes, Comcast Cable executive vice president-Consumer Services, in a blog post Wednesday. A terabyte "is far more than most of our customers will ever use in a month," Jenckes said, saying its typical data customer uses 60 GB/month. "What can you do with a terabyte? You can stream about 700 hours of HD video, play 12,000 hours of online games, and download 60,000 high-res photos in a month," Jenckes said. Comcast said all data plans in its unnamed trial markets will go from 300 GB to 1 TB by June 1, regardless of speed, while customers who want more than 1 TB can sign up for unlimited plans or buy data in 50 GB increments. AT&T said in March that by May 23, most customers would automatically see increases in their monthly data allowance plans that range from 300 GB to 1 TB (see 1603290065)

The Wireless Broadband Alliance unveiled its Hope for Connectivity charter, which defines the focus of the first World Wi-Fi Day. The charter "directs the attention of cities, government bodies, fixed and mobile operators, technology vendors and Internet giants towards the critical influence and success of wireless connectivity in bridging the digital divide,” the alliance said Wednesday. “It calls on governments, the industry and the public to recognize and celebrate the important role of Wi-Fi in socioeconomic development and to advance and accelerate affordable connectivity for the unconnected around the world.” World Wi-Fi Day is scheduled for June 20. AT&T, Boingo Wireless, BT, China Telecom, Cisco, Google, Nokia, Intel, Liberty Global, Orange, Ruckus, Tata Teleservices and the Wi-Fi Alliance are among the groups and companies supporting the charter, the alliance said in a news release. Hope is an acronym for help, offer, promote and engage, it said.

More than 10 terabytes of data were uploaded and downloaded inside Levi’s Stadium during the Super Bowl, said Comcast, which provided the dual 10 Gbps connections for the stadium’s Wi-Fi network. The record data consumption was equivalent to streaming 6,000-plus hours of HD video or nearly 1.2 million 2 megabyte images, the cable ISP said Tuesday. More than half of the volume was generated by the Super Bowl 50 Stadium app, which allowed users to order food, check scores and watch Super Bowl commercials and replays, it said.