Week of August 26–31, 2024Telecom Intelligence: Week of August 26, 2024
August closed with the state flexing on the network stack from two directions. Brazil's Supreme Court ordered X suspended nationwide after Musk refused to appoint a legal representative — and reached for Starlink's assets to enforce it, entangling a satellite network in a social-media fight. In Washington, the FCC finalized the framework for its $9 billion 5G Fund, redirecting rural subsidy money toward mobile broadband in the places carriers won't build on their own. And Verizon quietly opened a new front in the satellite race, launching direct-to-device text messaging with Skylo — making satellite connectivity a live consumer feature on all three national carriers' roadmaps.