broadband

Bipartisan bill limits federal environmental review of telecoms projects


Just don’t disturb the ground.

A bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. senate aims to put some common sense into environmental law, at least where wireless facilities are concerned. Co-authored by U.S. senators Roger Wicker (R – Mississippi) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D – Nevada), senate bill 1988, aka the Speed act, would exempt a “communication facility installation” from federal environmental and historic reviews, if there’s already infrastructure in place in the project area.

Wireless infrastructure gets additional exemptions.… More

California broadband subsidy program heads for the deep freeze

20 October 2017 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

With the stroke of a pen, governor Jerry Brown transformed the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) into a piggy bank for AT&T and Frontier Communications. Carve outs for federally subsidised service areas and the right of first refusal on unserved areas give them an opportunity to claim CASF money for the projects they want to do, and block independent projects virtually everywhere else in their service areas.

Going forward, two questions need to be answered: what will happen to pending CASF infrastructure grant applications and how will the California Public Utilities Commission implement the new rules?… More

California broadband subsidies are now a rigged game

18 October 2017 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

The era of state-subsidised independent broadband projects is over in California. It ended Sunday night when governor Brown signed assembly bill 1665 into law, with immediate effect.

AB 1665 added $300 million to the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) specifically for infrastructure subsidies, but drastically changed the way the money can be spent. It’s messy and meandering, like most pork laden bills, but the key elements are:

  • The money has to be spent in areas where broadband service is available at less than 6 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload speeds.
… More

Brown approves $300 million gift to telcos but vetoes streetlight giveaway

16 October 2017 by Steve Blum
, , , ,


Nobody says it like Linda.


Just before the clock hit midnight last night, California governor Jerry Brown signed assembly bill 1665 into law, but vetoed senate bill 649.
AB 1665 takes effect immediately. It lowers California minimum broadband service standard to 6 Mbps download/1 Mbps upload speeds and adds $300 million to the California Advanced Services Fund for broadband infrastructure, to be spent under rules will give it to AT&T and Frontier in exchange for token upgrades.… More

Still waiting for Brown to decide and the dust to clear on California broadband bills

15 October 2017 by Steve Blum
, , ,
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Jerry_Brown_Official_Portrait_as_Governor.jpg

Forty years ago, when Jerry Brown was in his first term as California’s governor and I was a cub reporter covering the capitol, he had a reputation for agonising over his legislative decisions right up to the last minute. As he went on to a second term, and then a third and fourth, he and his office became more disciplined and efficient, and usually finished working through the stack of bills sent by the legislature with time to spare.… More

California broadband decisions down to the final day

15 October 2017 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

Governor Jerry Brown signed 40 bills into law yesterday, and vetoed 14 more, but didn’t act on the two major pieces of broadband legislation sitting on his desk: assembly bill 1665, which would lower California’s minimum service standard to 6 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload speeds, and senate bill 649, which preempts local ownership of street light poles and other vertical infrastructure.
He did approve AB 1145 which gives cable companies public money reserved for public utilities, without public utility obligations.… More

One way or another, major California broadband policy decisions due this weekend

14 October 2017 by Steve Blum
, , , ,


**Update, 15 October 2017, 0754**: no decision yet on AB 1665 or SB 649. Governor Brown signed AB 1145 into law yesterday.
There are two significant broadband-related bills remaining on governor Jerry Brown’s desk, and one relatively minor one, and he’s leaving them until the last minute. For each, he must choose one of three options by 11:59 p.m. Sunday:

  • Sign it into law.
  • Veto it.
  • Do nothing and let it become law automatically Monday morning, at the stroke of midnight.
… More

Brown okays new rules for subscription services, CPUC reform, law enforcement

10 October 2017 by Steve Blum
, ,

As we’re waiting for governor Jerry Brown to decide the fate of the two big broadband bills of the 2017 California legislative session – assembly bill 1665 and senate bill 649 – it’s a good time to take a quick look at some other relevant legislation he’s approved.

Brown signed SB 19 and SB 385 into law. Together, those two bills reorganise some of the California Public Utilities Commission’s responsibilities, although telecommunications oversight was left untouched.… More

Short on dark fiber inventory, PG&E moves toward selling lit service

5 October 2017 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

PG&E has revealed more details about its telecommunications business plan. In testimony filed with the California Public Utilities Commission, as it seeks permission to expand its telecoms service offerings, PG&E reiterated that it has no intention of offering residential fiber to the home service, or otherwise competing in the retail space. But its motivation for providing “lit” fiber service to wholesale customers appears to be greater than previously assumed. And so is its interest.… More

Governor Brown urged not to lower California's broadband speed standard

2 October 2017 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

Governor Jerry Brown has two weeks to decide if California’s broadband speed standard should be slower than it is now, and if the California Advanced Services Fund should be turned into a piggy bank for AT&T, Frontier Communications and the cable industry. That’s what assembly bill 1665 would do, if Brown allows it to become law.

He’s getting plenty of encouragement to sign it, from the California Emerging Technology Fund and, one might safely assume, the platoon of lobbyists that telephone and cable companies maintain in Sacramento and back with generous cash contributions to politicians of both parties.… More