TV cord cutting is already occurring at the fastest rate on record, and Wall Street research firm Kagan predicts that the the cable industry will lose another 10.8 million more subscribers by 2021. That will still leave the traditional cable industry with 82.3 million subscribers, but that would be a massive 20% reduction from the industry's peak. In contrast, the firm predicts that streaming options like Sling TV and Playstation Vue will quickly begin to go "mainstream," and have 11 million users collectively by 2021.

One of those "fortifications" against the rising cord cutting tide would be to actually seriously compete on price, something major cable operators love to pay lip service to, but still have struggled to adopt. Charter, for example, has been raising cable TV rates upwards of 40% in the wake of its acquisition of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks. As a result, Charter lost another 100,000 traditional pay TV customers last quarter.

Analysts estimate that the pay TV sector lost a record 762,000 pay-TV subscribers last quarter -- roughly five times more than the total number of lost subscribers during the same quarter the year before. Dish Network lost 143,000 subscribers, even when the company's Sling TV additions were figured in. AT&T lost 266,000 subscribers during the same period, again not offset by additions to its DirecTV Now streaming service.

Mediacom has launched a major renovation of the company's support centers in the hopes of shoring up the company's traditionally horrible reputation for customer service (see our user reviews). Mediacom is technically ranked as the worst cable TV company in America according to the latest ratings by the American Customer Service Index.

• Race to offer consumers a 'quad play' making M&A mayhem [nypost.com]

• Analyst Angle: 5G fixed wireless access for wireless fiber broadband in U.S. urban markets [rcrwireless.com]

• More than 40 ISPs Across the Country Tell Chairman Pai to Not Repeal Network Neutrality and Maintain Title II Enforcement [eff.org]

• Deloitte Calls for $150B Fiber Infrastructure Investment for U.S. to Reach Full Digital Potential [telecompetitor.com]

• AT&T & Ericsson Stream 5G in Austin [lightreading.com]

• Who holds the 5G spectrum in major U.S. cities? [fiercewireless.com]

• Less than a week after FCC approves OneWeb’s request to deploy a global network of 720 satellites, the venture kicks off assembly line in France [fiercewireless.com]

• Ohio’s MCTV eschews DOCSIS 3.1 for FTTH [broadcastingcable.com]

• WOW expands in Ohio communities, begins ‘edge-out’ strategy [fiercecable.com]

T-Mobile today announced that the company has begun deploying faster speeds -- via LTE-U technology -- in select cities nationwide. A company announcement indicates that LTE-U -- which uses publicly available 5 GHz airwaves to bolster existing LTE capacity and speeds -- has gone live in six markets: Bellevue, WA; Brooklyn, NY; Dearborn, MI; Las Vegas, NV; Richardson, TX; and Simi Valley, CA.

Cox continues to slowly but surely expand unnecessary usage caps and overage fees. DSLReports.com readers in New Orleans have written in to note that Cox has informed them via e-mail that they'll soon be paying significantly more money for the exact-same service.

Cable providers have quietly pulled the plug on a plan they proposed to address concerns about the high cost of renting a cable box. You might recall that the former FCC last year proposed a new plan that would have required cable providers to offer their programming on third-party hardware -- without the need for a cable box.

A push to change telemarketing law to allow the use of "ringless voicemail" has been killed after fierce public opposition to the idea. A company named "All About the Message" and a number of other advertising companies had been petitioning the FCC to change the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) to allow the option, which would let telemarketers leave marketing voicemails in your inbox without your phone ringing. The TCPA currently prohibits such calls without the "prior express consent of the called party," a provision supporters insisted was "archaic" and needed changing.

But consumers weren't having it, and the FCC and other supporters of the effort received an earful.

As a result, All About the Message quietly withdrew its petition to the FCC in a very brief letter (pdf, hat tip Ars Technica).

The push had the support from the US Chamber of Commerce and Republican National Committee, which had tried to argue it was their first Amendment right to annoy consumers in this fashion. The FCC's failure to allow an exemption for ringless voicemail "would not only restrict an important form of non-intrusive communication; it would have serious consequences for the First Amendment rights of those engaged in political communication via telephone," claimed the RNC.

Sprint and Softbank have put any merger talk with T-Mobile on hold. Why? Charter and Comcast are apparently considering a deal of their own with the wireless company.

• Comcast increases Internet speeds in New Mexico [financial-news.co.uk]

• Sprint enters into exclusive talks with Charter and Comcast on wireless deal, merger discussions with T-Mobile put on hold [reuters.com]

• T-Mobile on 5G: Starting With 600MHz, Looking at mmWave Future [lightreading.com]

• T-Mobile launches LTE-U in select locations [androidpolice.com]

• YouTube TV set to expand into 10 more markets [broadcastingcable.com]

• Top 10 ISPs to watch: From C Spire to Redzone to Sonic [fiercetelecom.com]

• Verizon says FCC de facto copper retirement is confusing [fiercetelecom.com]

• Verizon-Comcast Broadband Ad Spat Heats Up [multichannel.com]

• Vimeo Kills Plans For Subscription-Video Service [variety.com]