SCE’s dark fiber future gets darker

24 July 2018 by Steve Blum
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Southern California Edison’s bid to get blanket approval of its dark fiber deal with Verizon from the California Public Utilities Commission continues to sink deeper into a quagmire. The CPUC commissioner in charge of the review wants to change the way SCE splits dark fiber revenue with its customers. The formula in effect for almost 20 years gives 10% of gross revenue back to ratepayers, but commissioner Clifford Rechtschaffen thinks 50% is a better deal.… More

Broadband consortium accused of making “false reports”, CPUC wants $244,000 back

23 July 2018 by Steve Blum
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The California Public Utilities Commission began funding regional broadband development groups, AKA broadband consortia, in 2011. In rural areas, and some urban areas, the groups primarily worked on expanding broadband infrastructure. But in Los Angeles County, the focus was on broadband promotion – AKA broadband “adoption” – programs that aimed at getting more people to use – and subscribe to – Internet service.

One of those groups styled itself “California’s One Million New Internet User Coalition”.… More

Judge ignored fundamental economics in approving AT&T, Time Warner deal, justice department says

22 July 2018 by Steve Blum
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The judge who unconditionally blessed AT&T’s purchase of Time Warner’s content companies “rejected fundamental principles of economics”, according to a motion filed by the federal justice department as it launched its appeal of that decision…

The “assumption” the court criticized was the fundamental economic principle, recognized in case law, that the merged firm would maximize its corporate-wide profits (rather than instruct Turner and DirecTV to operate independently at the expense of overall profits to the parent corporation).

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No longer a project, Loon leaves the nest to fly, or flop, as a business

21 July 2018 by Steve Blum
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Loon is ready to fly on its own. In a blog post, the head of Alphabet’s X division, Astro Teller, says that the high altitude balloon-based broadband company, and a drone based sister project, Wing, are leaving the incubator…

Today, unlike when they started as X projects, Loon and Wing seem a long way from crazy — and thanks to their years of hard work and relentless testing in the real world, they’re now graduating from X to become two new independent businesses within Alphabet: Loon and Wing.

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“Third world” corruption or judicial prudence? California supreme court ices Cal3 initiative

20 July 2018 by Steve Blum
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The plan to split California into three new states won’t be on the November ballot. The California supreme court put the Cal3 initiative on hold Wednesday, while it decides whether or not the proposition meets spec under the California constitution. Opponents claim it is a constitutional “revision”, which needs the concurrence of two-thirds of the California legislature, rather than an “amendment”, which can be put on the ballot by initiative alone.

Arguably, it’s neither. It substitutes a popular vote for the decision making authority of the legislature, as the initiative process is intended to do, and triggers a request to the U.S.… More

Google’s Android bundling strategy whacked by EU

19 July 2018 by Steve Blum
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Google set two records yesterday: it was hit with the largest fine ever assessed by European Union anti-trust enforcers, which didn’t scare Wall Street because its stock price – actually, its nominal parent company Alphabet’s share price – hit the highest level ever.

The $5 billion fine was accompanied by an order for Google to radically change the way it markets the Android mobile phone operating system, according to a tweet by Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s competition commission and a former member of the Danish parliament…

Fine of €4,34 bn to @Google for 3 types of illegal restrictions on the use of Android.

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A Washington, DC republican gets net neutrality religion

18 July 2018 by Steve Blum
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Another network neutrality bill landed in Washington, D.C. on Monday. What’s interesting about this one is that its author is a republican and it would reinstate the core rules established by the Obama administration’s Federal Communications Commission in 2015, but overturned by the Trump administration’s team late last year. At the time, representative Mike Coffman (R – Colorado) urged the FCC to delay repealing net neutrality so federal lawmakers could make the decision instead. The FCC went ahead anyway, so Coffman finally offered his bill in reply.… More

Dig once is OK, dig never is not, FCC says

17 July 2018 by Steve Blum
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The Federal Communications Commission fired a shot across the bow of local governments last week, when it published a draft version of a “declaratory ruling” that, as the name implies, declares that moratoria that block broadband deployment violate federal law.

The ruling is primarily concerned with permits to build wireless facilities – cell sites, for the most part – and to install broadband infrastructure, such as conduit, in the public right of way. Some cities refuse to process permit applications for particular, broadband-related projects, the FCC draft says, either because they have formally decided not to – imposed a moratorium, in other words – or because they just sit on applications they don’t like and, in effect, create a de facto moratorium.… More

Frontier, CETF broadband adoption deal crashes and burns

16 July 2018 by Steve Blum
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A forced partnership between Frontier Communications and the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) to enroll low income broadband users fell far short of its 200,000 household goal, gaining only 9,173 subscribers over its two and a half year lifespan. That number is one of the few things that Frontier and CETF agree on. Who’s to blame and what comes next are hotly disputed.

It’s uncertain how many of those households were enrolled by CETF. Frontier independently acquired some, if not most, of those new subs through its normal sales channels.… More

Not so fast, doc. Justice department appeals AT&T Time Warner decision

15 July 2018 by Steve Blum
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In a terse filing, the federal justice department gave notice last week that it is appealing a judge’s decision to allow AT&T to buy Time Warner’s content companies, with no strings attached.

The justice department didn’t outline a specific goal, but one possibility is that it wants AT&T to give up some of its new empire, perhaps Turner channels such as CNN. According to a story in Variety by Ted Johnson, it could turn out to be a risky maneuver…

Larry Downes, senior industry and innovation fellow at the Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy, said that the Justice Department’s appeal carries risks for the government.

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