FCC asks for limited net neutrality comments, but Rosenworcel says “make noise”

21 February 2020 by Steve Blum
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The Federal Communications Commission will tweak its network neutrality rules, such as they are, to answer objections made by the federal appeals court based in Washington, D.C. last year. That court – aka the D.C. circuit – largely upheld the FCC’s 2017 repeal of network neutrality rules, but sent a few bits back to the agency for more work and threw out a blanket preemption of state and local regulations.

In a notice issued earlier this week, the FCC asked for comments on the public safety, lifeline and pole attachment issues flagged by the D.C.… More

Broadband bill targets California fairgrounds, details yet to come

20 February 2020 by Steve Blum
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Bolado park san benito county 13apr2019

A bill aimed at upgrading broadband service at fairgrounds in California was introduced in the assembly by assembly Robert Rivas (D – San Benito). Assembly bill 2163 would “ensure that all California fairgrounds are equipped with adequate broadband and telecommunications infrastructure to support local, regional, and state emergency and disaster response personnel and operations”.

In its initial form, AB 2163 doesn’t answer the key question: where does the money come from? Earlier conversations about improving broadband facilities at fairgrounds opened up the possibility of raiding the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) for that purpose, but the draft doesn’t mention that.… More

FCC revises subsidy rules, won’t zonk California because of our low broadband standards

19 February 2020 by Steve Blum
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Monty hall

The Federal Communications Commission approved a small do-over to the rules for its new broadband subsidy program, the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF). Instead of blocking subsidies to any area where state broadband dollars are being spent, it will only do so where the money is paying for service at a minimum of 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload speeds.

That’s good new for California. Our primary broadband subsidy program – the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) – deems communities with broadband at the achingly slow rate of 6 Mbps down/1 Mbps up as adequately served, and only requires grant recipients who build infrastructure with state money to hit the barely better speed of 10 Mbps down/1 Mbps up.… More

FCC’s $270 pole rental limit for wireless attachments might be “arbitrary and capricious”, appellate judge says

18 February 2020 by Steve Blum
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Los angeles streetlight cell 1 23oct2019

Federal appeals court judges hearing the challenge brought by local governments to the Federal Communications Commission’s 2018 preemption of ownership and control of street lights tried to get an FCC lawyer to explain how the commission settled on $270 as the allowable annual pole rental limit. The attorney, Scott Noveck, couldn’t oblige judges Jay Bybee and Mary Schroeder…

Bybee: I’d still like you to get to how you get to the $270.

Novek: So your honor, what I believe happened is that the commission took a look at various state small cell bills…

Bybee: It’s interesting, counsel, that you just characterised it as ‘you believe’.

… More

FCC’s rural 5G justification for urban wireless preemption is comfort to AT&T but not to Fresno, appeals court told

14 February 2020 by Steve Blum
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Ninth circuit oral argument pole preemption 10feb2020

Federal appellate judges drilled down into arguments made by local governments and the Federal Communications Commission on Monday, as they considered a challenge to the FCC’s 2018 decision to cap rental rates for locally owned street light poles and other assets in the public right of way, and effectively give mobile carriers unfettered use of public property.

One justification for this preemption of local property ownership was that if big cities with big potential for subscriber revenue charge high fees, then carriers like AT&T and Verizon won’t have money left over to spend in less profitable small cities and rural communities.… More

Federal judge matters not to California’s review of T-Mobile/Sprint deal, CPUC told

13 February 2020 by Steve Blum
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Fred gwynne judge

Opposition to the T-Mobile/Sprint merger is alive and kicking in California, as the California Public Utilities Commission’s review continues. The primary opponents of the deal – the CPUC’s public advocates office, the consumer advocacy groups TURN and the Greenlining Institute, and the Communications Workers of America union – replied to T-Mobile’s plea for immediate approval yesterday.

Like T-Mobile, the group – AKA joint advocates – made their position known in an email addressed to the CPUC commissioner and administrative law judge who are in charge of the case.… More

CPUC, Becerra yet to bless T-Mobile/Sprint deal, as California’s review extends to end of March or later

12 February 2020 by Steve Blum
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Tmobile billboard 2 las vegas 6jan2020

T-Mobile’s proposed takeover of Sprint was approved by federal judge Victor Marrero in New York yesterday. That leaves a separate, and more focused, federal court case in Washington, D.C. and the California Public Utilities Commission’s review as the final regulatory hurdles that the merger must clear.

Yesterday was also the 30-day public review deadline for the CPUC to post a draft decision that could be considered at its 12 March 2020 meeting. That didn’t happen, so the soonest the CPUC could approve or deny the merger will be at its 26 March 2020 meeting, unless 1.… More

FCC tells appeals court if electric or cable companies can install “larger, uglier, blighted” equipment on poles, then wireless carriers can too

11 February 2020 by Steve Blum
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Small cell olympic blvd 22oct2019

The Federal Communications Commission defended its 2018 preemption of local property ownership and permitting authority in front of a panel of three federal appeals court judges in Pasadena yesterday. Its lawyers faced some pointed questions from the judges.

FCC attorney Scott Noveck tried to dance around the reality of the FCC’s preemption order and claim that it really wasn’t doing much at all, particularly in regards to limits on the aesthetic requirements that cities can impose on wireless facilities.… More

Game on today, as cities take on FCC in court over pole ownership preemption

10 February 2020 by Steve Blum
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Downtown salinas

Local ownership of street light poles and other facilities planted in the public right of way is at stake, as lawyers for dozens of cities and counties and the Federal Communications Commission square off in a Pasadena court room later this morning.

A panel of three federal appellate court judges will hear arguments about why, or why not, the FCC has the authority to tell local agencies how much they can charge mobile carriers to attach equipment to their poles, and to largely replace negotiated rental contracts with simple, non-discretionary permits.… More

Streaming video hurts cable, but it’s killing AT&T

7 February 2020 by Steve Blum
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Elmer fudd

The traditional, linear subscription TV business is in a nose dive. In the fourth quarter of 2019, AT&T shed 945,000 subscribers, mostly from DirecTv but also from its legacy Uverse service and its new AT&T TV platform. Add in the 219,000 subscribers who dumped its AT&T TV Now streaming service, and more than million customers walked away from AT&T’s video products.

Comcast and Charter lost TV subscribers, too. But for both companies, they each lost fewer subs over the 12 months of 2019 than AT&T lost in the last three.… More