cpuc

Comcast has to explain why it’s okay to start cherry picking rich, rural customers right now

Tesoro viejo youtube

The California Public Utilities Commission won’t jump the gun and give Comcast permission to compete directly with the Ponderosa Telephone Company. At least not yet. Comcast has to first explain why past CPUC decisions don’t apply to its request for permission to offer telephone service in Tesoro Viejo, an upscale master planned community of 5,200 homes in Madera County. Among other things, those rules protect highly subsidised rural telephone companies from competitors that want to cherry pick affluent customers in densely populated exurban developments, and ignore people in poorer and more sparsely populated communities.… More

CPUC orders Charter to prove its broadband upgrade claims

3 April 2019 by Steve Blum
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Charter Communications was given ten days to deliver granular broadband deployment data to the California Public Utilities Commission yesterday. Administrative law judge Karl Bemesderfer granted a motion by the CPUC’s public advocate office (PAO) to force Charter to hand over information to support its claim that it is meeting the conditions imposed by the commission when its purchase of Time Warner and Bright House cable systems in California was approved in 2016.

Among other things, the commission required Charter to upgrade all of its Californian systems – new and old – to 300 Mbps download capability by the end of this year.… More

CPUC proposes low income, no service available requirements for household broadband extension grants

28 March 2019 by Steve Blum
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Remote road

The final piece of the California broadband subsidy puzzle is on the table. The California Public Utilities Commission posted a draft of the new “line extension program”. It’s a pilot project set up by the legislature in 2017 when it rigged the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF), turning it into a piggy bank for AT&T and Frontier Communications.

The line extension program was included at the urging of cable lobbyists, who wanted to tap the piggy bank too, but didn’t want to take on any of the regulatory responsibilities that normally go along with state broadband infrastructure grants.… More

California extends review of T-Mobile-Sprint merger to maybe July, maybe August

26 March 2019 by Steve Blum
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Caltrans slow

T-Mobile and Sprint lawyered themselves into a four week delay in California’s regulatory review of their merger deal. Yesterday, a California Public Utilities Commission administrative law judge (ALJ) granted a request from staff to force the companies to turn over additional information, and extended the deadline for opening briefs to 26 April 2019, and for rebuttals to 10 May 2019.

Under normal circumstances, it would usually take about a month after that for ALJ Karl Bemesderfer to draft a proposed decision and, absent extraordinary circumstances, state law requires another month for public review and comment before commissioners vote on it.… More

Ad hoc decisions will make utility pole safety problems worse, PG&E tells CPUC

25 March 2019 by Steve Blum
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PG&E doesn’t like the pole attachment terms Crown Castle was granted by the California Public Utilities Commission, and is asking for a do-over. At its recent meeting, commissioners unanimously approved contract terms decided by a CPUC administrative law judge who was acting as an arbitrator in a dispute between the two companies.

It’s more than just a simple contract dispute, though. Pole route management policy is getting a hard look by the CPUC and by federal courts that are dealing with PG&E’s bankruptcy filing and criminal probation in the wake of deadly fires sparked by overhead lines.… More

Microsoft’s usage data shows FCC overstates broadband availability

22 March 2019 by Steve Blum
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Microsoft oregon analysis 5dec2018

Microsoft is the latest organisation to tell the Federal Communications Commission that its broadband availability data is wrong. Earlier this month, an Internet advocacy group uncovered an egregious outbreak of map spam that skewed the FCC’s broadband analysis in several states, leading to a premature declaration of deployment victory (h/t to Wendy Davis at Digital News Daily for digging out the story). Last week, Microsoft presented its own analysis at the FCC, based on Internet usage data it collected itself, and came to the same conclusion…

The Commission’s broadband availability data, which underpins FCC Form 477 and the Commission’s annual Section 706 report, appears to overstate the extent to which broadband is actually available throughout the nation.

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FCC’s broadband victory proclamation looks like regurgitated spam

18 March 2019 by Steve Blum
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Spam

A wireless Internet service provider dumped a big load of map spam on the Federal Communications Commission last year, which appears to have fooled it into thinking that its “reforms” have brilliantly resulted in broadband “being deployed on a reasonable and timely basis” in the U.S. It’s a problem we have in California, as well.

In a letter to the FCC, the broadband advocacy group Free Press pointed to widely unbelievable – impossible – coverage claims made by BarrierFree, an east coat wireless Internet service provider…

BarrierFree claimed to offer FTTH service with downstream speeds of 940 Mbps to 100 percent of the geographic area and 100 percent of the population of New York State, and also to 100 percent of those seven other states.

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Four California counties say “no criminal charges” for PG&E

14 March 2019 by Steve Blum
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Pacific Gas and Electric won’t face criminal charges for its role in starting several northern California fires in 2018. District attorneys in Sonoma, Napa, Humboldt and Lake counties announced that they can’t prove a case. According to a press release from Sonoma County district attorney Jill Ravitch, the necessary evidence burned up along with everything else…

The cases that were referred for prosecution all required proof that PG&E acted with criminal negligence in failing to remove dead and dying trees.

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T-Mobile plays daddy says no, go ask mommy game at CPUC

13 March 2019 by Steve Blum
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Brady bunch

Instead of playing nice with the other kids, T-Mobile is asking for parental intervention as the California Public Utilities Commission reviews its proposed deal to takeover Sprint. Possibly afraid its document dumping and foot dragging tactics are going to backfire and cause even more delays at the CPUC, T-Mobile sent a joint letter to commissioner Clifford Rechtschaffen yesterday, telling him don’t tap the brakes, you need to step on the gas dude…

The Commission’s timely review will help ensure that Californians benefit from the broad range of benefits documented in the extensive evidence we have submitted to the Commission.

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T-Mobile stalls CPUC, FCC reviews of Sprint merger with cheap lawyer tricks

11 March 2019 by Steve Blum
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Getting a fast approval of its proposed takeover of Sprint from federal and state regulators is supposedly T-Mobile’s goal, but it’s not helping itself. Last week, its habit of stonewalling and waiting until the last minute to provide information to regulators reviewing the merger resulted in a three week (minimum) hold at the Federal Communications Commission and a demand from California Public Utilities Commission staff to turn over stacks of documents previously requested. That demand could also lead to a further delay in getting California’s blessing for the deal.… More