CPUC approval of Frontier-Verizon deal dodges broadband jurisdiction

11 November 2015 by Steve Blum
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Many Californians say there’s no shame in being a Dodger. Or so I’ve been told.

The tentative CPUC ruling approving Frontier Communication’s purchase of Verizon’s wireline systems in California avoids claiming any authority to regulate broadband service. Instead, the proposed decision drafted by a California Public Utilities Commission administrative law judge relies on time-tested public interest criteria, plain old telephone regulatory powers and a set of private agreements between Frontier and a long list of advocacy groups.… More

Federal justice department won't defend muni broadband preemption

10 November 2015 by Steve Blum
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Out on a limb.

Municipal broadband advocates aren’t getting any help from the federal justice department. In a one line letter filed with a federal appeals court last week, the justice department wrote “respondent United States of America takes no position” in the dispute between the Federal Communications Commission and the states of Tennessee and North Carolina over whether state restrictions on muni broadband can be preempted by the FCC.

According to a Washington Post story (h/t to the Baller Herbst list for the pointer), the likeliest explanation is that the FCC is fighting a losing battle…

The Justice Department said Friday that it won’t be helping the Federal Communications Commission fight a couple of key lawsuits on municipal broadband, in a possible indication of trouble ahead for the FCC…

It’s not unheard of for the Justice Department to bow out of a case involving a federal agency.

… More

Frontier must upgrade broadband for 800,000 Californians in order to buy Verizon systems

9 November 2015 by Steve Blum
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Frontier will have a lot of Verizon mess to clean up.

Frontier Communications will be able to buy Verizon’s wireline systems in California, if it almost doubles the number of homes and businesses that will get new or upgraded broadband service, and if the California Public Utilities Commission votes yes on the proposed decision approving the deal drafted by administrative law judge Karl Bemesderfer and released on Friday.

Relying on a stack of agreements between Frontier and various advocacy groups and the CPUC’s office of ratepayer advocates, an opinion by the state attorney general that the deal “will not adversely impact competition”, and evidence gathered during the several months the sale has been under review, Bemesderfer’s proposed decision would find that it meets the requirements of California public utilities law.… More

California mountain community requests $759K for FTTH

8 November 2015 by Steve Blum
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Click for the big picture.

A fiber to the home project in the Tahoe Basin in eastern Placer County has been proposed for a construction subsidy from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF). Submitted by Inyo Networks – one of the companies involved in the Digital 395 network in eastern California – the grant application asks for $759,000, which is 70% of the total $1.1 million project cost…

The proposed Alpine Peaks Broadband Project will serve a designated “Priority Area” community in the Upper Ward Canyon area of eastern Placer County.

… More

Two more WiFi bullies slapped down by FCC

7 November 2015 by Steve Blum
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Hefty fines have again been assessed against hospitality companies that interfere with guests’ personal WiFi hotspots, or seem to. The Federal Communications Commission nailed a concessionaire at the Baltimore convention center for $718,000…

The Enforcement Bureau’s investigation found that M.C. Dean engaged in Wi-Fi blocking at the Baltimore Convention Center on dozens of occasions in the last year. During the investigation, M.C. Dean revealed that it used the “Auto Block Mode” on its Wi-Fi system to block consumer-created Wi-Fi hotspots at the venue.

… More

FCC misses triple bank shot defence of muni broadband preemption

6 November 2015 by Steve Blum
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It only counts if you make it.

Tennessee and North Carolina effectively banned cities from providing broadband service outside of their geographical city limits for the wrong reason: to regulate broadband competition. That’s the case that the Federal Communications Commission is trying to make, as it defended its preemption of state limits on the scope of municipal Internet service providers in a brief filed yesterday in the federal appeals court hearing the case.

The FCC’s argument boils down to 1.… More

Fiber network planned to run alongside California high speed rail

5 November 2015 by Steve Blum
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At least the fiber will be fast.

California’s high speed rail project is supposed to connect San Francisco to Los Angeles (well, maybe Burbank) with 200 mile an hour trains in 2029. The entire system, which is planned to extend 800 miles and include Sacramento and San Diego, would be completed some time after that. The first operational segment – location still undecided – is slated to start running in 2022. That’s assuming it’s actually built and the current schedule holds.… More

Plenty of broadband money for some in rural California, if there's cooperation

4 November 2015 by Steve Blum
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Worlds apart.

If the two primary California and federal broadband subsidy programs – the California Advanced Services Fund and the FCC’s Connect America Fund – were coordinated, many rural areas could see significant infrastructure upgrades. Maybe even fiber to the home systems, or at least fiber to the node. As it is, though, those two programs run completely separately, even to the point of having such disparate service standards that broadband systems built for one wouldn’t necessarily meet the requirements of the other.… More

Frontier to offer broadband lifeline service in California, if allowed to buy Verizon systems

3 November 2015 by Steve Blum
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Lifeline’s reach, if the deal goes through.

Frontier Communications will implement an interim low income broadband lifeline program in California, if it gets regulatory approval to buy Verizon’s wireline systems. In an agreement reached with the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF), Frontier is promising to offer a special package to its voice lifeline customers that comprises…

  • 13.99/month for the low-income broadband service (which is a new affordable product for the Verizon service area and an improved product in the Frontier legacy service areas), available only to Lifeline voice customers, existing or new customers.
… More

Telecoms lobbyists tell Calfornia lawmakers which side of the digital divide they're on

2 November 2015 by Steve Blum
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Lobbyists for AT&T and the California cable industry gave state assembly members clear insight into why rural broadband development is such an intractable challenge. It wasn’t exactly the insight they were planning to deliver – that consisted mostly of platitudes about the wonderful work they’re doing and the evils of subsidising independent companies that would dare to compete against them. The insight came from the way they tried to divert attention away from the rural questions that the assembly’s select committee on the digital divide in California is tasked with answering, and toward the investment they’re indisputably making in more lucrative urban areas.… More