Net neutrality debate flares brightly in the U.S. senate

10 May 2018 by Steve Blum
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The U.S. senate will vote on network neutrality, and reinstatement might have enough votes to win the day. But that’s as far as it’ll go.

Yesterday, U.S. senate democrats executed a parliamentary maneuver and forced a full floor vote on a resolution of disapproval aimed at overturning the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to roll back the net neutrality rules adopted in 2015. It’s based on a law, called the Congressional Review Act, that allows congress to veto decisions made by federal agencies.… More

California’s telecom right of way rules are detailed but not tidy

9 May 2018 by Steve Blum
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I was asked yesterday about California’s public right of way (ROW) rules, as they apply to telecoms companies. There’s no one stop handbook that I know of (but if anyone else does, please chime in). The rules are fluid, and are mostly determined by CPUC decisions, with some court rulings thrown in.

In California, it starts with section 7901 of the public utilities code…

Telegraph or telephone corporations may construct lines of telegraph or telephone lines along and upon any public road or highway, along or across any of the waters or lands within this State, and may erect poles, posts, piers, or abutments for supporting the insulators, wires, and other necessary fixtures of their lines, in such manner and at such points as not to incommode the public use of the road or highway or interrupt the navigation of the waters.

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California legislature takes on bots, false news and privacy

Some bills that would regulate websites, social media and other consumer-facing Internet services are moving ahead in the California legislature. But not all of them.

Assembly bill 3169, carried by James Gallagher (R – Chico), is dead. It would have required “social media Internet web sites” and search engines to be politically neutral. It would have failed any First Amendment test. The assembly privacy and consumer protection committee scrapped it by ignoring it – when the vote was taken, only two members, both democrats, said aye and the rest remained silent.… More

Market competition pushes down San Jose light pole lease rates

7 May 2018 by Steve Blum
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The City of San Jose will finalise a light pole lease agreement with AT&T. The San Jose city council approved a set of deal points on a nine to one vote last week. AT&T will pay $1,500 per year each to attach small cell equipment to city-owned light poles, plus pay $1,850,000 toward fees and a permit streamlining program.

That’s less than half of what San Jose was trying to charge.

“We have a fast changing landscape”, San Jose mayor Sam Liccardo said.… More

Charter’s franchise “should be revoked”, New York state says

6 May 2018 by Steve Blum
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Charter Communications is one step closer to losing its license to operate in New York City, if not New York state as a whole. Earlier this year, the state of New York’s Public Service Commission – its equivalent to the California Public Utilities Commission – slapped a $1 million fine on Charter and said it would “investigate Charter’s compliance with its New York City franchise agreements”.

That investigation seems to have led to legal action.… More

Allowing ISPs to sell your bandwidth to someone else is not economic freedom

5 May 2018 by Steve Blum
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The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) – the Washington, D.C. consulting group that ate the brain of beamed down to the Federal Communications Commission as the Trump administration prepared to take office – is sounding off about paid prioritisation (h/t to the Baller, Stokes & Lide list for the pointer). The fight over that particular concept is shaping up to be the front line of the network neutrality battle as it shifts from the FCC to the courts, congress and the states.… More

California opens up utility poles to mobile infrastructure companies

4 May 2018 by Steve Blum
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It’s a small change, but one that might speed up mobile broadband deployment in California. Wireline telephone companies can now install pretty much any kind of wireless equipment on utility poles, thanks to a decision by the California Public Utilities Commission.

The primary beneficiary will be mobile infrastructure companies – Crown Castle, Wave, Extenet for example – that build cell sites, large and small, and operate them for licensed mobile carriers, such as AT&T, Verizon and whatever T-Mobile and Sprint eventually become.… More

CPUC considers FTTH upgrade subsidy for Marin County town

3 May 2018 by Steve Blum
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Bolinas, a coastal community of about 700 homes in Marin County, is up for a $1.9 million broadband infrastructure subsidy from the California Public Utilities Commission next week. It’s the first grant proposal submitted to, and considered by, the CPUC since assembly bill 1665 was signed into law last year by governor Jerry Brown.

AB 1665 imposed severe restrictions on how money from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) can be spent. It lowered California’s minimum broadband standard to 6 Mbps download/1 Mbps upload speeds – if service is available at that level, then the legislature reckons no upgrade is needed.… More

Pay top dollar for low speed broadband, CPUC told

2 May 2018 by Steve Blum
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The counter punches landed at the California Public Utilities Commission yesterday, as nine organisations filed rebuttals to previous comments about how the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) should be run. The broadband infrastructure subsidy program is undergoing a complete make over, thanks to last year’s assembly bill 1665, which lowered California’s minimum broadband speed standard and turned the fund into a piggy bank for AT&T and Frontier Communications.

The Central Coast Broadband Consortium’s reply, which I drafted and submitted, led off with a correction – I got the math wrong on service level weightings.… More

T-Mobile, Sprint combo is anti-competitive, but that’s the feds’ call

1 May 2018 by Steve Blum
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The $26.5 billion dollar proposed purchase of Sprint by T-Mobile can’t go forward unless it’s given a pass by anti-trust watchdogs. As a practical matter, that means the federal justice department’s anti-trust unit sits on its hands and doesn’t challenge it in court, and the Federal Communications Commission signs off on the license transfers involved.

In theory, the California attorney general could jump in. In practice, that’s unlikely. So let’s set it aside for now. Unless there’s some obscure wireline telephone asset involved – anything is possible, but I don’t think so – the California Public Utilities Commission isn’t in the game either.… More