broadband

Arizona appears to be next for Google Fiber expansion

4 August 2015 by Steve Blum
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So far, no love for the Pacific Time Zone.

Google continues to lay the groundwork for expanding its fiber to the home project into more metro areas. According to a story by Darren DaRonco and Parker Leavitt in the Arizona Republic, Google is negotiating agreements with cities in the Phoenix area to get access to public right of ways. The first city to approve a deal is Tempe…

The agreement “gives us approval to build a network in the city of Tempe,” said Angie Welling, Google’s public policy and government affairs manager.

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New rules for federal broadband loans in rural areas don't change eastern bias

3 August 2015 by Steve Blum
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Most of the broadband blank zones are in the west, most of the money goes east. Go figure.

The Rural Utilities Service (RUS) is the arm of the federal agriculture department that runs broadband grant and loan programs. It’s just published new application rules for loans to build broadband infrastructure in poorly served rural areas. Highlights include…

  • The minimum acceptable broadband speed is set at 4 Mbps down and 1 Mbps up; any area with less than that is considered unserved by federal standards.
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USDA broadband grants ditch California again

27 July 2015 by Steve Blum
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It’s sounding like a broken record (if anyone actually remembers what a broken record sounds like). The federal agriculture department’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) announces another round of Community Connect grants, for local broadband projects in poorly served or completely unserved areas, applications come in, the winners are announced and California comes up with goose eggs (anyone remember what that means either?).

That’s been the story for four years running now. RUS awarded a total of $13 million in Community Connect grants for five projects in four states: Alaska, Minnesota (which was down for two), Oklahoma and Virginia.… More

CPUC leaves a hard decision on its broadband authority for another time

24 July 2015 by Steve Blum
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Some games go on forever, and reach no result.

The California Public Utilities Commission passed on the opportunity to officially assert its jurisdiction over broadband infrastructure and service yesterday. By a unanimous vote, commissioners allowed Comcast to simply withdraw its now moot application for permission to take over Charter and Time Warner cable systems in California.
The mega-merger died in April, after federal regulators insisted on deal killing conditions. The CPUC had also spent about a year reviewing it, amassing a huge amount of data and documents, in addition to the even bigger stash developed by the Federal Communications Commission.… More

CPUC to choose between broadband activism or accommodation

22 July 2015 by Steve Blum
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Two key broadband decisions are scheduled to go in front of the California Public Utilities Commission tomorrow. Commissioners have to decide what kind of funeral to hold for the not-so-dearly-departed Comcast – Time Warner – Charter mega-merger, and whether they need to actually investigate the condition of California’s ageing copper telephone networks, or just assume the telcos will take care of it.

There are three completely different alternatives on the table for wrapping up the Comcast deal:

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The municipal broadband policy bank is open

15 July 2015 by Steve Blum
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Withdrawals are free, deposits are welcome.

Writing good broadband policy is a lot easier when you start with good examples. So thanks to a nudge from the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership, I finally got around to doing something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time: post a collection of the best local broadband development policies that I know.

The result is the new Policy Bank page on this website. It has several examples – in both pdf and source formats – of dig once policies, specifications for conduit, requirements for newly constructed (or significantly remodelled) homes and businesses, tools for managing broadband assets, permitting practices, master leases for telecoms facilities, broadband master plans and general plans.… More

Santa Cruz rail offers a dig once chance for broadband

5 July 2015 by Steve Blum
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Click to see the big version.

Another broadband opportunity in Santa Cruz is opening up. The county Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) is offering the use of its 32-mile railroad right of way to interested utility companies, including broadband and telecommunications service providers.

The route runs more or less near the coastline along the length of the county, from Watsonville to Davenport, going through the cities of Capitola and Santa Cruz. About half the population of Santa Cruz County lives within a mile of the right of way.… More

Texas regulators put Google Fiber in the fast lane

1 July 2015 by Steve Blum
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It seemed odd that San Antonio wasn’t on the list earlier this year when Google announced four new cities for its fiber to the home initiative. The city bent over backwards making Google welcome and it’s a short drive – less than a six pack, as they measure such things in Texas – from its current base in Austin.

Now it turns out that Google has been keeping its eye on the Alamo City. A story by Mark Reagan in the San Antonio Current says that Google asked for and quickly received permission to expand its fiber system from the Public Utility Commission of Texas.… More

Frontier's ability to deliver, particularly broadband, will be evaluated by CPUC

28 June 2015 by Steve Blum
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Frontier Communications’ proposed purchase of Verizon’s wireline telephone systems in California is under review by the California Public Utilities Commission, which has to decide if the deal is in the public interest. Catherine Sandoval is the commissioner assigned to lead the review, and she’s laid out a broad basis for doing it, stating that it’s not just the interests of Verizon’s current customers that matter, instead “at the least, we must be able to say that the proposed transaction is overall net beneficial in its impact on the various affected constituencies.… More

CPUC will wait another month to vote on establishing broadband jurisdiction

27 June 2015 by Steve Blum
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The California Public Utilities Commission kicked the Comcast can down the road a month. It was supposed to take up two competing proposals for closing out Comcast’s failed purchase of Time Warner’s cable systems and market swaps with Charter this week, but the decision was pushed off to the commission’s 23 July 2015 meeting. A third alternative is also expected to be on the agenda that day.

The options in front of the CPUC are…

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