casf – Page 8 – Steve Blum's Blog

Modern, future proof broadband gets a hearing in the California senate today, with public call in comments allowed

26 May 2020 by Steve Blum
ab1665, casf, public policy, rural broadband, sb1130

A faster and modern broadband speed standard for California is scheduled for its first hearing at the state capitol this afternoon. Senate bill 1130 by Lena Gonzalez (D – Los Angeles) is set for a vote by the California senate’s energy, utilities and communications committee.

The hearing will be conducted partly in person, in the cavernous senate chamber, and partly online. One beneficial side effect of the covid–19 emergency is that Californians can participate in the legislative process and make their views known remotely, without having to trek to Sacramento and fight their way through the squads of hired guns and corporate lobbyists that usually occupy the halls and hearing rooms of the capitol.… More

California broadband infrastructure grant requests total $533 million as challenge period opens

21 May 2020 by Steve Blum
ab1665, casf, cpuc, rural broadband, sb1130

Two more broadband project proposals surfaced as the California Public Utilities Commission posted the official list of applications for grants from the California Advanced Services Fund. One is for what appears to be a neighborhood fiber to the premise (FTTP) system in Nevada County, the other is an FTTP project that covers the same Placer County area that Charter Communications proposed for a hybrid fiber-coax (HFC) build.

The total now stands at 54 projects asking for a total of $533 million, about twice what’s available in the CASF kitty now.… More

CPUC asks FCC to ignore attempts to block broadband subsidies for a million Californians

19 May 2020 by Steve Blum
casf, cpuc, digitalpath, fcc, rdof

Internet service providers are trying to fence off their turf from competitors who might bring faster, and maybe even cheaper, broadband service to rural communities in California, and across the U.S. They challenged the Federal Communications Commission’s preliminary list of census blocks that are eligible for subsidies from the new Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF), which is scheduled to award $16 billion in broadband subsidies via a reverse auction in October.

An article by Joan Engebretson in Telecompetitor gives a good overview.… More

Newsom’s budget revision hints at broadband policy change, adds money for mapping

18 May 2020 by Steve Blum
ab1665, casf, gavin newsom, public policy, sb1130

Although governor Gavin Newsom’s revised budget proposal has gloomy news for many publicly funded services and agencies in California, there’s a bright spot of sorts for broadband development. Newsom wants to spend an extra $2.8 million on broadband speed testing and mapping, via the California Public Utilities Commission’s CalSpeed program…

To identify which areas of the state lack sufficient access to broadband, the May Revision includes $2.8 million and 3 positions in additional resources…for the Commission to enhance its broadband mapping activities.

… More

Wide swing on costs for California broadband subsidy proposals, for fiber and copper

12 May 2020 by Steve Blum
ab1665, casf, cpuc, rural broadband, sb1130

Of the 52 applications for broadband infrastructure grants from the California Advanced Services Fund, 23 are for fiber to the premise (FTTP) builds of one kind or another, 16 are hybrid fiber/coax (HFC) projects, all submitted by Charter Communications, and 13 would be for fixed wireless facilities.

The least expensive proposals are, naturally enough, fixed wireless projects, most of which are in the $1,500 per home range. It’s probably no coincidence that the California Public Utility Commission’s benchmark price for wireless subsidies is also $1,500 per home.… More

CPUC votes today on what should be its open access middle mile fiber policy

7 May 2020 by Steve Blum
ab1665, casf, cpuc, karuk tribe, public policy

The last remaining broadband infrastructure subsidy proposal from 2019 is scheduled to be decided this morning by the California Public Utilities Commission. The resolution that’s on today’s CPUC consent agenda reaffirms one important precedent regarding subsidised middle mile fiber projects, and establishes another.

The plan is to add $11 million from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) to the $6.6 million approved in 2013 for the Klamath River Rural Broadband Initiative’s (KRRBI) hybrid fiber middle mile/wireless last mile broadband system that’ll serve Karuk and Yurok tribal lands in Humboldt County.… More

Total California broadband grant ask grows to $528 million, twice what’s available

6 May 2020 by Steve Blum
ab1665, casf, cpuc, rural broadband, sb1130

The number of broadband infrastructure projects proposed for California Advanced Services Fund subsidies more than doubled on Tuesday, as two Internet service providers – Charter Communications and Digital Path – distributed summaries of the grant applications they submitted on Monday. The total, though, didn’t increase nearly as dramatically.

The count now stands at 52 project proposals totalling $528 million, up from 25 projects at $506 million. That’s against something like $300 million or less in the CASF broadband infrastructure account.… More

California broadband subsidy requests break the bank at more than half a gigabuck

5 May 2020 by Steve Blum
ab1665, casf, cpuc, rural broadband, sb1130

Update, 5 May 2020 08:43: Charter Communications dropped 16 grant applications totalling $17 million in the wee hours of the morning. I’ve updated the table, links and totals below accordingly. Stand by, there might be more to come.

At least 41 broadband infrastructure grant proposals totalling more than half a billion dollars landed at the California Public Utilities Commission yesterday. I say at least because public notifications don’t always get out immediately. There might be more once the dust settles.… More

California projects line up for federal ReConnect broadband funds, but competition is stiff

28 April 2020 by Steve Blum
casf, covid19, rural broadband, RUS, usda

Five broadband projects in California were proposed for federal agriculture department funding in the second round of ReConnect broadband grant and loan applications. That’s five more than the first round in 2019, so that’s progress of a sort. They’ll compete with more than 200 other projects in other states for $300 in grants and $300 million in loans, plus another $100 million included in the $2 trillion federal covid–19 stimulus bill that’ll be available to projects submitted in both rounds.… More

With new money and gear now committed, California might close student connectivity gap. If

23 April 2020 by Steve Blum
casf, covid19, ctf, e-rate, mobile broadband

More money and in-kind donations are on the way from companies, foundations and the California Public Utilities Commission to close the divide between school kids who can get online and stay in school, and those who can’t. According to a press release from governor Gavin Newsom’s office, when previous announcements are added in, a total of $42 million has been pledged, along with 100,000 mobile network-enabled hotspots, 24,000 tablets and 13,000 Chromebooks.

Using the same guesstimated back-of-the-envelope and egregiously rounded math I used earlier this week, that will just about take care of the 200,000 or so Californian kids that the state education department says need a laptop or tablet and an Internet connection to do their school work.… More