cpuc

CPUC delays votes on copper network investigation, Comcast deal

20 May 2015 by Steve Blum
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The California Public Utilities Commission won’t, in all likelihood, be voting on either a proposal to stop a study of AT&T and Verizon’s wireline networks or on formally rejecting Comcast’s defunct request to buy Time Warner’s California cable systems and transfer Charter’s to its control. Both of those items were on the CPUC’s hold list this afternoon, and rescheduled for consideration in two weeks, at the 11 June 2015 meeting. Commissioner Mike Florio asked for the delay on the study vote; staff pulled the Comcast decision.… More

Charter pushes ahead with bid to expand California footprint via Bright House purchase

20 May 2015 by Steve Blum
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Not dead yet.

Well, the deal lives. Charter Communications is still in the hunt to take over Bright House Networks. Reuters reported that the deal was off, following the crash of the Comcast-Time Warner-Charter mega-merger. But if anything was actually broken in the first place, it’s now been fixed, according to a press release from Charter…

The companies remain committed to completing their previously announced transaction on the same economic and governance terms.

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Verizon tries to leave California before anyone finds out how bad its network is

19 May 2015 by Steve Blum
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Vanishing point.

The California Public Utilities Commission doesn’t need facts, it just needs to wave good bye and assume Frontier Communications will pick up the crumbling pieces of Verizon’s copper network. That’s what Verizon is claiming, anyway, in comments filed with the CPUC, endorsing a proposal by commission president Michael Picker to spike a technical evaluation of the condition of Verizon’s and AT&T’s decaying copper networks.

The [advocacy groups supporting a network study] claim that before the Commission can authorize the transfer of Verizon to Frontier, it must know the physical condition of Verizon’s facilities to determine whether Verizon bears responsibility for any “neglect of the network before the transfer is approved.”

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Comcast tells CPUC to unring the bell

17 May 2015 by Steve Blum
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Coming from Philadelphia and all, Comcast thinks it knows about bells.

The California Public Utilities Commission is scheduled to vote on Thursday on whether or not to deny Comcast permission to take over Time Warner and Charter cable systems in the state. On the one hand, it is pretty pointless because the companies have cancelled the mega deal. On the other, it matters because the basis for rejecting the merger rests on a particular interpretation of federal law that, if accepted, gives the CPUC authority to “encourage the deployment on a reasonable and timely basis of advanced telecommunications capability to all Americans” by evaluating the effect of corporate telecoms deals and other transactions on broadband infrastructure and services in California.… More

Fiber to the home subsidies approved for two California communities

14 May 2015 by Steve Blum
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Fiber to the cabin coming to Wrightwood.

The first two broadband infrastructure grants of the year, totaling $3.3 million, were approved last week by the California Public Utilities Commission. Ultimate Internet Access’s Helendale and Wrightwood projects sailed through on a unanimous vote by commissioners. Both are fiber to the home proposals promising to deliver a gigabit up and down to about a couple thousand residents each for $70 per month.
With one exception, the projects as approved were the same as originally outlined last month by CPUC staff.… More

CPUC considers whether copper ignorance is broadband bliss

12 May 2015 by Steve Blum
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Hey, our customers are cutting the cord, why can’t we chop the copper?

AT&T and Verizon don’t want the California Public Utilities Commission to launch a study of the condition of their rotting copper line networks, and the new president of the commission, Michael Picker, wants to accommodate them.

In 2013, the commission decided to take a look at the core telephone network infrastructure maintained, or not, by AT&T and Verizon, as part of a review of service standards that telephone companies are expected to meet.… More

California edges closer to full pole and conduit access for ISPs

8 May 2015 by Steve Blum
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In two separate, unanimous decisions yesterday, the California Public Utilities Commission narrowed the privilege gap between pure Internet service providers and traditional telephone and cable companies, at least concerning access to utility poles, conduits and other facilities and right of ways.

In one decision, the CPUC handed Google Fiber a victory by ruling that a company that has a state franchise to deliver television service over any kind of cable or wire (but not wirelessly) is a “cable television corporation” under California law and can ask for equal access to utility poles…

A state-franchised that transmits television programs by cable to subscribers for a fee is a “cable television corporation” as defined by [California’s public utility laws].

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Gee, I guess customers really do want faster broadband says Frontier CEO


Click for a closer look at Frontier’s proposed footprint in California.

Internet service tiers above the Californian minimum of 6 Mbps download speeds are increasingly popular among customers served by Frontier Communications. That’s one of the nuggets from the company’s quarterly earnings report and conference call on Tuesday. New CEO Daniel McCarthy said that 44% of customers who signed up for either new or upgraded Internet service in the first three months of the year opted for higher speeds.… More

CPUC broadband oversight might yet rise out of the wreckage of the Comcast deal

6 May 2015 by Steve Blum
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The five members of the California Public Utilities Commission might get a chance to vote on the Comcast-Time Warner-Charter mega-merger after all. That deal is still dead, but opponents are pushing for a decision anyway. As I wrote last week, there is a pile of work that was done and some controversial policy that was put on the table, not least the assertion by some commissioners and staff that the CPUC has the authority to consider the impact of its decisions on California’s broadband infrastructure and service.… More

Business as usual so far for Frontier's proposed takeover of Verizon's Californian landlines


Round up the usual suspects.

The proposed takeover of Verizon’s wireline broadband, telephone and video systems in California by Frontier Communications hasn’t attracted an unusual amount of opposition yet. That’s not to say there’s no opposition, just that it’s mostly coming from the usual groups making the usual objections.

Three consumer advocacy groups – TURN, the Center for Accessible Technology and the Greenlining Institute – generally said the companies hadn’t provided enough information to the California Public Utilities Commission, which has to approve the deal.… More