bay area council

California-style regulation can kill or cure broadband, study says

10 September 2015 by Steve Blum
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Reducing regulatory complexity, uncertainty and reach is the key to improving California’s broadband infrastructure, according to a report published by the Bay Area Council Economic Institute. The study assessed the telecommunications and energy infrastructure necessary to successfully competing in a 21st century economy, and the steps needed to get it.

The focus of the telecoms recommendations was regulation, both at the local planning and permitting level and by the California Public Utilities Commission. Environmental regulations were singled out as a particular barrier…

The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) is considered another cost and delay factor in any infrastructure development that involves trenching or surface disturbance.

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Bay Area Council expert roundtable finds common ground on broadband challenges

18 May 2014 by Steve Blum
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A wide ranging conversation on Californian broadband development policy last week amongst a diverse collection of policy makers, academics, consultants and Internet businesses ended with broad, if not unconditional, agreement that making progress requires meeting four major challenges.

The first is extending the diversity and capacity of network connections that are clustered in the San Francisco Bay Area, coastal Los Angeles and, to a lesser extent, San Diego and Sacramento into smaller inland metro areas and rural communities.… More