Search Results for “ponderosa”

Ponderosa Telephone makes its case for blocking Comcast’s bid to cherrypick “high end” households

6 November 2019 by Steve Blum
comcast, cpuc, ponderosa telephone, rlec, rural broadband, voip

Ponderosa Telephone shot back at Comcast’s claims that no harm would come from its proposed cherry picking of affluent households in a new, high end development outside of Fresno. In comments filed with the California Public Utilities Commission last week, Ponderosa made its case for denying Comcast permission to offer telephone service in its territory. The company argued that if the CPUC wants to change its current policy of protecting small rural telcos from competition, it should do so on a top level basis, and not on case by case requests from a major telecoms company.… More

Ponderosa takes trimmed broadband grant in the Sierra

9 April 2014 by Steve Blum
broadband, casf, cpuc, ponderosa telephone, public policy

While offering a token defence of its original request, the Ponderosa Telephone Company has effectively agreed to chop $373,000 from a $1 million proposal to build fiber middle mile connections and upgrade DSL service in the Sierra Nevada near Cressman in Fresno County. The company asked for a grant from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) for the project, but ran into opposition at the California Public Utilities Commission.

Commissioner Michel Florio put an alternative on the table, that would remove 5 homes – at a cost to CASF of $75,000 each – from the project and ask Ponderosa to come back with a more cost effective plan to serve them and their neighbors.… More

Ponderosa broadband subsidy proposal ducks middle mile responsibilities

20 November 2013 by Steve Blum
broadband, casf, cpuc, middle mile, ponderosa telephone, public policy

Quacks like a middle mile project.

A draft resolution approving a $1 million California Advanced Services Fund grant for a DSL upgrade in the small mountain community of Cressman in Fresno County was posted on the California Public Utilities Commission website yesterday. Proposed by Ponderosa Telephone Company, the project has middle mile fiber and a middle mile price tag, but doesn’t offer middle mile access.

The cost per household is $8,900, making it the second most costly project so far in the current round of CASF subsidy applications.… More

California’s two biggest broadband companies may pass up federal RDOF subsidy auction, but others are in the hunt

16 October 2020 by Steve Blum
casf, cpuc, public policy, rdof, rural broadband

The Federal Communications Commission included 24 obviously Californian contenders in its final list of 386 qualified bidders for Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) money (list is below). The announcement didn’t say which service tiers they’re eligible to bid in. There are four tiers, with higher service levels getting preference in the auction: 25 Mbps download/3 Mbps upload, 50 Mbps down/5 Mbps up, 100 Mbps down/20 Mbps up, 1 Gbps down/500 Mbps up (what the FCC considers to be gigabit service).… More

In the face of “environmental and social justice” obligations, Comcast attempts retreat from rural service

24 September 2020 by Steve Blum
comcast, cpuc, monopoly, ponderosa telephone, rlec

Comcast wants to give up its campaign to compete with a small rural telephone company – a rural local exchange carrier (RLEC) – in a high end, new development outside of Fresno. After the California Public Utilities Commission decided to allow such wireline voice competition if the would be competitor serves the greater community and not just wealthy exurbanites, Comcast asked to withdraw its request for permission to go head to head with Ponderosa Telephone in the Tesoro Viejo development.… More

Cable companies can’t cherry pick “wealthy customers” but they can compete with rural telcos, CPUC decides

10 August 2020 by Steve Blum
cpuc, monopoly, public policy, rlec, rural broadband

Cable companies and other “competitive local exchange carriers” (CLEC) will be able to offer telephone service in (mostly) rural areas of California formerly reserved for small, independent telephone companies. The California Public Utilities Commission voted on Thursday to open up rural local exchange carrier (RLEC) territories to wireline voice competition. There were no changes to the first draft of the new rules proposed by commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves last month.

That permission comes with much needed strings attached, Guzman Aceves said…

It’s a little of an ironic position for me knowing that many of the carriers that want to compete in these rural territories often are some of the major barriers of competition elsewhere.

… More

Bringing 21st century broadband to rural California will change a 20th century business (and subsidy) model

24 July 2020 by Steve Blum
cpuc, monopoly, public policy, rlec, rural broadband

One of the legacies of state and federal 20th century universal telephone service subsidy programs is an ecosystem of small, independent telephone companies, often owned by families that live in the isolated rural communities that they serve. A California Public Utilities Commission decision, proposed by commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves and due for a vote in August, would begin to allow modern competitors into that ecosystem.

These rural local exchange carriers (RLECs) – serve isolated communities and individual customers in often rugged and sparsely populated terrain that AT&T historically avoided.… More

Competition means better broadband for a few rural Californians, CPUC draft says. It should be for everyone

14 July 2020 by Steve Blum
cpuc, monopoly, public policy, rlec, rural broadband

Faster and higher quality broadband service will reach some rural Californians if cable companies and other “competitive local exchange carriers” (CLECs) are allowed to compete against rural telcos for phone customers, according to a proposed decision under consideration by the California Public Utilities Commission. Cable lobbyists and lawyers have been pushing for permission to pluck profitable customers from highly subsidised rural telcos – Small LECs, in the jargon – leaving taxpayers to pay an even higher tab to serve the rest.… More

Consumer service versus taxpayer costs: CPUC considers opening rural telco territory to competition

8 July 2020 by Steve Blum
cpuc, public policy, rlec, rural broadband

Small telephone companies that serve rural Californians will face direct competition from cable operators and other wireline telecoms companies if the California Public Utilities Commission approves a draft decision posted for review on Monday. Authored by commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves, the proposed new rules would allow competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) to provide voice telephone service in territories that are reserved exclusively for heavily subsidised, small local exchange carriers (Small LECs).

Acknowledging that “wireline competition must be allowed in the service territories of the Small LECs as a matter of law”, the draft tries to balance the benefits of competition to consumers with the potential cost to taxpayers if cable companies skim off profitable neighborhoods, leaving Small LECs increasingly dependent on universal service subsidies to serve the rest.… More

Second round of RUS broadband subsidies opens, as California waits for something – anything – from the first round

3 February 2020 by Steve Blum
farm bill, public policy, rural broadband, RUS, usda

Correction: The yellow blobs on the map above are not pending ReConnect grants, they are pending rural telco applications, which are also administered by RUS. So California is still a great big zero for ReConnect grants and/or loans. Thank you to a Gentle Reader for gently pointing that out. The text below has been updated accordingly.

The federal agriculture department’s Rural Utilities Service began accepting applications on Friday for $600 million in broadband infrastructure subsidies, via its ReConnect program.… More