Broadband Bytes
We round up all the broadband news that matters, so you don't have to.
Every week, over 500 broadband advocates, providers, community leaders, and services providers turn to CBAN's weekly industry roundup, Broadband Bytes.
Broadband Bytes is the place to find original stories and a curated selection of the most important developments concerning our members, news and policy, and the overall effort to bring true high-speed broadband Internet access to rural and under-served communities across the United States.
Recently in Broadband Bytes
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Iowa Emerges as AI Backbone Hub with Midwest FiberPath’s 1,200-Mile Fiber Corridor
An Iowa start-up, Midwest FiberPath, LLC has announced plans for a 1,200-mile, multi-conduit long-haul backbone engineered to support the explosive bandwidth demands of artificial intelligence workloads and hyperscale cloud computing across the central United States.
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Nextlink Expands Rural Service Bundle with New Mobile Offering
Nextlink Internet, a major fixed wireless and fiber provider serving rural communities across the Midwest and South, has launched Nextlink Mobile, adding mobile phone service to its broadband portfolio.
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A Million Satellites? Seriously?
Always one to “aim high,” Elon Musk has outdone himself with this latest venture. As Eric Urbach expertly detailed in his recent Broadband Breakfast article, SpaceX filed an application with the FCC on January 30th requesting authorization to deploy up to ONE MILLION satellites in low Earth orbit to function as orbital data centers for AI computing. Thats right, he wants to move SkyNet from fiction to reality (if it’s not already on its way).
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AT&T to Buy Lumen’s Home Fiber Business: What You Need to Know
AT&T has finalized a $5.75 billion agreement to acquire Lumen Technologies’ “Mass Markets” fiber business. The deal, which includes the Quantum Fiber brand, will see AT&T take over operations across 11 states, gaining access to millions of existing and planned fiber locations in major hubs like Denver, Phoenix, and Seattle.
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The Sky Is Getting Crowded: Starlink’s $50 Pivot and the New Reality for Community Broadband
Has Starlink moved from a “boutique” broadband solution to a real competitor to community-focused providers?
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ImOn Communications Upgrades Cedar Rapids Area Hybrid Network to 100% Fiber-to-the-Home Internet
ImOn Communications is finalizing its shift to a 100% fiber-to-the-home network in Cedar Rapids, Marion, and Hiawatha. The upgrade replaces legacy coax infrastructure to deliver the region’s fastest residential internet speeds of up to 5 Gbps.
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UTOPIA Fiber 2025 Survey
Reliability, Speed, and “No Contract Prison”: UTOPIA Fiber Unveils 2025 Survey Results
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CBAN Appoints Curtis Dean as First Full-Time Executive Director
CBAN has selected co-founder Curtis Dean as its first full-time Executive Director! Discover how this leadership transition will expand our capacity to support over 240 members nationwide as we navigate the future of broadband deployment and BEAD funding.
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When BEAD’s Satellite Solution Becomes a Single Point of Failure
The “CRASH Clock” stands at just 2.8 days. That is how close we are to a potential orbital catastrophe without active collision avoidance. Despite this fragility, new analysis reveals how NTIA’s BEAD funding rules have effectively forced states to bet rural America’s digital future on satellite infrastructure—against their own better judgment. Read how the “Benefit of the Bargain” became a devil’s bargain for broadband resilience.
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Broadband news from around the industry, created and curated, delivered weekly.