Steve Blum's Blog

Frontier’s broadband monopoly leaves hundreds of thousands of rural Californians without fiber or choices

2 November 2020 by Steve Blum
casf, cpuc, frontiercommunications, public policy, rural broadband

The California Public Utilities Commission took another run at the numbers and the conclusion is the same: 69,000 low income Californian households live in places where the only wireline telecommunications company is Frontier Communications, which is their sole source for wired broadband service only if Frontier considers it profitable enough to offer it in the first place.

An updated report – a “collection of facts” as the CPUC calls it – was prepared by staff as part of the commission’s review of Frontier’s bankruptcy settlement.… More

Free speech “hypocrisy” won’t end with a new FCC or new administration

30 October 2020 by Steve Blum
fcc, liberty, netneutrality, public policy

It’s an odd twist of logic that says the Federal Communications Commission can’t regulate Internet service or facilities, but it can be the Internet content cop. But that’s the position that FCC chair Ajit Pai is taking in regards to what is known as Section 230 – a bit of federal communications law that shields Internet platforms, like Facebook, from liability for content posted by their customers. The urge that drives him is near universal among major party politicians in Washington, D.C.… More

CPUC (sorta) offers $73 million subsidy kicker to RDOF bidders

29 October 2020 by Steve Blum
casf, cpuc, public policy, rdof, rural broadband

Internet service providers that win federal subsidies in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auction for particular census block groups (CBGs) may be eligible for at least $73 million in supplemental subsidies from the California Advanced Services Fund. And maybe twice that much.

Probably.

Yesterday, the California Public Utilities Commission defined – at least to a useful extent – how much money will be offered as an incentive for ISPs to bid aggressively for RDOF money in Californian CBGs where the digital divide is the widest.… More

With California’s supplemental subsidy proposed but not yet offered, ISPs must risk RDOF subsidy bets tomorrow

28 October 2020 by Steve Blum
casf, cpuc, public policy, rdof, rural broadband

Update 28 October 2020: The CPUC published a new list of targeted census block groups (CBGs), and clarified its proposed plan to offer additional subsidies to ISPs that successfully bid for RDOF subsidies in those CBGs. The list is here. The updated info about the money is here. The short version is that if the plan is approved by commissioners in December, then the CPUC will offer an amount equal to 10% of the ten year “reserve price” set by the FCC for each CBG – a total of $73 million from CASF – to ISPs that meet the CPUC’s Level 1 service requirements and other qualifications.… More

Broadband needs grow as California’s subsidy fund runs dry

27 October 2020 by Steve Blum
casf, cpuc, public policy, rdof, rural broadband

There’s about $194 million left for broadband infrastructure upgrades in the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF). That’s less than half of pending grant requests, even before possible “kickers” for Internet service providers bidding for federal Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) subsidies are factored in.

It might not be even that much. My estimate includes an optimistic allowance for the cost of running the program, which has increased over time and will likely continue to grow.… More

CPUC updates tentative RDOF incentive plan, as its broadband fund falls short by $77 million

26 October 2020 by Steve Blum
casf, cpuc, public policy, rdof, rural broadband

The California Public Utilities Commission will put $150 million on the table for Internet service providers to add to their budgets as they bid in a reverse auction for federal Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) subsidies, if a plan proposed by staff is eventually approved by commissioners. Some of the details of that plan were released earlier this month, and a list of census block groups that will be eligible for “kickers” from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) was posted late on Friday.… More

Breaking: California’s RDOF incentive plan released, $150 million offered to bidders in targeted communities. Maybe

23 October 2020 by Steve Blum
casf, cpuc, public policy, rdof, rural broadband

A list of census block groups eligible for subsidies from both the federal Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) and, provisionally, the California Advanced Services Fund was posted on the California Public Utilities Commission’s website late today.

The plan is to make CASF money available to Internet service providers that want to compete for federal subsidies in the neediest Californian communities, in order to incentivise them to bid more aggressively in the RDOF reverse auction. As much as $150 million might be available.… More

Federal appeals court says no do over, FCC muni pole ownership preemption stands

23 October 2020 by Steve Blum
ab57, fcc, pole attachment, public policy, small cells

If cities and counties want to continue fighting the Federal Communications Commission’s preemption of local ownership of street light poles and other municipal property planted in the public right of way, they will have to take their case to the federal supreme court. In a ruling issued yesterday, the San Francisco-based ninth circuit court of appeals denied a request for a rehearing of a ruling made earlier this year by a three-judge panel that largely upheld the FCC’s authority to dictate the rates and terms for attaching wireless equipment to city-owned poles.… More

AT&T kills wired broadband service for half a million Californians

22 October 2020 by Steve Blum
att, casf, connect america fund, dsl, rural broadband

AT&T’s decision to stop selling legacy DSL service – the sort that uses 1990s technology and rides on regulated phone lines – affects 547,000 Californians, 1.4% of the state’s population. 67,000 of them will completely lose the ability to buy residential wireline broadband service from a commercial provider. Rural counties will be hit hard, with Tuolumne County taking the stiffest punch: 3.4% of its population will no longer be able to get wireline broadband service at any speed.… More

CWA union says AT&T redlines poor communities. California’s stats confirm the pattern, if not the extent

21 October 2020 by Steve Blum
att, broadband, cpuc, cwa, public policy

The Communications Workers of America (CWA) – the primary telecoms union in the U.S. – claims that AT&T is doing fiber upgrades in high income communities and redlining low income ones. A white paper published by CWA and the National Digital Inclusion Alliance claims…

The analysis of AT&T’s network reveals that the company is prioritizing network upgrades to wealthier areas, and leaving lower income communities with outdated technologies. Across the country, the median income for households with fiber available is 34 percent higher than in areas with DSL only – $60,969 compared to $45,500.

… More