CASF grant requests triple the $75 million likely to be in the bank

The grant proposals filed with the California Public Utilities Commission CPUC) on Friday totaled about $246 million. It looks to be about three times the amount of money that will be available in the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) when the Commission votes on the requests later this year. Five of the thirty proposals were submitted with the assistance of Tellus Venture Associates.

In 2010 the California legislature gave the CPUC authority to collect an additional $125 million for CASF via a surcharge on phone bills.… More

Most CASF money requested is for fiber

3 February 2013 by Steve Blum
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The California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) proposal count is now an even 30, with a total of $246 million requested. That’s more than twice the available money in the CASF kitty.

A $13.3 million middle mile project linking Santa Cruz to Soledad in Monterey County is proposed by Sunesys, working with U.C. Santa Cruz.

Nearly half of the total – $119 million – is for the other middle project, a 2,200 mile fiber build through 16 rural Northern California counties.… More

$230 million and counting

At least $230 million in grant and loan proposals were sent to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) yesterday, and more is to come. I’ve seen a total of 29 projects from 15 different organizations. Most of the requests – almost $229 million – are for grants, but half a dozen also requested loans totaling nearly $2 million.

The CPUC doesn’t have that much money in the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF). They have something like $150 million left of their original authorization, but probably only about half that is in the bank.… More

CASF requests pushing $200 million already


Big ask for a big project.

I’m counting about twenty applications for California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) grants and loans tonight. The deadline just passed, and the dust hasn’t settled from the email service list yet. So there might be – probably will be – more. But the total is pushing close to $200 million, which means there’s going to be some tough decisions coming at the California Public Utilities Commission.

It looks like the combined proposals will go well over the CASF’s authorized limit, let alone what they have on hand.… More

Crunch time for CASF applications

31 January 2013 by Steve Blum
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Friday is the deadline for would-be applicants to the California Advanced Service Fund. Projects proposed for underserved, or combined unserved and underserved, areas have to be filed with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) by 5:00 p.m.

So far, four projects have been circulated to the CASF email distribution list:

  • The Big Dipper project, an upgrade to microwave radio links to improve broadband service in Placer County. They’re asking for a $117 thousand grant.
  • The Olinda project, a $1.8 million grant request for an upgrade to telephone infrastructure in Shasta County.
… More

Blackberry is as good as ever, but no better

30 January 2013 by Steve Blum
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None of this Tomfoolery for Blackberry!

What RIM, excuse me, Blackberry showed this morning was solid technology that’s ahead in some regards and more or less keeping up with the pack in others. The new Blackberry 10 operating system is consistent with what they demonstrated and described last October at MobileCon.

They have a full touchscreen phone and they’re keeping a keyboard model in play. That’s probably a good idea given that their best short term hope is to re-energize their legacy institutional customers.… More

Where consumer broadband leads, business follows


Newark, California rates a solid “C” for residential broadband but drops to a red “D” or grey “f” in the working districts of the city.

There are two worlds of commercial and industrial grade broadband: the specialized business broadband companies and the major incumbent carriers. Analysis of commercial broadband availability in California’s East Bay region shows that many specialized providers want to compete, but can be limited in the scope of their services by basic infrastructure provided by the big guys.… More

Report card: competition boosts broadband in California's East Bay region

28 January 2013 by Steve Blum
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Top and bottom of the chart.

The best residential broadband in California’s East Bay region is in the City of Concord. It was the only one of the forty cities studied that rated an “A” grade in research conducted for the East Bay Broadband Consortium (EBBC) by Tellus Venture Associates.

The neighboring cities of Walnut Creek and Pleasant Hill received “B” grades, with a high “C” given to Berkeley and Alameda. The common characteristic amongst all five is competition.… More

East Bay broadband report cards due on Monday

27 January 2013 by Steve Blum
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To late for the dog to eat it.

Tellus Venture Associates will be presenting the initial results of an in-depth analysis of broadband availability in Alameda, Contra Costa and Solano Counties at the East Bay Broadband Consortium’s quarterly meeting in Oakland tomorrow.

The research looked at literally hundreds of thousands of broadband availability reports submitted to the California Public Utilities Commission by Internet service providers. The data was initially broken into three categories: residential, commercial and mobile service.… More

You didn't buy that phone

26 January 2013 by Steve Blum
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An increasingly common criminal.

The latest move by Washington lobbyists to harnass the coercive force of government in pursuit of business models is bearing fruit today. Thanks to the Librarian of Congress, it’s now illegal to unlock a mobile phone you buy from a carrier. (H/T to the WCA’s David Witkowski for the heads up.)

The ruling came three months ago, and is only now taking effect. Previously, the Librarian of Congress, under authority granted by, well, congress under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, said unlocking was legal.… More