Comcast fired 500 employees right before the holidays while simultaneously claiming its new tax cut would help boost employment. Insiders tell The Philadelphia Inquirer that Comcast managers, supervisors, and direct sales people in Chicago, Florida, and other parts of Comcast’s Central region were terminated just ten days before Christmas.

The FCC has formally released the final draft of its misleadingly-named "Restoring Internet Freedom" net neutrality repeal. The final version can be found here (pdf) for those interested, though it closely mirrors the draft proposal that had already been released back in November (pdf).

Startup millimeter wave wireless ISP Starry says the company has launched its speedy service in limited portions of Washington DC and Los Angeles. The company emerged in 2016 in a flurry of hype without a whole lot to show for it aside from a semi-sexy router.

Microsoft is once-again hyping the company's white space broadband technology as a way to inexpensively connect many rural Americans to better broadband. White Space broadband rides on the unlicensed spectrum freed by the migration to digital television.

The shift toward unlimited data has unsurprisingly resulted in consumers using more data, according to a new study. A new report from the NPD Group, the average US smartphone user now consumes a total of 31.4 GB of data on a monthly basis (note however that data includes both WiFi and cellular data).

• FCC releases final net neutrality repeal order, three weeks after vote [arstechnica.com]

• Boston startup Starry expands its wireless broadband beta service to LA and DC [theverge.com]

• Can municipal broadband save the open internet? [techcrunch.com]

• AT&T VP: Fiber Is at 'Core of Our Network' [broadbandworldnews.com]

• #MobileOnly Movement Targets FCC's Broadband Plans [lightreading.com]

• Comcast fired 500 despite claiming tax cut would create thousands of jobs [philly.com]

• AT&T's Mobile 5G Plan Leaves as Many Questions as Answers [lightreading.com]

• The FCC Disqualified a Bunch of Rural Communities from Receiving Internet Funding After Big Telecom Said They Already Have Internet [Motherboard @ vice.com]

• Google, Starry, NYC face off against big carriers over proposed 3.5 GHz CBRS rule changes [fiercewireless.com]

FCC boss Ajit Pai has been forced to cancel a scheduled appearance at CES this week after he allegedly received death threats. Pai may just be the most-despised man on the internet after his agency ignored the public, ignored the experts, and voted to kill net neutrality rules last month at the behest of AT&T, Verizon and Comcast lobbyists.

The Fort Collins, Colorado city council has voted to move forward with a plan to bring cheap gigabit broadband to the city. Fort Collins is one of a growing number of cities tired of the high prices, slow speeds, and awful customer service courtesy of limited competition.

Sure, the fifth generation (5G) wireless standard isn't fully cooked yet and serious commercial deployment of truly certified gear isn't expected until 2020, but that's not slowing down carrier hype in the slightest. AT&T this week announced that it's planning to launch mobile 5G service in a dozen US markets before the end of the year.