cpuc

Local fiber maps unlock opportunities on California's central coast

6 November 2014 by Steve Blum
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A lot of fiber is installed along California’s central coast. But most of it is locked up by incumbent telephone and cable companies, and not available to local businesses and independent Internet service providers. The Central Coast Broadband Consortium, with a grant from the California Public Utilities Commission via the California Advanced Services Fund, mapped both long haul and local last mile fiber in Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito Counties.

Most of the locally accessible fiber is owned by AT&T, Comcast and Charter Communications.… More

Californian ISPs pass on upgrades, open door to subsidised competition

4 November 2014 by Steve Blum
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Exercising the right to refuse first.

It looks like the right of first refusal hurdle has been cleared for broadband infrastructure subsidies in California, and successfully so. Assuming no filings are stuck somewhere in the system, only Frontier Communications has told the California Public Utilities Commission that it will upgrade broadband service on its own in at least some of its territory. For up to a year, the commission won’t fund competing broadband projects in the 7 communities identified by Frontier.… More

Frontier pledges to boost broadband service in California

3 November 2014 by Steve Blum
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Click for a bigger version.

So far, only one Internet service provider has exercised its right of first refusal to upgrade substandard service areas on its own and thereby prevent competing projects from getting subsidies from the California Advanced Services Fund for up to a year. Frontier Communications submitted a letter to the California Public Utilities Commission on Friday making a plausible pledge to improve service in 7 rural Californian communities to at least minimum levels…

The project upgrades are in northeast California in the area of Alturas, Chester, Lake Almanor, Janesville, Shingletown, in the central California area of Tuolumne and along the California and Nevada border adjacent to Topaz Lake, NV on the California side.

… More

Deadline soon for Californian broadband upgrades or obstruction

31 October 2014 by Steve Blum
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Moderately Lucid Legal.

The first shoe is about drop for the next round of California Advanced Services Fund broadband subsidies. Any “existing broadband provider” can file a letter with the California Public Utilities Commission saying it’s making a commitment to upgrading its infrastructure in a given area, using its own money. If it does, the CPUC will freeze that area for up to a year – not allow any CASF infrastructure grant or loan applications to move forward.… More

Mobile broadband gets faster in California, but maybe not fast enough

26 October 2014 by Steve Blum
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Mobile broadband is better in California, and improvements have been made quickly. That was one of the takeaways from a meeting of Central Coast Internet service providers and California Public Utilities Commission staff in Seaside last week. Jim Warner, a network engineer at U.C. Santa Cruz and chair of the Central Coast Broadband Consortium’s technical expert group, discussed his analysis of results from the latest round of the CPUC’s mobile broadband field testing.… More

Overhead costs for California's broadband subsidy program steady at almost $4 million

21 October 2014 by Steve Blum
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Second verse, same as the first.

Administrative costs will take the same amount of money out of the California Advanced Services Fund next year as this year, assuming the California Public Utilities Commission approves the proposed budget that is scheduled to be on the table at its next meeting on 6 November 2014.

The $3.8 million overhead proposed is in line with the ballpark estimates I made back in August. There will still be something like $160 million left to spend on actual construction of broadband infrastructure, although that money will only go something like half as far as it might, given that the governor and the legislature decided that union pay scales and work rules apply to all CASF-subsidised projects.… More

Continued CPUC backpedaling on net neutrality draws activist fire

17 October 2014 by Steve Blum
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*”Okay, I got it.”*

The decision to pull network neutrality and the possibility of regulating broadband infrastructure as a common carrier off the table at the California Public Utilities Commission provoked harsh criticism from advocacy group representatives who showed up at yesterday’s meeting expecting to be in the discussion.

Tracy Rosenberg, the executive director of Oakland-based Media Alliance said that commissioners let down the 3,200 people who sent in comments via her website alone..

They are very disappointed by your action this morning.

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CPUC punts on putting broadband under common carrier rules

16 October 2014 by Steve Blum
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The hard way to get into the Hall of Fame.

Regulating broadband infrastructure under common carrier rules – also known as Title II of federal telecoms law – is dead, at least as far as the California Public Utilities Commission is concerned. Commissioners won’t be voting on whether or not to advise the FCC to solve the network neutrality debate by applying a traditional, telephone-style regulatory regime to Internet service providers.

The question was scheduled to be discussed at this morning’s CPUC meeting in San Francisco, but yesterday afternoon it was abruptly “withdrawn” from the agenda.… More

With no BMOC, expect a different CPUC next year

13 October 2014 by Steve Blum
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With the departure of Michael Peevey as president of the California Public Utilities Commission after 12 years on the job, the style and, almost certainly, the substance of its work will change significantly. The direction and speed of that change depends on who the governor appoints to take his place.

Judging by the other four commissioners – all Brown appointees – the new honcho is unlikely to be an ex-utility executive like Peevey. Two of the current members – Mike Florio and Carla Peterman – are alumni of TURN, which is arguably the state’s most influential utility consumer advocacy group.… More

No surprise, CPUC president calls it quits

10 October 2014 by Steve Blum
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The California Public Utilities Commission will have a new president next year. Michael Peevey, head of the commission for the past 12 years, announced yesterday that his current term will be his last…

I originally planned to make the following announcement at the CPUC’s regularly-scheduled Voting Meeting on October 16th, but instead I am moving the announcement to today to state that I will not seek reappointment to the CPUC when my term expires at the end of this year.

… More