broadband

Political, energy talent point to new direction for CPUC

11 January 2017 by Steve Blum
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The California Public Utilities Commission begins 2017 lopsided with energy experts, and bereft of significant prior experience in the telecommunications sector. The governor’s two new appointees to the commission – Martha Guzman Aceves and Cliff Rechtschaffen – have, to one degree or another, spent their careers working on energy and environmental issues, as have two of the three current commissioners, Carla Peterman and president Michael Picker. Aceves and Rechtschaffen have one other thing in common with Picker: all three were top political aides to Brown, with energy portfolios.… More

Republican congressmen plan their own kind of telecoms policy activism

10 January 2017 by Steve Blum
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“Over the last several years, what we’ve seen has been lot of reaction in congress, reacting to things. What I think we’re going to see now more is planning”, said Bob Latta, a republican representative from Ohio, who holds a key telecoms committee portfolio in Washington, D.C. He was on a four-congressman panel at CES, talking about the reconfigured Federal Communications Commission. It will begin the Trump administration with a republican majority and, Latta expects, commissioner Ajit Pai installed as chairman.… More

Spend on broadband not crumbling concrete, says California congressman

9 January 2017 by Steve Blum
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Issa on home turf.

Representative Darrell Issa (R – San Diego) embraced Donald Trump’s plan to pump a lot of federal money into infrastructure during a CES panel discussion in Las Vegas this weekend, and broadband is at the top of his shopping list. If the federal government is going to spend a trillion dollars again, Issa thinks it should be forward looking projects that get funded, and not repair jobs left over from the last century.… More

Key congressman says Pai will be next FCC chair

7 January 2017 by Steve Blum
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Speaking at CES today, representative Bob Latta (R – Ohio) – a major player in congressional telecoms policy – said he’s looking forward to working proactively with the new administration and, particularly, the new Federal Communications Commission, which will be led by Ajit Pai.

“You look at the FCC and the change there, commissioner Pai will be the new chairman of the FCC”, he said.

Update: afterwards, Latta confirmed that he thinks it’s likely that Pai will be the next FCC chair, probably on a permanent basis, and with all due regard for the principal that “he who looks into a crystal ball will eat ground glass for lunch”.… More

Key senator plans to take small bites out of U.S. telecom law

5 January 2017 by Steve Blum
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The basic telecommunications law in the U.S. is set to get a makeover. John Thune, a republican U.S. senator from South Dakota and the chair of the senate committee that deals with telecoms – the commerce, science and transportation committee – said yesterday that he wants to rewrite the Communications Act, last overhauled in 1996. But according to a story by Brendan Bordelon in Morning Consult, he doesn’t want to do it all at once…

“It’s time to update the law,” Thune told reporters.

… More

California broadband rodeo kicks off again

2 January 2017 by Steve Blum
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But no room for a working clown.

Strap in for the ride – 2017 is shaping up to be a Bizarro rerun of 2016, at least where broadband policy is concerned. Last year’s most contentious policy broncos are in the chute, ready for another go round with a new cast of cowboys in Washington and Sacramento.

Top draw is common carrier status for broadband service, also known as title II, AKA net neutrality. The republican rump majority on the Federal Communications Commission – Ajit Pai and Michael O’Rielly – have targeted the Obama administration’s marquee telecoms policy initiative for a preemptive weed whacking.… More

Governor Brown picks two "closest advisors" for CPUC

29 December 2016 by Steve Blum
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The inner circle.

Cliff Rechtschaffen, a senior advisor to governor Brown, and Martha Guzman Aceves, his deputy legislative affairs secretary, were appointed to fill two soon-to-be vacant slots on the California Public Utilities Commission yesterday. Governor Brown issued a press release saying “both have sound judgment and a commitment to protecting ratepayers and ensuring safe, reliable and climate-friendly energy in California”.

They have something else: a tight working relationship with Brown. According to a story in the Los Angeles Times by John Myers…

Gov.

… More

A quick FCC shift could stall, but not kill broadband rules

22 December 2016 by Steve Blum
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It’s not a question of when the incoming Trump administration will roll back common carrier status for Internet service. It’s a question of if it can be done. It’s a near certainty that the new Federal Communications Junta Commission will try to reclassify broadband back to being an information service. The common carrier label is the keystone of most major FCC decisions in the last couple of years. Remove it and a tall stack of regulations tumbles.… More

Republican FCC commissioners decree the rules are what we say they are

21 December 2016 by Steve Blum
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It’s good to be the king.

Ajit Pai and Michael O’Rielly, the two republicans on the Federal Communications Commission, have sent a letter to lobbyists for telecoms and Internet service providers promising them that their clients don’t have to follow rules that went into effect last week, saying the times they are a changing…

We want to assure you and your members that we would not support any adverse actions against small business providers for supposed non-compliance with the “enhanced transparency” rules after [17 January 2017], and we will seek to revisit those particular requirements, and the Title II Net Neutrality proceeding more broadly, as soon as possible.

… More

AT&T waves a weed whacker at FCC staff

19 December 2016 by Steve Blum
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Which side of the dirt do you want to be on?

Mommy might have said no, but daddy is going to whack your weeds. That’s the message AT&T delivered to Federal Communications Commission staff who had challenged the legality of allowing customers who buy a package of DirecTv programming to watch it without incurring data charges or burning through data caps. The practice is called zero rating and it was left in a regulatory grey area by the FCC’s 2015 decision to classify Internet access as a common carrier service.… More