More lawsuits challenge FCC common carrier broadband rules

15 April 2015 by Steve Blum
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Everyone jumps in.

The telecoms industry is piling on the Federal Communications Commission, filing a total of five separate appeals against the decision to impose common carrier rules on broadband service and infrastructure. The petitions were submitted to the federal appeals court – circuit, as it’s called – based in Washington, DC.

The most detailed protest came from the American Cable Association (ACA), which represents small cable companies…

The order (among other things) reclassifies broadband Internet access service as a “telecommunications service” subject to common carrier regulation under Title II of the Telecommunications Act of 1996…[the sections of Title II the FCC intends to enforce] impose significant new regulatory requirements—including substantive prohibitions, mandatory procedures, and record-keeping requirements on ACA’s members, many of which have never previously been subject to Title II regulation of any sort.

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Net neutrality clock starts counting down

14 April 2015 by Steve Blum
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Three, two ,one.

The twelfth of June is the day that new net neutrality rules will become effective. Those rules were approved by the Federal Communications Commission in February and released in March, and were officially published in the Federal Register yesterday, with the 12 June 2015 date specified.

There’s a big if involved, though. That’s only if a federal court doesn’t put everything on hold while considering the legal challenges that have already been filed and those that are expected to come.… More

CPUC commissioner urges rejection of Comcast's California merger plans

13 April 2015 by Steve Blum
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It’s a new game.

The California Public Utilities Commission will formally consider denying Comcast’s proposed takeover of Time Warner and Charter cable systems in the state. Until now, the conversation has been guided by a tentative decision drafted by a CPUC administrative law judge that would approve the merger and market swap, with a long list of temporary conditions. On Friday, commissioner Mike Florio proposed an alternative decision that would reject the deal outright…

Certain material facts are beyond serious dispute: the merger will roughly double Comcast’s share of broadband subscribers in California, leaving it with several times more broadband customers than all its competitors combined; Comcast’s market dominance is even more dramatic if the market is defined as broadband above 25 Mbps; and given this substantial increase in market share, Comcast will have a concomitant increase in control over Californians’ access to online content and services…

Comcast and Time Warner each have an effective monopoly on providing broadband services within its local geographic area…a post-merger Comcast will have a monopoly on speed tiers of 25 Mbps and above in approximately 78 percent of California census blocks, with only one competitor in almost all the rest.

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Richmond's hail mary aside, second batch of CASF public housing proposals looks pretty much like the first

12 April 2015 by Steve Blum
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The second round of applications for grants to install broadband facilities in California public housing projects produced about as many proposals as the first, but the total ask is more than three times as high.

Forty-eight proposals seeking a total of $4.4 million were sent to the California Public Utilities Commission by the 1 April 2015 deadline, versus 52 totalling $1.3 million submitted three months earlier. The difference is in the technologies proposed.

The lion’s share of the requests this time around – $3 million – came from the Richmond Housing Authority in western Contra Costa County.… More

Comcast can't find love at home

11 April 2015 by Steve Blum


Left hanging. Click for the full report.

The City of Philadelphia expects more out of one it’s most prominent corporate citizens. Looking ahead to renewal of Comcast’s cable franchise, the city commissioned a 500-plus page study that found that residents are not getting the level of service they – and, in some cases, the FCC – expect. Mayor Michael Nutter said in a blog post that he’s expecting Philly-based Comcast to up the ante in renewal negotiations…

The City will be seeking high speed broadband capacity and computing technology to support the City’s KeySpots locations and libraries; free broadband access in areas designated as “unserved” or “underserved” or PhillyRising neighborhoods; a program to provide computers and digital literacy education opportunities; and high speed broadband capacity to support the local tech and startup communities, and broadband co-working facilities throughout Philadelphia…

Philadelphia’s cable subscribers reported satisfaction levels ranging from one to eleven percent (1%- 11%) lower than Comcast franchise areas in selected markets where similar studies were completed in the last six years.

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Local California governments would have little to say about cell sites, under bill proposed in Sacramento

10 April 2015 by Steve Blum
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Sometimes, the shot clock means what it says.

What started out as a wide-ranging attempt to rationalise broadband construction policy in California has turned into a narrowly focused effort to drastically limit, if not end completely, the ability of local government to tie up cell tower and site approvals for years on end.

Assembly bill 57, authored by assemblyman Bill Quirk, an East Bay democrat, now reads…

The Legislature finds and declares that a wireless telecommunications facility has a significant economic impact in California and is not a municipal affair as that term is used in…the California Constitution, but is a matter of statewide concern.

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CPUC considers $3.3 million subsidy for two FTTH projects

9 April 2015 by Steve Blum
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Poor broadband service in Helendale now, but fiber could be on the way.

Two fiber-to-the-home projects in the California desert, northeast of Los Angeles, will be getting a total of $3.3 million in subsidies from the California Advanced Service Fund (CASF), if the California Public Utilities Commission approves draft resolutions released last week.

The proposals, for Helendale and Wrightwood, were submitted last December by Ultimate Internet Access (UIA), an independent Internet service provider that’s already active in the area.… More

Clear and limited mandate proposed for CPUC's broadband oversight role

8 April 2015 by Steve Blum
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OK to open it back up again.

A bill raising broadband standards in California also clears up any confusion about whether state regulators can do the job delegated to them by federal law. Assembly bill 238, authored by assemblyman Mark Stone (D – Santa Cruz), originally focused on upping the minimum acceptable service level to 25 Mbps down/3 Mbps up for projects subsidised by the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF). As just amended, it still does that, but also…

  • Levels the playing field somewhat for independent Internet service providers and cities and counties that want to chase CASF dollars.
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Community-owned fiber networks take a big step forward in Santa Cruz County

7 April 2015 by Steve Blum
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Santa Cruz County supervisors are moving ahead with a plan to build a fiber network through key economic development zones, and want to coordinate broadband development policy with the four cities in the county. They voted to put a proposal to form a fiber initiative team in front of representatives from Watsonville, Scotts Valley, Capitola and the City of Santa Cruz, and…

Work with the cities to 1) establish complimentary policies, such as the County’s model “dig once” ordinance, 2) propose changes in planning requirements for residential and business construction, 3) explore grant opportunities, and 4) coordinate sewer, water and road construction projects so that conduit for fiber can be incorporated where feasible in order to enhance broadband connectivity and expansion.

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LA refines its pitch for citywide FTTH

6 April 2015 by Steve Blum
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Seen one of these?

“Are we creating a unicorn here?” asked Steve Reneker, general manager of information technology for the City of Los Angeles. He was relating his experience looking for companies interested in building a citywide fiber to the home system to participants in a local government broadband conference put on by the California Emerging Technology Fund in Riverside last week. The answer he got back from the industry was “yes”.

LA [floated a request for information last year](), looking for ideas and partners to aid its FTTH quest.… More