Unanimous approval by key committee sends AT&T’s deregulation bill to a vote of the full California senate

3 September 2019 by Steve Blum
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When the legislative dust settled on Friday, after a whirlwind morning in which the fate of hundreds of bills were announced after being decided behind closed doors in Sacramento, assembly bill 1366 remained alive. Carried by assembly member Lorena Gonzalez (D – San Diego) would, on the face of it, simply extend an existing ban on regulation of “Internet Protocol enabled communications services”, including voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) telephone service.

Given the increasing number of consumers switching – and being switched without their consent – from legacy copper-based plain old telephone service (POTS) to VoIP since the regulatory ban went into effect six years ago, AB 1366 spells a de facto end to state oversight of broadband and telephone infrastructure and service in California.… More

Verizon mounts dubious legal assault on pole rental fees in Rochester

30 August 2019 by Steve Blum
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Rochester street light

Verizon is using a legally shaky ruling by the Federal Communications Commission to shake down the City of Rochester, New York. Last year, the FCC ruled that publicly owned property, such as light poles or traffic signals, located in the public right of way were, in fact, part of the public right of way and not municipal property.

Rochester wants to charge Verizon up to $1,500 a year in rental fees for the use of city-owned poles in the public right of way.… More

FCC admits some states, including California, can reverse its sweeping utility pole preemption

29 August 2019 by Steve Blum
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Even if a federal appeals court buys arguments made by the Federal Communications Commission and its good friends in the mobile telecoms industry, and allows last year’s preemption of local ownership of light poles and other municipal property in the public right of way to stand, it might not matter in California, or any other state “which regulates the rates, terms, and conditions for pole attachments”.

As it tries to defend its wide-ranging preemption against challenges being heard by a federal appeals court in San Francisco, the FCC filed another set of arguments last week saying its authority, at least as far as utility poles are concerned, comes from a particular section of the communications act of 1996.… More

T-Mobile’s California boomerang hits home, Sprint merger decision delayed for months

28 August 2019 by Steve Blum
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Mad max boomerang hit

Another round of brilliant lawyering by T-Mobile’s crack legal team has pushed back approval (or not) of its acquisition of Sprint by the California Public Utilities Commission until late this year or, maybe, sometime in 2020. Yesterday, CPUC administrative law judge Karl Bemesderfer ruled that the settlement T-Mobile, Sprint and DISH reached with the federal justice department should, as requested, be considered during California’s regulatory review of the merger. But not, as T-Mobile oddly argued, with blind faith in the wisdom of the Trump administration’s anti-trust team.… More

T-Mobile’s California boomerang hits home, Sprint merger decision delayed for months

28 August 2019 by Steve Blum
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Mad max boomerang hit

Another round of brilliant lawyering by T-Mobile’s ace legal team has pushed back approval (or not) of its acquisition of Sprint by the California Public Utilities Commission until late this year or, maybe, sometime in 2020. Yesterday, CPUC administrative law judge Karl Bemesderfer ruled that the settlement T-Mobile, Sprint and DISH reached with the federal justice department should, as requested, be considered during California’s regulatory review of the merger. But not, as T-Mobile oddly argued, with blind faith in the wisdom of the Trump administration’s anti-trust team.… More

Newsom administration says telecoms deregulation bill offer little protection, particularly in rural California

27 August 2019 by Steve Blum
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Leaning pole

Key opposition to assembly bill 1366 is coming from inside California governor Gavin Newsom’s administration. AB 1366 is the bill that would extend a ban on regulation of “Internet protocol enabled services”, including standard telephone service delivered by voice over Internet protocol technology (VoIP). It’s backed by AT&T, Comcast, Charter Communications, Frontier Communications and other telecoms companies, and a long list of non-profit organisations that they pay, but which otherwise have no particular interest in telecoms policy.… More

High priced, low performing broadband service hits rural Californians hard

26 August 2019 by Steve Blum
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A California Public Utility Commission analysis of utility service affordability in California used household income, local cost of living and utility cost figures for far northern California – Siskiyou, Modoc and Lassen counties – to illustrate a proposed method for determining whether people can actually afford the utility service that they need. The example also illustrates a serious problem in rural California: the high cost and low quality of broadband service.

For the most part, the CPUC has no role in regulating, setting or monitoring the cost of broadband subscriptions, or the level of service provided.… More

T-Mobile tries to catch its California boomerang, with the usual result

23 August 2019 by Steve Blum
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Boomerang fingers

T-Mobile filed its reply yesterday to critics who don’t want the California Public Utilities Commission to blindly accept the wonderfulness of the deal it reached with anti-trust enforcers at the federal justice department, as it tries to complete its acquisition of Sprint. The CPUC should behold the glory of that settlement, T-Mobile’s lawyers argued, because it’s irrelevant.

Huh, you ask?

Yeah, it’s bizarre logic but it makes sense in a twisted sort of way.… More

Faster broadband gains subscribers but slow service loses them, CenturyLink says

22 August 2019 by Steve Blum
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Centurylink building

CenturyLink confirmed earlier this month that faster broadband service is the pathway to keeping subscribers on board, and gaining new ones.

In the company’s presentation outlining its second quarter 2019 financial results, it noted that it lost a total of 56,000 consumer-grade broadband customers. However, when that top level figure is broken out by speed, the company gained 48,000 subscribers at the 100 Mbps download speed level or better. The negative subscriber numbers were all at lower speeds: a net loss of 26,000 subscribers who were taking service at speeds levels of from 20 Mbps to less than 100 Mbps, and a loss of 78,000 subscribers who were buying service slower than 20 Mbps.… More

“Essential” broadband is fixed service at 20 Mbps down/3 Mbps up, CPUC white paper says

21 August 2019 by Steve Blum
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Forbes ag tech hartnell alisal demo 13jul2107

“Voice and broadband services required for education; telehealth; safety; and participation in society, such as completing job applications and accessing government assistance programs” will be defined as “essential services” in California if recommendations by California Public Utilities Commission staff are eventually adopted by commissioners.

According to a staff white paper on essential utility service affordability, for broadband service that means a minimum of 20 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload speeds, with a monthly data cap of no less than 1 terabyte (1,024 gigabytes).… More