Resources and analysis for community broadband
With Austin done and dusted, the next big decision point on Google’s fiber-to-the-home odyssey is: which cities will make the short list for the next round of builds? Back in May, after the deadline had passed for 34 cities to submit their responses to Google’s fiber ready checklist, the company said “We still plan to announce which cities will get Google Fiber by the end of the year“.
Well, it’s the end of the year.… More
Google Fiber is taking sign-ups in limited areas in the Austin, Texas area. Following the same path it took in the Kansas City area, Google says it’ll pick which neighborhoods – fiberhoods as it calls them – to build first based on the number of committed subscribers…
… MoreWhether you’re in a home, apartment, or a small business, you’ll notice that getting Google Fiber is a little different. We don’t choose which areas get Fiber — you and your neighbors do.
One of the big questions surrounding ViaSat’s request for an $11.1 million grant from the California Advanced Services Fund is whether it’s even eligible for the program. The California Public Utilities Commission said yes, it is eligible at yesterday’s meeting in San Francisco, approving ViaSat’s application for a certificate of public convenience and necessity (CPCN).
In other words, the satellite Internet service provider is now considered to be a regulated telephone company, to the extent that it’s engaging in the sort of business that the CPUC regulates.… More
How much should Internet access in public housing projects cost, and how fast should it be? Those are the central two questions that the California Emerging Technology Fund is raising in regards to a proposed public housing broadband subsidy program, currently under consideration at the California Public Utilities Commission.
In comments filed on Tuesday, CETF is taking the position that public housing residents should be able to buy a minimum level of service for $10 per month, rather than the $20 as currently proposed, and that the minimum service speed residents can get during peak hours – 7 to 11 p.m.… More
Western Kern County is oil country. Once you hit the foothills of the central California coast range, agriculture stops and oil production begins. Several small towns along State Route 33 support the industry and its workers. The largest is Taft, with a city limits population of around 9,000 people in about 2,300 households, plus adjacent unincorporated neighborhoods.
By California Public Utilities Commission standards, nearly all of Taft (and Maricopa to the south) has adequate broadband service: the local cable company, Bright House, offers up to 90 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload speeds.… More
There was no stampede for the newest round of broadband infrastructure grants and loans from the California Advanced Services Fund. No project applications were filed yesterday, the first day of the new season. Or at least, there were no notifications sent out – applicants are supposed to send a project summary to a service list maintained by the CPUC. And yes, I checked my spam folder.
Even so, there are still project proposals totalling $26.2 million in the hopper, left over from the last round, which closed nearly 2 years ago, on 1 February 2013.… More
The application window is open for grants and loans from the California Advanced Services Fund The new round of funding – there’s something like $160 million available for grants – began today.
The California Public Utilities Commission, which administers CASF, has posted answers to frequently asked questions. The parameters of the program were redefined this year, but in most regards it’s the process as before. One change is that the funding window will stay open until the money runs out, which the CPUC hopes will be sometime in 2015.… More
In the what were they thinking? category, AT&T is trying to slam the idea of common carrier broadband regulation (aka Title II) by posting a lengthy account of a bureaucratic battle it’s fighting over arcane inter-carrier rules (h/t to the Baller-Herbst list for the pointer). True, introducing any kind of regulation makes life more complicated, and companies with the strongest market position will be the hardest hit. Which is the point, of course: common carrier rules exist to provide a counterweight to dominant companies in a monopolised market.… More
It’s hard to bet against Elon Musk. He made a fortune as a founder of PayPal, but instead of fading into a life of one-hit wonder obscurity sitting on boards and listening to investment pitches, he doubled down by going weird: electric cars and rocket ships, old ideas with a long trail of broken genius. Each venture had “billionaire vanity project” written all over it. Now, both look likely to revolutionise transportation. We can only hope his Hyperloop daydreaming follows the same path.… More
Under fire from the FCC, AT&T is walking back a statement by CEO Randall Stephenson that the company will stop building out fiber while common carrier regulation of broadband is on the table. With the exception, Stephenson said, of 2 million homes that were promised as part of AT&T’s bid to get regulatory approval of its purchase of DirecTv.
That statement, made at an investment conference and likely unscripted, provoked a demand from the FCC for AT&T to explain itself.… More