Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) signed a bill to set up a state broadband office and a council and governing board, and to create a broadband grant program and revolving fund (see 2204290033). Stitt signed HB-3363 Friday.

As its video service withers away, Cable One is considering what other products to bundle with its broadband, CEO Julie Laulis said on a call with analysts Thursday after the company announced Q1 results. She didn't commit to Cable One pursuing mobile. She said the company isn't facing big competition from fixed wireless. Revenue for the quarter was $426.7 million, up $85.4 million year over year, with nearly $77 million of that revenue from its Hargray and CableAmerica acquisitions at 2021's end. Cable One ended Q1 with 962,000 residential data primary service units, up 163,000 year over year; 225,000 residential video PSUs, down 14,000; and 102,000 residential voice PSUs, up 15,000. Laulis said broadband customer growth is returning to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels. She said 45% of new broadband customers are selecting speeds at or above 300 Mbps.

Hughes ended Q1 with 1.4 million broadband subscribers, down 150,000 year over year, with subscriber numbers in Latin America down due to the economy and capacity allocation to community Wi-Fi and enterprise customers, it said Thursday announcing its quarterly results. Revenue for the quarter was $501.5 million, up $19 million year over year, with higher equipment sales more than offsetting lower service revenue due to the drop in broadband consumer subscribers. It said its Jupiter 3/EchoStar XXIV satellite is expected to be launched in the first quarter of 2023.

The Hawaii legislature passed a bill to require public housing built, renovated or reconstructed after Jan. 1 to have access to broadband, not counting wireless. The House and Senate unanimously passed SB-2479 Tuesday after it went through a conference committee. The bill says broadband service doesn’t “include wireless network infrastructure or facilities used to provide wireless services over a licensed spectrum.” SB-2479 goes next to Gov. David Ige (D).

Senate Public Works Committee ranking member Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., filed the Rural Broadband Protection Act (S-4126) Tuesday in a bid to change FCC vetting rules for participants in USF high-cost programs. The measure would require the FCC to “initiate a rulemaking proceeding to establish a vetting process” for USF high-cost applicant ISPs, including requiring them to provide “sufficient detail and documentation for the Commission to ascertain that the applicant possesses the technical capability, and has a reasonable plan, to deploy the proposed network.” The FCC would be required to evaluate new applications based on “reasonable and well-established technical standards,” including those the commission adopted for its Form 477 Data Program “for purposes of entities that must report broadband availability coverage.” Meetings with “small rural service providers and state and local officials in West Virginia … made it abundantly clear the FCC needs congressional direction to ensure taxpayer money is being used properly to fund broadband deployment in rural areas,” Capito said in a statement. “By verifying that providers can actually deliver on the promises made to bring high-speed internet to specific areas, we can maximize the influx of broadband dollars.” Capito’s office cited support from NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield.

Reject cable opposition to a digital equity bill that would require the California Public Utilities Commission to adopt rules on equal access to broadband, said former California Senate Majority Leader Richard Polanco (D) Tuesday. The Assembly Judiciary Committee advanced AB-2753 to the Appropriations Committee later at the livestreamed hearing. “The cable industry has a place and is a stakeholder,” but “we are facing incredible disproportionate impacts in our local communities,” said Polanco, representing the California Emerging Technology Fund. “The data is very clear that there is a red line” in broadband deployment, he said. California Cable and Telecommunications Association Vice President-Governmental Affairs Bernie Orozco responded, “No one has done more for broadband deployment and adoption than the cable industry.” Polanco’s redlining claims are “upsetting,” he said. “I would love to see the studies that show that there is redlining.” CCTA says AB-2753 could lead to much litigation and duplicates existing FCC and CPUC proceedings (see 2204070028). Incumbent ISP opposition is typical, said committee Chair Mark Stone (D). "The providers cannot sit there and say we're doing everything when in fact they've been for years blocking a lot of these efforts to truly get broadband where it’s needed the most."

USTelecom, AT&T, Lumen, Verizon, Consolidated and Windstream told FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau staff that consumer broadband labels should be "tailored to meet their purpose," said an ex parte posted Thursday in docket 22-2. The ISPs had "concerns" about calls to include a label on monthly bills, saying it "would be burdensome and costly to providers without any real benefit to consumers." They also repeated calls to avoid "esoteric metrics that are meaningless to the average consumer" and said the FCC should "educate consumers on what speeds support their planned activities" (see 2203250053).

Wireless needs to be part of the broadband equation as the government awards money to build infrastructure approved under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (see 2204180045), said CTIA in a statement. “Fixed wireless is emerging as a consumer favorite for home broadband, and those same 5G signals can connect school buses, farm tractors, first responders and an array of mobile solutions,” the group said: “When you factor in the cost and speed of deployment, we’re confident that NTIA and the states will recognize that a truly connected nation requires a mix of technologies, including wireless.”

Arkansas can bring broadband to 110,000 unserved homes that don’t currently receive Rural Digital Opportunity Fund support, said a state report released Monday by Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R). Arkansas has 210,000 unserved households, with 100,000 of them covered by an RDOF grant, the governor’s office said. “I look forward to expedited progress as we put into operation the recommendations,” Hutchinson said. Arkansas Commerce Secretary Mike Preston said “we now have a roadmap and a detailed plan to fill the remaining gaps of the underserved areas of our state.” Arkansas will continue partnerships with ISPs, electric cooperatives, the legislature and other stakeholders, “taking recommendations from this plan and updating the broadband rules,” he said. Also Monday, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb (R) said the state will spend $189 million on 14 broadband infrastructure expansion projects in the third round of the state’s broadband grant program. It will cover about 52,900 homes and commercial locations in 80 counties, Holcomb’s office said. Adding to the state’s investment, 35 telecom providers and electric cooperatives committed about $239 million in matching funds, it said. Indiana grants included $13.6 million to Comcast, $6.1 million to AT&T, $2.9 million to Mediacom and $2.2 million to Frontier Communications.

Objecting to a proposed ISP challenge process, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) vetoed a Republican state broadband bill that would narrow what areas may receive grants but not limit by speed what projects could get money (see 2202240041). The challenge process in SB-365 would let ISPs “block competition in rural and outlying areas of the state for up to two years by interfering with grants to other providers, potentially leaving residents with no service, inadequate service, or unaffordable service for a longer period,” Evers said in a Friday veto message: “Now is not the time to grant a competitive advantage to providers that have chosen not to deliver this service to these communities.” Evers also objected to codifying the speed definition of unserved areas, which the bill defines as places where no provider has service with 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload speeds. “Broadband technology is evolving at a rapid pace and defining the speed of broadband service that leaves an individual as ‘unserved’ in state statute could leave the Public Service Commission unable to make necessary updates” to the state’s grant program quickly, the governor said. SB-365 sponsor Sen. Howard Marklein (R), Senate President Chris Kapenga (R) and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) didn’t comment Monday.