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California lawmakers need sharper thinking, reality check on telecoms policy

16 May 2016 by Steve Blum
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Not everyone is 99 and 44/100% pure.

No one expected zero problems when Frontier took over Verizon’s telephone systems in California last month. At least no one who understands that big telecommunications companies are complicated and not particularly predictable. It’s a lesson that California lawmakers should take to heart, as they consider allowing AT&T to replace wireline service with cell phones at will.

Frontier added about two million customers to its existing 200,000 subscriber base in California, scattered across 150 telephone exchanges that range from the best infrastructure in the state – FiOS-brand fiber to the home – to the worst.… More

AT&T plan to scrap copper networks will widen digital divide, say rural reps

10 May 2016 by Steve Blum
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AT&T’s attempt to force a bill through the California legislature that would allow it to, among other things, replace low priced, low margin wireline systems with more lucrative wireless service continues to draw fire from rural interests. The Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) – a group comprised of supervisors from 35 rural counties – is urging its members to oppose assembly bill 2395, a proposed law written by AT&T and carried by assemblyman Evan Low (D – Silicon Valley).… More

El Dorado was the county of gold, now it struggles to keep AT&T's copper

6 May 2016 by Steve Blum
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Putting it in, or taking it out?

Rural counties in California are lining up against a plan to allow AT&T to replace rural and inner city wireline networks with wireless service. The board of supervisors in El Dorado County voted 4 to 1 on Tuesday to send a formal letter opposing assembly bill 2395 to its author Evan Low (D – Silicon Valley) and members of the appropriations committee, which are next in line to say yes or no to it, likely later this month.… More

AT&T releases copper fog over California

4 May 2016 by Steve Blum
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Opposition is growing to AT&T’s attempt to rewrite California law so it can pull out its wireline networks in rural and inner city communities, and use wireless networks to provide broadband and phone service instead. In response, AT&T is pushing misleading and lawyerly talking points to elected officials in rural counties and to non-profit groups in urban areas.

If you examine the claims made in the documents submitted by AT&T into the public record (see links below), each one is arguably true when read in isolation.… More

AT&T offers $10 service to low income homes lucky enough to have wireline service

27 April 2016 by Steve Blum
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Oops. There goes the $10 a month service.

AT&T is rolling out its low cost Internet access program for low income households. It’s one of the conditions attached to the FCC’s approval of AT&T’s purchase of DirecTv last year.

It only applies to homes where Internet access service “is delivered to a fixed location over a physical wire or cable“. In other words, the wireless service AT&T wants to use to replace wireline service in rural and inner city California isn’t eligible.… More

Bait and switch for California bill to allow AT&T's rural abandonment

22 April 2016 by Steve Blum
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Not the result he was expecting.

No real changes were made in to a proposed new law that would allow AT&T to pull out its wireline systems in rural and inner city communities in California, despite promises to the contrary.

The new text of assembly bill 2395 is now available, and it’s nothing like the way it was characterised by AT&T and its legislative cheering section during an assembly utilities and commerce committee hearing last week.… More

AT&T, cable lobbyists gut California broadband subsidies

20 April 2016 by Steve Blum
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Treachery.

Broadband infrastructure subsidies are off the table in Sacramento, thanks to a coordinated campaign by AT&T staff lobbyists and the cable industry’s political front organisation, the California Cable and Telecommunications Association (CCTA). Assembly bill 1758 was pulled by its author, assemblyman Mark Stone (D – Santa Cruz) after it became clear that the California assembly’s utilities and commerce committee was going to spike it at its meeting this afternoon.

Originally, AB 1758 would have put $150 million into the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) broadband construction subsidy account, and another $200 million in a range of broadband-related programs, including service for hospitals, facilities in public housing, digital literacy and marketing efforts and regional consortia.… More

Ayes and noes posted for AT&T's California rural exit bill

18 April 2016 by Steve Blum
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You’re wireless now.

The official vote tally for assembly bill 2395 has been posted. That’s the bill that would let AT&T shut down its wireline networks in rural and inner city areas and replace them with lower capacity but higher cost and higher profit margin wireless systems. It was clear from listening to the audio feed that a big, bipartisan majority of the California assembly utilities and commerce committee favored the bill, but the rules allow votes to be silently added to the roll, or even changed, before the meeting officially ends.… More

AT&T says don't worry about copper lines, California legislators say OK

14 April 2016 by Steve Blum
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History says otherwise.

AT&T is one step closer to getting blanket permission to yank its copper networks in rural California, and replace them with wireless service as it pleases. On a lopsided vote, the assembly utilities and commerce committee voted to move assembly bill 2395 along toward a full floor vote. Written by AT&T and carried on its behalf by assemblyman Evan Low (D – Silicon Valley), the bill would allow AT&T to replace legacy analog voice telephone networks and service with any functional equivalent, so long as it’s capable of calling 911.… More

Kill AT&T's California wireline exit bill, don't bother tinkering with it

11 April 2016 by Steve Blum
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AT&T’s ongoing attempt to re-write California law so that it can replace rural wireline broadband and regulated telephone systems with unregulated wireless service is up for a vote in a key assembly committee on Wednesday. It’s opposed by the California Public Utilities Commission, among others. During the CPUC’s debate, commissioner Mike Florio said spike assembly bill 2395, don’t bother rewriting it…

In my legislative work over the years, there was an adage that I learned that you don’t amend a bad bill.

… More