CPUC urged to do less business behind closed doors

8 August 2015 by Steve Blum
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Not the way the game should be played.

Private meetings between utility lobbyists and commissioners “render governmental decision-making invisible to the public…make commission meetings merely ceremonial…[and] corrode government ethics” according to an outside review prepared for the California Public Utilities Commission. It was one of two reports that looked at how commissioners conduct business, ahead of a meeting on Tuesday where they will consider moderate changes to rules about one on one, private meetings with utilities and others that have pending cases.… More

Verizon's plan to blast LTE traffic over unlicensed spectrum questioned by FCC

7 August 2015 by Steve Blum
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Can you hear me now?

Plans by mobile phone companies to use unlicensed spectrum – including that currently used by WiFi devices and wireless Internet service providers – to supplement licensed frequencies are getting a harder look from the Federal Communications Commission. The head of the FCC’s office of engineering and technology – Julius Knapp – is asking the Verizon-backed LTE-U Forum, an industry group that’s working on a standard for 4G broadband service in unlicensed bands, for more information on what, exactly, it’s up to.… More

San Antonio confirmed as Google Fiber's next stop

6 August 2015 by Steve Blum
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San Antonio opens the gate for Google.

San Antonio has officially gone from being a “potential” Google Fiber city to an “upcoming” one. Google made the announcement yesterday in its blog…

Fast growing cities need Internet speeds that can keep up with their progress. For the 1.4 million residents of San Antonio, one of the biggest and fastest growing cities in the country, this is truer than ever. Which is why, today, we’re proud to announce that Google Fiber is coming to San Antonio—the largest Fiber city to date…

Soon, we’ll enter the design phase of building our fiber network in San Antonio.

… More

Cable operators see broadband pulling away from video

5 August 2015 by Steve Blum
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Click for more.

Charter Communications is gaining broadband subscribers, while Suddenlink is losing them. Both companies are shedding television customers, although Suddenlink is dropping them at a much faster rate. That’s the top line from the companies’ financial reports for the second quarter of this year.

On the whole, Charter reported a net gain, with pickups in broadband and voice accounts more than compensating for the declining video subscription numbers. It ended the quarter with about 5 million broadband and 4.1 million televisions subs, a gain of 70,000 and a loss of 33,000 respectively.… More

Arizona appears to be next for Google Fiber expansion

4 August 2015 by Steve Blum
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So far, no love for the Pacific Time Zone.

Google continues to lay the groundwork for expanding its fiber to the home project into more metro areas. According to a story by Darren DaRonco and Parker Leavitt in the Arizona Republic, Google is negotiating agreements with cities in the Phoenix area to get access to public right of ways. The first city to approve a deal is Tempe…

The agreement “gives us approval to build a network in the city of Tempe,” said Angie Welling, Google’s public policy and government affairs manager.

… More

New rules for federal broadband loans in rural areas don't change eastern bias

3 August 2015 by Steve Blum
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Most of the broadband blank zones are in the west, most of the money goes east. Go figure.

The Rural Utilities Service (RUS) is the arm of the federal agriculture department that runs broadband grant and loan programs. It’s just published new application rules for loans to build broadband infrastructure in poorly served rural areas. Highlights include…

  • The minimum acceptable broadband speed is set at 4 Mbps down and 1 Mbps up; any area with less than that is considered unserved by federal standards.
… More

Mobile data traffic accelerates, infrastructure needs to keep up

2 August 2015 by Steve Blum
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Click for a lot more detail.

The average mobile data customer in the U.S. is consuming 2.5 gigabytes of bandwidth every month. At least that was the picture at the end of the first quarter of this year according to mobile market analyst Chetan Sharma, who tracks such things. Likely, that number is even higher now – Sharma had average usage pegged at 2 GB just three months before.

Sharma believes mobile consumption is accelerating, while the cost to users continues downward…

In the US, it took roughly 20 years to reach the 1GB/user/mo mark.

… More

If you like low pay and no privacy, the FBI has a deal for you

1 August 2015 by Steve Blum
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On the other hand, it’s probably easier to pass than the math test at Google.

If it seems like the federal government is losing the war for cyberspace, it might be because it is. And that’s due to a lack of talent in key positions, particularly at the Federal Bureau of Investigation. According to a federal justice department study, as reported by Reuters, the FBI launched what it called the Next Generation Cyber Initiative in 2012, which involved hiring 134 computer scientists and creating cybersecurity task forces at all of its 56 field offices.… More

Everyone is wireless, who cares if copper is crap AT&T tells CPUC

31 July 2015 by Steve Blum
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Apple pie versus orange pie.

In a refreshingly honest, lay-your-cards-on-the-table move, AT&T told the California Public Utilities Commission that it shouldn’t bother investigating the condition of wireline phone systems in the state, because…

The number of wireline customers is now a small fraction of the Communications market. As of 2013, wireline customers made up only 20% of the market…Just five years prior, the wireline market was 35%.

Thus, not only is the wireline share very small, it is falling precipitously.

… More

Come and take us away, Verizon's employees tell Frontier

30 July 2015 by Steve Blum
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Hey! I’m over here.

Verizon’s unionised workforce in California want a new boss. The Communications Workers of America (CWA) dropped its previous opposition to Frontier Communication’s purchase of Verizon’s wireline telephone systems in California, after reaching an agreement with Frontier to extend the current union contract for two years, with pay increases and 100 shares of stock for each union member, and add 150 union jobs in the state.

Initially, CWA warned the California Public Utilities Commission of “the potential harm to thousands of its members in California” and lodged a protest against approval of the sale, saying “this transaction will impact the economic health of millions of households, businesses, schools, health care facilities, government agencies, and other institutions in California”.… More