cpuc

Debate continues over whether proposed Comcast merger benefits outweigh the damage

11 March 2015 by Steve Blum
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Not expecting time off for good behavior.

Ten organisations filed comments about a California Public Utilities Commission administrative law judge’s proposed decision regarding the Comcast/Time-Warner/Charter Communications mega-merger and market swap. Seven want the deal killed altogether, and argue that the mostly temporary conditions proposed would not offset the damage done to broadband service in California. The Greenlining Institute, a consumer advocacy group, detailed Comcast’s obstreperous response to the draft decision and said…

While the proposed conditions are well-intended, they simply cannot rehabilitate a merger which would hand Comcast a potentially permanent monopoly in virtually all of the largest markets in both California and the United States, giving Comcast unprecedented power to raise prices, decrease service quality, and harm consumers.

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Deny the Comcast merger, don't try to fix it with conditions urges CPUC ratepayer advocates

10 March 2015 by Steve Blum
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If it’s that broke, trash it.

Comments are coming thick and fast regarding the proposed decision by a California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) administrative law judge to approve, with conditions, the mega-merger and market swap between Comcast, Time-Warner and Charter Communications. I’m still working my way through the stack – the CPUC posted the documents yesterday – but one of the filings, from the CPUC’s office of ratepayer advocates (ORA) jumps out.

As it has all along, ORA is urging outright rejection of the transactions…

As the [proposed decision (PD)] correctly concludes, the Joint Applicants [i.e.

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Last mile Internet service grows from northern California middle mile project

8 March 2015 by Steve Blum
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Click for a bigger version.

Another state and federally subsidised middle mile project is spawning last mile service in northern California. Plumas-Sierra Telecommunications (PST), which is a subsidiary of the Plumas-Sierra Rural Electric Cooperative, provides Internet service to rural communities in Plumas, Sierra and Lassen counties. It recently filed an application for a $677,000 grant from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) to build out last mile service to 4,400 homes and businesses using middle mile fiber it built using money from the 2009 federal stimulus program and CASF.… More

California's Lost Coast found in a Frontier CASF proposal

7 March 2015 by Steve Blum
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The western edge of Humboldt County is known as the Lost Coast. The name comes from both the wave of depopulation the area experienced during the Depression, and from the fact that its rugged terrain left it largely ignored by state highway construction plans. The area was likewise bypassed by telecoms infrastructure.

Frontier Communications is the local phone company, having taken over the original rural telco that served the area. Don’t even ask about cable.… More

Effort to give FCC all of California's data on Comcast deal

4 March 2015 by Steve Blum
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Adding better dirt to the pile.

The California Public Utilities Commission has amassed a stockpile of proprietary information and confidential analyses regarding the proposed mega-merger and market swap that would put all of Time-Warner’s and nearly all of Charter Communication’s cable systems in California in the hands of Comcast. A utility consumer advocacy group, The Utility Reform Network (TURN), wants all that information turned over to the FCC for its consideration as it likewise evaluates the deal…

TURN recommends…the CPUC provide the FCC with copies of the full confidential versions of the briefs, including all attached declarations and exhibits, and data requests questions and responses of all parties in these consolidated proceedings, giving the FCC the benefit of the analysis and recommendations of all of the parties on the issues that are critical from a California-centric perspective.

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California legislature considers raising broadband standard to 25 Mbps

2 March 2015 by Steve Blum
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Californians can and should go faster.

While we’re waiting for the FCC to let us know what it actually did in its net neutrality and muni broadband decisions last week, let’s take a look at new broadband development bill that’s in the hopper in Sacramento: assembly bill 238, introduced by assemblyman Mark Stone (D – Santa Cruz).

Stone wants to raise the minimum broadband speed in California to meet the FCC’s recently adopted 25 Mbps down/3 Mbps up standard.… More

Temporary conditions will make Comcast's Californian monopoly permanent

23 February 2015 by Steve Blum
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It won’t get any better when the referee leaves the ring.

One of the more fascinating aspects of a proposed California Public Utilities Commission decision approving the Comcast/Time-Warner/Charter mega merger and market swap is an analysis of the resulting broadband market in the state. Prepared for the CPUC’s office of ratepayer advocates by Lee Selwyn, a telecommunications analyst, the study reaches the bottom line conclusion that if Comcast swallows up all of Time-Warner and Charter subscribers in California (except for Charter’s subs in the Lake Tahoe area), Comcast would have monopoly control of the broadband market in 78% of its expanded service area.… More

Oops, Charter proves it can't serve public housing residents

20 February 2015 by Steve Blum
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Okay, people, you have to tell me these things, alright? I’ve been frozen for 30 years, okay?

In a self-defeating gesture, Charter Communications is challenging four public housing broadband grant applications made to the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF).

Charter claims residents at four complexes – two in Long Beach and two in San Bernardino – can buy Internet service at speeds in the 100 Mbps download and 5 Mbps upload range.

Unfortunately for Charter, it doesn’t really matter.… More

Comcast has to clean up its act if it wants to merge in California

19 February 2015 by Steve Blum
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How about starting with some botox and a manicure?

If Comcast wants approval for its mega merger and market swap with Time-Warner and Charter, it’s going to have to meet some stiff, if mostly temporary, conditions. That’s the preliminary determination of a California Public Utilities Commission administrative law judge in his review of the deal.

The proposed decision – there’s still some back and forth to come, and final approval is subject to a vote by the five commissioners – reaffirms that the CPUC has authority under federal law to assess the impact of the merger on broadband, as well as telephone, service in California.… More

WiFi dominates California public housing broadband grant proposals

18 February 2015 by Steve Blum
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Good enough for public housing.

Wired networks account for only two of the 52 public housing grant proposals made to the California Public Utilities Commission in the first round of applications. The rest either rely on WiFi – mesh networks, mostly – or, in the case of 24 projects proposed by the San Bernardino County housing authority, don’t specify a technology type.

Promised service speeds are consistent with both the technology proposed and the CPUC’s disappointing low minimum of 1.5 Mbps down and nothing particular for uploads, significantly less than the 6 Mbps down/1.5 Mbps minimum it thinks is acceptable for Californians who don’t live in public housing, and nowhere near the FCC’s new standard of 25 Mbps down/3 Mbps up.… More