broadband

California broadband subsidies should build, not follow, business case

14 April 2017 by Steve Blum
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More than twenty companies and organisations offered their critiques of the first draft of a bang for the buck analysis of where the California Public Utilities Commission might focus its dwindling broadband infrastructure subsidy money. Many of the comments can be summed up as give me the money, with incumbent telcos and cable companies laying down defensive fire aimed at heading off potential competition – more about that on Monday.

Three of the commenters – the Karuk Tribe, and the CPUC’s office of ratepayer advocates and the consumer group TURN in a joint submission – made a fair point about the overall approach: by prioritising communities with bigger, denser populations, the analysis paralleled the sort of market evaluation done by Internet service providers when they decide whether or not to serve a particular area.… More

Broadband infrastructure follows roads and rails to West Sacramento

13 April 2017 by Steve Blum
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The railroads and freeways that made West Sacramento a logistic hub brought robust fiber optic infrastructure with them. As a result, the city is criss-crossed by long haul and metro fiber lines and hosts two data centers. That’s the one of the top line results of a study completed by Tellus Venture Associates and presented to the West Sacramento city council last week. Other findings include…

  • Along with excellent industrial grade fiber networks and data centers, the City of West Sacramento owns a significant amount of telecommunications conduit that can be used to leverage those assets.
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PG&E seeks to use its California fiber to compete as a telco

12 April 2017 by Steve Blum
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A vast, competitive fiber network will soon open up in northern California, if the California Public Utilities approves Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s request to operate as a telephone company. PG&E applied for a telco-style certificate of public convenience and necessity (CPCN) so it could sell services on the fiber network it’s built throughout California. Currently, it only allows other certified telephone companies to use its fiber, which was mostly built to support its own operations.… More

San Francisco ban on exclusive ISP deals goes to FCC

11 April 2017 by Steve Blum
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San Francisco’s open broadband access rule for apartments and condominiums will be tested at the Federal Communications Commission. As adopted by the San Francisco board of supervisors, the ordinance allows any resident of a multi-dwelling unit (MDU) to buy Internet service from any provider. The landlord or homeowner’s association has to allow access to both the building and the existing wiring inside of it. A lobbying front for companies that make a living providing exclusive broadband service to MDUs is asking the FCC to overturn the rule – Article 52, for short – because, they say, it will result in less competition and fewer choices…

Though styled as a vehicle for promoting consumer “choice” among communications services, Article 52 in fact offers a de facto sweetheart deal to large, well-financed entities by overriding voluntary, contractual arrangements that are preconditions to the financing required for buildout by small, entrepreneurial start-ups.

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Net neutrality pinky swear from ISPs is good enough, says FCC chair

9 April 2017 by Steve Blum
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Network neutrality rules that prohibit Internet service providers from speeding up or slowing down subscriber’s traffic based on what it is or whether or not it’s profitable appear to be on the way out. Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai reportedly met with lobbyists last week and floated the idea of a voluntary system that would have ISPs write net neutrality commitments into their terms of service, which in turn would be overseen by the Federal Trade Commission, and not the FCC.… More

The amazing shrinking Google Fiber

8 April 2017 by Steve Blum
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More empty chairs.

In the latest sign that Google is backing out of the Internet access business, hundreds of employees, including two top executives, have been shuffled out of telecoms jobs and into other parts of the company. According to a Bloomberg story by Mark Bergen, Google is cleaning house at its Access division…

Milo Medin, a vice president at Access, and Dennis Kish, a wireless infrastructure veteran who was president of Google Fiber, are leaving the division but staying at the Alphabet holding company.

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FCC wholesale word games will kill retail competition

7 April 2017 by Steve Blum
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Looked at one way, the draft decision to lighten regulation of wholesale broadband services that’s been floated by the new chair of the Federal Communications Commission isn’t a lot different from the one proposed by the old chairman. Both versions backed away from regulating prices or terms for higher speed, dedicated industrial-grade connections – those faster than 45 Mbps – while keeping some controls on slower services based on legacy copper technology.

Current chairman Ajit Pai wants to back further away than Tom Wheeler, the guy he replaced, did.… More

California lawmakers give cable utility perks, without utility obligations

6 April 2017 by Steve Blum
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Quirky economics.

Cable companies want the benefits of being a legally recognised public utility, but not the responsibilities. One of those benefits is to be compensated when a public works project requires the relocation of lines, either on poles or underground. The California assembly’s communications and conveyance committee thought that cable companies deserve it too, and unanimously endorsed a bill yesterday that would reimburse them for relocation work when a project is being paid for out of bond money that’s been approved by voters.… More

FCC set to preempt local right of way and permit authority

3 April 2017 by Steve Blum
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A sweeping review of how cities and counties manage public roads and approve construction permits for wired and wireless broadband infrastructure is on the table at the Federal Communications Commission. If approved, two draft decisions would, among other things, start the process of setting tighter limits on how and when local governments can establish standards for digging trenches or planting poles and boxes in public rights of way, and make wireless permit shot clocks absolute with an automatic deemed granted decision once time limits have expired and a ban on court challenges by local governments.… More

At least some broadband policy can cross party lines in congress

31 March 2017 by Steve Blum
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There are aspects of broadband policy that are getting bipartisan support in the U.S. congress. Not anything to do with privacy rules or network neutrality or common carrier status for broadband, of course. But there are common views regarding some of the nitty gritty details of broadband infrastructure deployment.

A house of representatives sub-committee that deals with communications and technology issues looked kindly on two draft bills, both of which are largely revivals of proposals that didn’t make it out of congress last year.… More