casf – Page 19 – Steve Blum's Blog

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

2 October 2017 by Steve Blum
ab1665, broadband, casf, cpuc, monopoly

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

Political heat rising over California broadband giveaway bill

27 September 2017 by Steve Blum
ab1665, broadband, casf, monopoly, public policy

A so far successful attempt to funnel $300 million of taxpayer money to AT&T and Frontier Communications in exchange for substandard, monopoly broadband service is generating some unpleasant blowback for assemblyman Jim Wood (D – Healdsburg), one of its chief backers. Assembly bill 1665 was overwhelmingly approved by the California lawmakers in the closing hours of the legislative 2017 session.

It reinstates a tax on phone bills that would be earmarked for broadband infrastructure grants, made under new rules that 1.… More

War for California's broadband future isn't (quite) over

18 September 2017 by Steve Blum
ab1665, broadband, casf, monopoly, public policy

The politics of broadband in California are largely driven by the campaign cash that incumbent telephone and cable companies – and sometimes the unions representing their employees – stuff into the pockets of senators and assembly members. That influence is moderated by the energetic, but often futile efforts of broadband activists across the state. So it was with assembly bill 1665, which is on its way to governor Brown’s desk.

If he signs it, AB 1665 will transform the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) from a useful source of capital for broadband companies that aim to inject at least a little competition into California’s highly concentrated, sclerotic broadband market into a $300 million slush fund, mostly for telcos with rural monopolies, like AT&T and Frontier, but also allowing a taste for cable companies, like Comcast and Charter.… More

California broadband subsidy giveaway heads to governor's desk

15 September 2017 by Steve Blum
ab1665, broadband, casf, monopoly, public policy

By a vote of 62 to 6, the California assembly approved assembly bill 1665 this evening. The bill lowers California minimum broadband standard to 6 Mbps down/1 Mbps up, reinstates a tax on phone bills and sends the money into the California Advanced Services Fund, under rules that lock out independent projects and create a fast lane for funding slow speed service from incumbent telcos.

California senate votes to pay $300 million for slower broadband

13 September 2017 by Steve Blum
ab1665, broadband, casf, monopoly, public policy

Assembly bill 1665 was approved by the California senate this afternoon on a lopsided vote. The initial count was 32 in favor and 2 against, but the roll was left open for a while, so the final numbers could be different. The no votes came from Mike McGuire (D – Healdsburg) and Janet Nguyen (R – Garden Grove).

The bill will drop California’s minimum speed standard to 6 Mbps down/1 Mbps up, and allocate $300 million in construction subsidies under rules that all but guarantee the money will go to AT&T and Frontier Communications.… More

More telco perks added to $300 million broadband subsidy bill as California senate vote nears

11 September 2017 by Steve Blum
ab1665, broadband, casf, monopoly, public policy

Incumbent telephone and cable companies convinced their friends in the California legislature to add another slab of pork to a broadband subsidy bill, as the senate prepares to vote on it. Assembly bill 1665 started out as a telco-centric bill, and subsequent amendments, including the the ones added on Friday, have made it even more one-sided – in most areas of the state, it will be impossible for independent broadband projects to qualify for support from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF).… More

California senate committee votes to give telcos $300 million for slower broadband

31 August 2017 by Steve Blum
ab1665, broadband, casf, monopoly, public policy

The California legislature continued its love affair with telecommunications companies on Wednesday. The senate’s energy, utilities and communications committee, chaired by Ben Hueso (D – San Diego), voted 8 to zero to approve assembly bill 1665 in its current form and send it on to the senate appropriations committee for further review.

It wasn’t exactly unanimous. One senator, Mike McGuire (D – Healdsburg), who had opposed the bill, abstained when the vote was taken, as did two republicans, Anthony Cannella (R – Merced) and Mike Morrell (R – Rancho Cucamonga).… More

Charter's broadband is not the help poor people need, CPUC says

22 August 2017 by Steve Blum
casf, charter, cpuc, public housing, sb745

But check out what’s on pay per view.

Charter Communications lost its latest battle to keep free WiFi service out of public housing in California, but the defeat came long after the war ended in victory for cable companies and their lobbying front organisation in Sacramento. It means that 47 publicly subsidised communities, scattered across the state, get to keep grant money they received from the California Advanced Services Fund to install broadband facilities. Most of them had opted for WiFi systems that would offer slow connections at no cost to residents.… More

$20 million still available for California broadband subsidies

1 August 2017 by Steve Blum
ab1665, broadband, casf, cpuc, public policy

There’s about $20 million, plus or minus, left for broadband infrastructure grants in the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF), against pending proposals totalling $5.7 million. That’s without taking into account a possible top-up that’s under consideration in the California legislature, but which might also make spending it on anything other than minimal upgrades by Frontier Communications or AT&T virtually impossible.

Over the years, the California legislature has pumped $315 million into the kitty, with $270 million of that allocated to construction subsidies for broadband systems – middle and last mile – in areas that are either completely unserved or lack service at a minimum of 6 Mbps download and 1.5 Mbps upload speeds.… More

Cable tightens the screws on California public housing broadband

27 July 2017 by Steve Blum
casf, cpuc, public housing, public policy, sb745

The California cable industry continues to gain ground in its perverse, and oxymoronic, fight to fence off public housing communities from government subsidies. Last year, cable industry lobbyists convinced a biddable senator to slip a big perk into a bill extending the life of a program that pays for broadband facilities – mostly equipment that’s used to provide free (and slow) WiFi access – in public housing. It was language that limited grants to only “unserved” properties, where residents aren’t offered market rate broadband service at all.… More