cpuc

To attract broadband investment, the CPUC has to be a trustworthy partner

1 March 2017 by Steve Blum
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Yesterday, the California Public Utilities commission held a workshop in San Francisco to talk about setting priorities for broadband infrastructure subsidies and to review the methodology and policy assumptions behind a recently published draft white paper on the topic.

Much of the discussion focused on how those priorities would be used to evaluate projects currently proposed for grants from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF), as well as any new ones that might develop. There was considerable concern that applications submitted under the current first come, first served procedures will be tossed out and new proposals solicited.… More

CPUC considers picking up prevailing wage tab for FTTH project

23 February 2017 by Steve Blum
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Overruns on a fiber to the home build in San Bernardino County offer a glimpse into the cost of a 2014 law that imposed union wage and work rules on broadband infrastructure projects subsidised by the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF). Assembly bill 2272 ended an ongoing dispute over whether CASF-funded projects are subject to California’s so-called prevailing wage law, which generally applies to public works projects.

Historically, the requirement to pay the prevailing wage in any given region for work done with public money has been interpreted by state labor regulators to mean workers have to be paid and projects have to be managed as if a typical union contract was in place, even if no union is involved.… More

Make California broadband subsidy decisions on basis of impact, says CPUC draft

21 February 2017 by Steve Blum
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Click for the full analysis.

Given that there’s limited state subsidy money available for broadband infrastructure upgrades in California, it makes sense to spend it in a way that’ll have the greatest impact on the greatest number of people. That was a major concern at the last California Public Utilities Commission meeting, when some commissioners pushed back on proposed infrastructure construction grants from the California Advanced Services Fund, at least partly because it wasn’t clear how the projects that were on the table fit within overall, statewide priorities.… More

CPUC broadband subsidy skepticism grows, grants on hold

10 February 2017 by Steve Blum
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A proposal to build a 300 mile middle mile fiber network connecting remote communities in northern California to high speed Internet access might or might not be in line for extra cash. The Digital 299 project would go through the mountainous terrain along state route 299 from Redding in the Sacramento Valley, through Trinity County and on to Eureka on the Humboldt County coast.

Yesterday, the California Public Utilities Commission weighed a recommendation from staff for a $41 million subsidy from the California Advanced Services Fund against pleas from local communities along the proposed route for an extra $6 million that they believe is necessary to make the project financially viable.… More

Cable, mobile companies fight California rural phone standards

8 February 2017 by Steve Blum
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A California Public Utilities Commission decision slamming the practices of telecoms companies in rural areas – like attaching lines to trees instead of poles – and requiring carriers to notify both the commission and the state office of emergency services when significant telephone outages occur has been met with a broadly based challenge from California cable and telephone companies.

In a filing authored by Comcast lawyers and joined by Charter, Cox, small telcos, Verizon’s fiber subsidiary and lobbying fronts for the cable and mobile industries, the CPUC’s rural call completion decision was characterised as illegal on the basis of a long list of alleged procedural mistakes.… More

CPUC set to reject cable's bid for wireless privileges

7 February 2017 by Steve Blum
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Decision on the way.

Update: the CPUC unanimously approved the draft decision at its 9 February 2017 meeting.

It’s a bit softer than the total smack down that was originally floated, but the latest draft of a decision that’ll go in front of the California Public Utilities Commission still says that cable companies can’t hang wireless equipment on utility poles with the same carefree abandon as mobile carriers. The reasoning is that the laws that grant cable companies the special privilege to use utility poles and such without having to meet the same standards of service or conduct as telephone companies specifically mention wires, not wireless, and that “if the legislature had intended to provide CATV corporations with a right to attach wireless facilities to utility poles – either by statute or by commission regulations – the legislature would have done so”.… More

More push for more money for northern California middle mile project

31 January 2017 by Steve Blum
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The Digital 299 middle mile fiber project under consideration for a $42 million subsidy from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) will have been under review for a year and half, if the California Public Utilities Commission votes on it as scheduled next week. Yesterday was the deadline for submitting comments – pro or con – and seven organisations did so.

The applicant, Inyo Networks, is asking the commission to increase the grant to $49 million.… More

CPUC considers filling Silicon Valley broadband gap

27 January 2017 by Steve Blum
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A $1.1 million subsidy for a trimmed back fiber to the home project in Paradise Valley, a community in the hilly outskirts of Silicon Valley, is up for approval at the California Public Utilities Commission. Proposed in 2015 as a $2.8 million venture reaching 515 homes, the Light Saber project in southern Santa Clara County was challenged by a local wireless Internet service provider, who claimed to already cover the area.

Not completely so, apparently: more than 350 homes in less affluent San Martin were cut from the project area, but a draft resolution approving a grant for the rest from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) is slated for a vote by commissioners at their first meeting in February.… More

Cable's political privileges have practical limits, says CPUC draft

26 January 2017 by Steve Blum
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Some lobbyists don’t let go of old stereotypes.

Cable companies can’t have wireless privileges because they’re cable and not wireless companies. That’s the gist of a proposed decision that’s in front of the California Public Utilities Commission, and the cable industry’s hired gun lobbyists don’t like it.

Last year, the CPUC changed the rules for attaching telecoms equipment to utility poles and allowed mobile carriers and similarly licensed companies to install wireless gear on utility poles, subject to new cost sharing rules and safety regulations.… More

CPUC takes on "last remaining natural monopoly" of pole, conduit ownership

20 January 2017 by Steve Blum
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Energy.

The California Public Utilities Commission will focus on a particular kind of utility in the coming year. President Michael Picker delivered what amounts to a state-of-the-CPUC address at yesterday’s meeting, the first of the year and the first with the two newest commissioners – Martha Guzman Aceves and Clifford Rechtschaffen – on board and voting.

Picker spoke at length about new energy and environmental initiatives and, particularly, about “an emerging role in building the infrastructure to drive greenhouse gas emissions down in the California economy”.… More