CPUC reboots California broadband infrastructure subsidies, as well as can be hoped

14 December 2018 by Steve Blum
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California has more than $300 million available to subsidise broadband infrastructure, thanks to a law passed last year by the California legislature. Also thanks to that law, the rules governing who can get the subsidies and where it can be spent were rigged, with the aim of protecting telco and cable monopolies, and funneling money into their pockets.

It was up to the California Public Utilities Commission to rewrite the rules that subsidy applicants have to follow and that govern how broadband subsidy proposals will be evaluated and approved. Or not.

That process went on for nearly a year, with lobbyists for Comcast and Charter Communications, lawyers for AT&T and a hodgepodge of staffers for Frontier Communications working hard 1. to prevent independent, competitive Internet service providers from getting any money, 2. to make sure they had unimpeded access to it, and 3. to avoid any inconvenient restrictions on what they could charge or what level of service they could deliver to subsidised communities.

Yesterday, by a unanimous vote, the CPUC approved new rules that both stay within the narrow lines drawn by telco lobbyists California lawmakers and provide independent, community-driven projects as good a chance of being funded as the law allows.

This rewrite of the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) program was led by commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves. Following the vote, she said the goal is to focus broadband infrastructure spending on the communities that need it most, and get it to them as quickly as possible…

This [decision] approved a framework towards meeting the regional goals, now, of 98% per consortia region – those are geographical regions throughout the state – to try to get more parity and access throughout the state.

The [decision] sets up a faster application review timeline, it sets up clear funding rules that allow an applicant to determine ahead of time how much funding an application is eligible to receive…

These new rules improve the accuracy of data, as well, used to determine eligibility. Over the years we’ve had many struggles here, in our decisions, about whether or not a community is served. And this provides much clearer rules to determine that.

The PD also prioritises low income areas, that are unserved and, at best, have dial-up service. The applications that serve these unserved low income areas will receive 100% funding.

The first application window for this new round of CASF infrastructure grants closes 1 April 2018.

Revision 2 of proposed decision of commissioner Guzman Aceves, implementing the California Advanced Services Fund infrastructure account revised rules, published 12 December 2018 and approved on 13 December 2018.

Revised appendix, detailing the application process and grant eligibility rules.

Links to other documents – decisions on other issues, drafts, comments and more – are here. I’ll post the final version of the decision and the appendix there, when available. But the final version should track exactly with the revision linked above.

I’ve been involved in the debate over the CASF program, and in assisting with project proposals since 2009. I’m not a disinterested commentator. Take it for what it’s worth.