Jeff Baumgartner joins the podcast to discuss Frontier's YouTube TV bundle and what the competitive implications are of that decision.

With demands for BEAD on the horizon, CommScope has expanded its US-based fiber optic cable manufacturing capacity and launched a lighter-weight fiber called 'HeliARC' that's optimized for rural deployments.

Open interfaces will certainly aid specialists but it's hard to see how they will necessarily bring diversity, despite what proponents and government figures say.

Vodafone is shutting down its proprietary RCS platform and instead relying on Google to support business and consumer RCS based messaging services in future.

'We are downgrading Dish,' wrote the financial analysts at UBS in a report to investors this week. They aren't alone, and the list of reasons for the downgrades is long.

The FCC's new National Broadband Map debuted in November and – as the basis for the BEAD program – will define the future of broadband access in the US. Here's the backstory on how we got here, challenges thus far and why an accurate map matters.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: AI axes jobs; VMO2 does pay-per-view deal with DAZN; more mid-contract price-rise mayhem.

The EU's planned Data Act legislation, intended to facilitate the sharing and transferring of data, has advanced to the next stage of negotiations between EU bodies.

Comcast and companies associated with OpenSync have contributed a new, more powerful Wi-Fi software manager for the RDK-B stack to help manage broadband gateways, Wi-Fi access points and Wi-Fi extenders.

Disney's metaverse unit, which had about 50 employees, was among the casualties in a larger wave of layoffs at the media giant, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Founder and CEO Khalid Raza said industry interest in Graphiant's network edge service 'has been much faster than what we saw with MPLS at Cisco or SD-WAN with Viptela. Graphiant has hit a nerve.'

ACA Connects' Brian Hurley joins the podcast to discuss the group's BEAD funding framework – a national analysis of how far funding from the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program will go, and a state-by-state breakdown of how those funds can be used for fiber.

According to the financial analysts at New Street Research, T-Mobile isn't afraid to 'spend some political and financial capital to demonstrate that it has a strong argument' for its 5G spectrum.

Alibaba restructure follows Jack Ma's return to China after lengthy absence.

Building on a recent string of network expansion plans, Google Fiber's latest market target will pit it against area incumbents Cox Communications and Lumen/CenturyLink.

Amazon is making a renewed effort to put Sidewalk on the map, announcing Tuesday that it's opening this network to outside developers and offering them free test kits to check its coverage.

The new Comcast Smart Solutions unit is expanding tech and service ecosystem to support its goal of being a one-stop-shop for IoT services tailored for municipalities, retailers, campuses and other businesses.

Paradise Mobile, which is planning to build a 5G network in Bermuda, said it will run its network operations almost completely within the AWS cloud.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Ericsson does 5G fast in the Faroe Islands; Telia explores 5G for healthcare; French government kills the phone fun.

M&A opportunities have been few and far between, but Charter has reportedly struck a deal to acquire Bee Line Cable, a family-owned operator serving parts of central Maine.