broadband

California broadband subsidy amendments protect telcos' bad rural service

6 July 2017 by Steve Blum
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Get used to it.

AT&T, Frontier Communications and cable companies would be able to freeze broadband development in unserved areas of California and get priority access to broadband subsidy money, under the terms of a newly amended bill to reinstate a tax on phone bills and use the money to top up the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF). The latest version of assembly bill 1665 tracks with a draft circulated last week and is designed to freeze out independent broadband infrastructure projects.… More

Industrial, commercial Star Ratings produce broadband development roadmap

Broadband infrastructure analysis has two primary goals: 1. figure out what’s available now and whether it meets needs, and 2. identify and evaluate options for further development. Last year, Tellus Venture Associates created the Star Rating tool to assess broadband infrastructure in industrial and commercial areas.

It takes into account available service and existing infrastructure, and compares it to a range of benchmarks, including commodity business-level broadband, enhanced “megabit” and “gigabit” class service, and dark fiber.… More

Consider who pays for broadband studies, but don't stop there

2 July 2017 by Steve Blum
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Gamblers or exiled royalty?

I’ve commented on a couple of university studies recently, one critical of municipal broadband’s business model and the other ripping AT&T’s infrastructure upgrade redlining in California. In neither case did I write about who picked up the tab for the work. That’s because I thought that both analyses stood on their own. But it’s a fair question to ask and, for the muni broadband study at least, it’s a significant one because the source of the money was the primary basis for challenging the work.… More

What we've seen is what we'll be getting from the FCC

1 July 2017 by Steve Blum
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All the seats on the Federal Communications Commission are filled, or at least will be once the U.S. senate confirms two pending nominations. President Donald Trump said he’s appointing Brendan Carr to the last open – and nominally republican – slot on the commission. He’ll be paired up with democrat Jessica Rosenworcel as the senate grinds through its confirmation process.

Carr is an FCC insider. He’s currently general counsel and was a legal aide to current chairman Ajit Pai.… More

California telcos, cable double down on greedy with broadband subsidy grab

29 June 2017 by Steve Blum
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If you’re going to scam taxpayer money, why not go all the way? That seems to be the rationale of telephone and cable company lobbyists as they, once again, rewrite a proposed law that would effectively funnel $300 million to incumbent cable and telcos, for little or nothing in return.

Assembly bill 1665 began as an attempt to put more money into the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF), which provides partial grants – usually 60% to 70% of capital costs – for broadband infrastructure projects in areas where service is either completely lacking or doesn’t meet the California Public Utilities Commission’s minimum 6 Mbps download and 1.5 Mbps upload standard.… More

CPUC tells FCC not to confuse copper networks with telecoms service

25 June 2017 by Steve Blum
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Don’t confuse copper wireline infrastructure with the services it supports. That’s the message from the California Public Utilities Commission to the Federal Communications Commission. In comments regarding possible changes to federal wireless and wireline telecoms regulations, the CPUC said that the "FCC’s assumption that copper has outlived its usefulness is overstated"…

Copper technology is not inherently obsolete. Copper was originally used for telecommunications because it could serve as the backbone of a universal voice network: it was cheap to install, easy to use, and readily available.

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Trump touts broadband lipstick in Iowa, but will he put it on a pig?

24 June 2017 by Steve Blum
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Broadband is now explicitly included in president Donald Trump’s planned trillion dollar infrastructure program. Up until now, his focus has been on big civil engineering projects, like roads, bridges and dams. But Trump made it clear in a speech in Iowa earlier this week that telecoms infrastructure will be included…

If we continue to train our workers in these new technologies, then we will usher in a new era of prosperity for American agriculture and for the American farming family.

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Charter moves fast where fiber competition looms

22 June 2017 by Steve Blum
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But is it fast enough?

If you want to steer telco and cable company capital investment toward your community, apply competitive pressure, preferably with a full scale fiber to the home project. Once again, that lesson has been learned as the simple and reliable mechanics of microeconomic theory have pushed a major cable company to accelerate spending in an area it has long ignored.

Charter Communications is required to upgrade the antique analog cable systems it has long maintained in redlined communities.… More

AT&T fiber redlines low income communities, U.C. Berkeley study finds

21 June 2017 by Steve Blum
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Where high income households are thick on the ground, AT&T builds out fiber to the home systems, but does minimal upgrades for middle income areas and leaves low income communities with 1990s-style legacy DSL or nothing at all. That’s the top line conclusion from a study done by U.C. Berkeley’s Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society…

  • The median household income of California communities with access to AT&T’s fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network is $94,208. This exceeds by $32,297 the $61,911 median household income for all California households in the AT&T wireline footprint.
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California FTTH grant approved under current subsidy program rules

19 June 2017 by Steve Blum
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California’s primary broadband subsidy program will stay on its present course, at least until the legislature changes it or the California Public Utilities Commission resets priorities and rules going forward. That’s the takeaway from a CPUC vote to approve a $1.1 million grant from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) for a fiber to the home project in southern Santa Clara County.

It’s an important message to independent Internet service providers who might be considering CASF-funded projects in the future: it’s expensive to prepare and submit applications – more than $100,000 in some cases – and the prospect of having one rejected a year or two later because the rules changed increases the risk beyond the point most are willing to go.… More