cpuc – Page 7 – Steve Blum's Blog

T-Mobile asks CPUC for permission to employ fewer people in California

25 June 2020 by Steve Blum
cpuc, mobile broadband, monopoly, sprint, t-mobile

T-Mobile wants the California Public Utilities Commission to dial back some of the obligations it imposed when it approved the Sprint merger in April. A “petition for modification” of the CPUC’s decision asks for three changes:

Strike the order to add 1,000 new jobs in California. As it has consistently argued, T-Mobile says the CPUC doesn’t have that authority. Meanwhile, T-Mobile is offering hundreds of former Sprint employees the, um, opportunity to “consider a career change”.

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Hundreds of layoffs are following in the wake of the T-Mobile/Sprint deal

18 June 2020 by Steve Blum
cpuc, mobile broadband, monopoly, sprint, t-mobile

T-Mobile is laying off hundreds of former Sprint employees as it consolidates the operations of the two mobile carriers that merged in April. A story by Zack Whittaker and Brian Heater at Tech Crunch broke the news about Sprint employees on Tuesday…

In a conference call on Monday lasting under six minutes, T-Mobile vice president James Kirby told hundreds of Sprint employees that their services were no longer needed. He declined to answer his employees’ questions, citing the “personal” nature of employee feedback, and ended the call.

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Wireless, DSL tech proposed for subsidised rural broadband will get extra scrutiny from FCC

17 June 2020 by Steve Blum
casf, cpuc, fcc, rdof

When the Federal Communications Commission last week approved application requirements and bidding procedures for the reverse auction it’ll use to distribute $16 billion in rural broadband subsidies, it toughened up language regarding performance claims for fixed wireless and DSL-based service. The final version of the rules builds on an earlier draft that was already highly sceptical of any potential claims that wireless or DSL technology could deliver gigabit level service – defined as 1,000 Mbps download and 500 Mbps upload speeds – on a consumer market basis.… More

CPUC “wireless resiliency” plan targets mobile carriers, doesn’t exempt WISPs

16 June 2020 by Steve Blum
cpuc, mobile broadband, psps, sb1058, WISP

Click for the interactive fire threat map.

Mobile carriers – AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile – will have to install emergency generators at their cell sites in high fire danger areas, if the California Public Utilities Commission approves a draft decision offered last week by president Marybel Batjer. They’ll also have to meet other requirements intended to insure “wireless resiliency” during emergencies, natural or man-made, including public safety power shut-offs.

The proposed rules would apply to “facilities-based wireless providers” and require them “to maintain a minimum level of service and coverage to provide access to 911, 211, to receive emergency notifications, and access web browsing for emergency notices”.… More

CPUC knows how to end taxpayer-funded middle mile fiber grabs. As it should

11 June 2020 by Steve Blum
casf, cpuc, frontiercommunications, middle mile, plumas sierra

It can be done right. As it has.

One of the challenges to broadband subsidy proposals submitted to the California Public Utilities Commission this week shows why open access middle mile fiber is a necessity for closing rural broadband gaps, and how the lack of it is a major barrier to improving Internet service in California.

Plumas Sierra Telecommunications, which is the telecoms arm of the Plumas Sierra Electric Cooperative, objects to Frontier’s request for money to pay for a building a middle mile fiber route to reach the towns of Herlong and Janesville in Lassen County.… More

AT&T rejects California disaster response obligations

10 June 2020 by Steve Blum
att, covid19, cpuc, t-mobile, verizon

AT&T is striking back at covid–19 emergency relief measures adopted by the California Public Utilities Commission. Flanked by Verizon and T-Mobile (via the mobile industry’s lobbying front organisation), AT&T wants the CPUC to repeal rules that require the company to waive things like installation or remote call forwarding fees when people are forced to relocate because of the covid–19 emergency. Those are CPUC mandates that also apply to any other “housing or financial crisis due to a disaster”.… More

14 ISPs try to block competitors’ broadband upgrades in rural California

9 June 2020 by Steve Blum
ab1665, casf, cpuc, rural broadband, sb1130

Update, 12 June 2020: I found another challenge that I missed the first time around. Valley Internet filed against Web Perception’s Sonoma/Napa project. Comcast also challenged it, so the count is still 34 projects out of 54 facing challenges, with a new total of 17 ISPs filing. I updated the list below, but the live list for CASF project tracking is here.

Update, 10 June 2020: A late notice, from Succeed, brings the total number of projects challenged to 34 out of 54, and the number of ISPs filing challenges to 16.… More

Newsom, CPUC line up on (relatively) minor changes to California broadband subsidy program

5 June 2020 by Steve Blum
ab82, casf, cpuc, public policy, rural broadband, sb1130

A second, perhaps competing, revision to California’s broadband infrastructure subsidy program is queued up for possible consideration at the state capitol. The California Public Utilities Commission is proposing changes to the law governing the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF), to make it easier to use it to attract federal broadband money to the state by supplementing the budgets of projects competing for federal grants.

The administration’s proposal is flying under the radar right now. It’s consistent with the vague reference to better competing for federal broadband dollars in governor Gavin Newsom’s budget revision last month.… More

FCC skeptical about magic wireless solutions as it sets rules for rural broadband subsidy auction

3 June 2020 by Steve Blum
casf, cpuc, fcc, rdof

The Federal Communications Commission will push ahead with its plan to distribute $16 billion (of an eventual $20 billion total) in broadband subsidies via a reverse auction in late October. In a draft notice that will be finalised at its June meeting next week, the FCC lays out rules, procedures and standards for Internet service providers that want to submit bids for money from the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. It also rejects a request from the California Public Utilities Commission to delay the auction for four months.… More

Frontier tells CPUC to rubberstamp bankruptcy deal because you’ll never know the difference

1 June 2020 by Steve Blum
casf, cpuc, frontiercommunications, public policy, rural broadband

Why don’t you go home to your wife? I’ll tell you what, I’ll go home to your wife, and outside of the improvement she’ll never know the difference.

Groucho Marx as professor Quincy Adams Wagstaff in Horse Feathers.

Frontier Communications doesn’t want the California Public Utilities Commission messing about with the bankruptcy settlement that’s churning through a federal court in New York. So it’s asking the CPUC for fast and uncritical approval of a transfer of ownership to the banks and other lenders that will try to recoup what they can of the $11 billion in bad debt that’s being washed away.… More