But is it fast enough?
If you want to steer telco and cable company capital investment toward your community, apply competitive pressure, preferably with a full scale fiber to the home project. Once again, that lesson has been learned as the simple and reliable mechanics of microeconomic theory have pushed a major cable company to accelerate spending in an area it has long ignored.
Charter Communications is required to upgrade the antique analog cable systems it has long maintained in redlined communities. That’s one of the conditions attached to the California Public Utilities Commission’s approval of its purchase of Time Warner and Bright House cable systems in the state. Charter’s deadlines for doing so range from two to three years, with most of its territory in California due for digital service within two and half years of the merger’s approval. That happened nearly a year ago, so the time remaining is more like one to two years.
So who goes to the top of Charter’s priority list? According to claims it has filed with the CPUC regarding where broadband subsidy dollars should be spent, the community on Charter’s fast track is one in San Bernardino County that’s been targeted by a competitor…
Charter agreed to rebuild its broadband footprint in both Phelan and Prunedale/Aromas/Salinas—two of the priority areas identified in the White Paper. In Phelan, Charter completed its rebuild in December 2016, revitalizing its plant and improving broadband services available in 250 census blocks identified in the White Paper as high impact. Similarly, Charter is scheduled to complete the rebuild of its plant in Prunedale/Aromas/Salinas no later than May 2019.
Phelan, where Race Communications is in the hunt for a California Advanced Services Fund subsidy for an FTTH system, was upgraded within months of the CPUC’s order taking effect. In the northern Monterey County neighborhoods around Prunedale and Aromas, Charter is happy to wait the full three years.
It’s uncertain whether Charter’s plans are enough to knock Monterey County off of the CPUC’s bang for the buck list. But it is crystal clear that the faster build happened in the community where Charter faces the bigger competitor.