cpuc

Two projects pulled as CASF challenges come thick as flying monkeys


Just set me down in Kansas. They have fiber there.

Two applications submitted by Race Communications for California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) subsidies are off the table, leaving twenty-seven still under consideration. Of those, incumbent carriers have challenged twenty projects, claiming that some or all of the areas proposed for funding already receive sufficient broadband service and are ineligible.

Race originally put in five proposals for fiber-to-the-home systems in Eastern California. Mojave and California City – towns in eastern Kern County – are already wired and receiving service that meets the California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) minimum 6 Mbps download and 1.5 Mbps upload standard.… More

Back and forth, again, over eligibility for Californian broadband subsidies

24 April 2013 by Steve Blum
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The latest round of comments and counter comments on the California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) review of broadband subsidy eligibility has closed. Two organisations filed replies to the comments filed a couple of weeks ago, the CPUC’s Division of Ratepayer Advocates (DRA) and a consumer advocacy group, the Utility Reform Network (TURN). DRA also weighed in a couple of weeks ago.

TURN repeated its support for allowing non-traditional organisations to apply for broadband infrastructure construction grants and loans from the California Advanced Services Fund.… More

Fiber cuts not as disruptive on California's central coast

19 April 2013 by Steve Blum
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Lightning fast and always lands on its feet. The cat too.

Four years ago, someone chopped into an AT&T fiber optic cable south of San Jose in California. Big chunks of Santa Cruz, San Benito and Santa Clara Counties fell off the Internet for the better part of a day. Mobile and landline phone service was disrupted.

Earlier this week, a similar cut was made in more or less the same place. The same thing happened to a lot of people.… More

CPUC releases app to crowdsource mobile broadband speeds

18 April 2013 by Steve Blum
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Ground truth isn’t as pretty as advertised.

Mobile phone subscribers can find out what kind of service their carrier actually delivers, and pass that ground truth on to California policy makers. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has put its CalSpeed app on the Google Play store. Anyone can download it for free and use it to test mobile broadband speeds delivered by AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint.

The app is billed as a “professional-level testing tool”.… More

Serving urban homes means adapting CASF to urban broadband business models

11 April 2013 by Steve Blum
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Sometimes the last mile is a matter of feet.

Urban areas haven’t benefited from California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) infrastructure subsidies. All of the 34 broadband projects approved in past years and the 29 currently under review are in rural areas of the state. Two reasons account for it, one conceptual and other structural.

To be eligible for CASF infrastructure subsidies, an area has to at least qualify as underserved, which means there’s no broadband service available that delivers at least 6 Mbps download and 1.5 Mbps upload speeds.… More

AT&T snarls but cable lobby embraces expansion of California broadband subsidies

10 April 2013 by Steve Blum
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But Austin is a peaceful planet!

The California cable lobby has stopped foaming at the mouth over the idea of expanding the list of companies and organizations that are eligible to apply for California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) subsidies. In comments filed with the California Public Utilities Commission, the California Cable and Telecommunications Association seems to have figured out that relaxing the rules gives them the chance to stick their nose in the honey jar too.… More

Who gets CASF money is first decision on California legislative agenda, how much comes later

4 April 2013 by Steve Blum
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Structurally sound or not, the cake gets cut.

The debate over whether to give priority to public housing programs when California broadband initiatives are funded continues on 15 April 2013, when the Assembly utilities and commerce committee is scheduled to formally consider assembly bill 1299.

It would require the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to give particular consideration to urban public housing projects for California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) grants. It would also allow money previously set aside to build broadband infrastructure to also be spent on broadband adoption programs.… More

CPUC commissioner possible pick as new FCC chair

24 March 2013 by Steve Blum
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Catherine Sandoval, California Public Utilities Commission.

One person mentioned as a replacement for outgoing Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chair Julius Genachowski is Catherine Sandoval, a member of the California Public Utilities Commission and a law professor, currently teaching at U.C. Berkeley. A Silicon Valley resident, she’s taken up the telecoms portfolio on the CPUC and understands the industry from a West Coast perspective.

Sandoval would be a great choice. The FCC needs someone who’s been shaped by Californian culture, high tech and otherwise.… More

Party power (or lack thereof) shapes California broadband spending plans

19 March 2013 by Steve Blum
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The practical side of political alignment.

More than two-thirds of the seats in both the California Assembly and Senate are held by Democrats. That means it’s possible to add money to the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) and change its direction with no support at all from Republicans and no fear of losing the political cover a supermajority vote provides.
During hearings and meetings in Sacramento last week, Democrats focused almost exclusively on using CASF to increase the number of Californians who use the Internet.… More

CPUC floats phone company-grade scrutiny for all broadband subsidy applicants

18 March 2013 by Steve Blum
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AT&T gets a thorough examination. Why shouldn’t you?

More questions today from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) about the financial and oversight requirements unregulated Internet service providers would need to meet, should eligibility for California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) subsidies be extended to them.

CASF currently provides grants and loans that could total as much as 90% of the cost of building broadband infrastructure in eligible areas. But only to companies that qualify as a telephone company (the definition is broad), go through a rigorous certification process and are subject to the CPUC’s regulatory power.… More