Akamai experienced “continued high levels” of internet traffic in Q4 for over-the-top video services and downloads of e-gaming software, CEO Tom Leighton told a quarterly call Tuesday. The platform's traffic reached a record of 181 Tbps Nov. 10, 50% higher than any 2019 peak, he said. “As life returns to a more normalized pre-pandemic state, we do not expect to see our traffic on our platform decrease,” said Chief Financial Officer Ed McGowan. “The pandemic has accelerated consumer usage of the internet in areas like OTT video, gaming and e-commerce, and we believe this usage pattern will likely persist.” Akamai expects traffic to continue to grow in 2021 “at a rate more in line with pre-2020 historical levels,” he said. The stock closed 10.9% lower Wednesday at $105.10.

Qualcomm's 5G X65 modem includes Globalstar's band n53, Globalstar said Tuesday. It's "a significant milestone in our efforts to commercialize our spectrum in the U.S. and all other countries where we have or expect to obtain terrestrial authority," said Globalstar Vice President-Strategy Kyle Pickens.

Comcast is pausing -- but not halting -- rollout of its 1.2 TB data plan across a variety of Eastern and Northeastern states (see 2011230037), it said Wednesday. The rollout set to happen in March is being delayed to give customers "additional time to become familiar with the new plan," Comcast emailed. It said the soonest that customers who exceed 1.2 TB of data could see overage charges is the August bill. Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro (D) said he negotiated with Comcast to delay implementation of the overage charges and a waiver of the early termination fee for customers who opt out this year.

Nearly 22 million older Americans lack home broadband, reported Older Adults Technology Services Wednesday. Black and Latino older Americans are 2.6 and 2.4 times, respectively, more likely to be offline than their white counterparts, it said. “America is failing to close the digital gap for older adults," said Executive Director Thomas Kamber. And 40% of older Americans who died of COVID-19 lacked access to online resources. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said lawmakers must "act to increase affordable access to broadband services and help millions of seniors stay engaged online.”

Verizon customers reported internet outages along the East Coast Tuesday, predominantly in the Northeast. Downdetector.com shows customers in the New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington areas most affected. Some took to Twitter to complain, prompting Verizon to respond that a fiber was cut in Brooklyn. Verizon didn't respond to our request for comment. An FCC spokesperson directed us to acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel's tweet that the Public Safety Bureau is "working to get to the bottom of what is going on."

Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks criticized the FCC releasing its annual broadband deployment report Tuesday, the day before a new administration entered the White House. Rosenworcel said that it "confounds logic" to say that broadband is being deployed to "all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion," citing the continued disparity for students participating in remote learning. The Telecom Act Section 706 report concluded that using a long-term goal for broadband connectivity of 1 Gbps per 1,000 students and staff was no longer a meaningful measure of progress because 99% of school districts met its short-term goal of 100 Mbps per 1,000 people. Starks said "patting ourselves on the back is particularly unseemly" and Chairman Ajit Pai's refusal to withdraw the document based on its not having legal significance is "plainly inconsistent" with the Telecom Act. Starks said the determination should have been left to the Biden administration. The agency found 3-2 that advanced telecom capability is being deployed on a reasonable and timely basis "based on compelling evidence." The gap between urban and rural Americans with access to 25/3 Mbps fixed broadband service fell to 16 percentage points at the end of 2019, and mobile providers offered 5G to nearly 60% of the population. The commission found a decrease of more than 20% in Americans without access to 25/3 Mbps. "These successes resulted from forward-thinking policies that removed barriers to infrastructure investment and promoted competition and innovation," Pai said in his last full day as FCC chief. Commissioner Brendan Carr said that the report "confirms that our efforts have enabled the private sector to build out high-speed internet infrastructure at an unprecedented pace." Commissioner Nathan Simington didn't issue a statement.

Consider alternatives to verify providers' eligibility for the emergency broadband relief fund due to "the shortcomings of the National Verifier database," digital and civil rights groups led by Public Knowledge told FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, per a filing posted Tuesday in docket 20-445. Free Press, MediaJustice, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and Gigi Sohn of the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy participated. Set criteria for new entrants that encourage "participation by a broad array of providers," including noneligible telecom carriers, the groups recommended, and include periodic reporting so Universal Service Administrative Co. can track how much funding remains available throughout the program and a method for notifying program participants about their eligibility for Lifeline services. The groups raised concerns about public awareness of the fund and recommended the commission use some administrative funds for marketing campaigns (see 2101070052). Adopt "plug and play" materials to inform and reach eligible participants, they said. Starks has been meeting with such groups on their recommendations.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., acknowledged that he and ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., will switch roles, and he said his priorities will include broadband. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will tip the Senate to Democratic control after the party’s winners in runoffs for Georgia’s two seats -- Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock -- are sworn in as soon as next week (see 2101060055). Wicker said Monday he hoped for the “same level of cooperation … across party lines” in the Senate as there was the last time the chamber was tied during part of 2001. “The close margin ... means it will be difficult to pass legislation without bipartisan support,” Wicker said. “This should discourage lawmakers from pushing far-left proposals that do not enjoy broad consensus.” He didn’t commit to unilaterally supporting President-elect Joe Biden’s nominees for FCC seats and other roles, saying he “opposed nominations in the past, and I will support only those nominees who I believe are qualified.” Wicker said that as ranking member, "one of my top priorities continues to be expanding broadband to rural communities. Lawmakers from both parties understand the importance of delivering high-speed internet to every community in America, and I will lead efforts in Congress to expedite making that vision a reality.” He also plans to “keep advocating for data privacy legislation that protects consumers’ personal information.”

House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J.; Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa.; and Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Calif., pressed Comcast and eight other ISPs Monday on whether they raised or plan to raise their prices. “Some companies have already started to abandon the policies they adopted in the early days of the pandemic” via the Keep Americans Connected pledge, which expired June 30, the lawmakers said in letters to heads of Comcast, Altice, AT&T, Lumen's CenturyLink, Charter, Cox, Frontier, T-Mobile and Verizon. “Broadband networks seem to have largely withstood” major shifts in usage, but “what cannot be overlooked or underestimated is the extent to which families without home internet service -- particularly those with school-aged children at home -- have been left out.” The Democrats cited Comcast’s expansion of its 1.2 TB monthly data plan (see 2011230037), “an egregious action at a time when households and small businesses across the country need high-speed, reliable broadband more than ever.” The lawmakers pressed the ISPs to say how many customers they have disconnected since the beginning of March and whether they intend to “extend bill due dates, waive fees, or provide service at no cost.” AT&T "has been at the forefront of keeping our customers and communities connected, working to close the homework gap and bridge the digital divide by making broadband more accessible and affordable," a spokesperson emailed: "We are reviewing the letter" and plan to "provide a response." Charter has “been working tirelessly since the beginning of the pandemic to meet growing connectivity demands and expand service to help people and institutions respond to the pandemic crisis,” a spokesperson said. “As of the end of July, we had already: connected nearly 450,000 students, teachers, and their families at speeds of up to 200 Mbps broadband service for 60 days at no cost; kept nearly 700,000 customers connected and forgiven $85 million in customers’ overdue balances when they had a hard time paying bills due to COVID-related hardship; and taken steps to support small businesses, including offering one month of free service, providing helpful online tools, suspending collections, and not charging late fees or terminating service for small business customers. Moreover, we’ve done all of this without imposing data caps, usage-based pricing, or early termination fees on our customers.” CenturyLink “will be responding,” a spokesperson said. The other ISPs didn’t comment Monday.

Beta test pricing of SpaceX's Starlink-delivered broadband service seems to be roughly the same in Canada and the U.K as in the U.S., California State University-Dominguez Hills information systems professor Larry Press blogged Thursday. He said SpaceX is seeking permission to operate in numerous nations; it has affiliates in at least five European nations, with one affiliate having subsidiaries in other European nations.