digital 395

Savoring victory at eastern Sierra broadband meeting

20 September 2013 by Steve Blum
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Looking forward in Bishop.

What a difference a year makes. The Eastern Sierra Connect Regional Broadband Consortium held its annual meeting in Bishop, California on Thursday. Like last year’s forum, the conversation was dominated by Digital 395, a middle mile fiber optic network that runs the length of the region – Mono, Inyo and eastern Kern counties – and connects to major transcontinental routes in Reno and Barstow.

But it was a much different conversation.… More

Suddenlink makes aggressive move with Digital 395 bandwidth


Suddenlink takes the Digital 395 pole position.

No longer constrained by severely limited backhaul capacity, Suddenlink has cranked up Internet speeds for its customers in Mammoth Lakes and is planning to do the same in the other eastern California communities it serves. Customers with service plans that delivered 1.5 to 3 Mbps are now getting 15 Mbps at no extra cost, and can upgrade to a 30 Mbps tier if they want. That’s according to Jason Oelkers, Suddenlink’s California system manager, speaking today at the Eastern Sierra Connect Regional Broadband Consortium annual forum in Bishop, which sits astride the route.… More

CPUC approves $10 million and maybe a bit more for Digital 395

5 September 2013 by Steve Blum
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Flakes raise costs

Digital 395 got $9.9 million from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) this morning. As expected, commissioners approved the additional money, as a grant from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF). Full details are in the final draft of the resolution.

Another $938,000 is on hold, pending environmental reviews and subsequent approval, or not, by the commission.

The money will cover the net cost overruns generated by the project. Originally budgeted at $101 million, 80% of the cost was to be covered by a grant from the 2009 federal broadband stimulus program.… More

CPUC plans to approve extra $10 million for Digital 395 without discussion

4 September 2013 by Steve Blum
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Digital 395 gets the fast track and cash.

A last minute change to tomorrow’s California Public Utilities Commission agenda put a request for an extra $10 million for the Digital 395 project on the meeting’s consent calendar. Assuming no commissioner asks otherwise, that means the money will be approved without questions, debate or public comment.

A new draft resolution was also circulated a few days ago, identifying a single, unified Digital 395 fiber backbone network, stretching from Reno to Barstow down the eastern edge of California, as the commission’s top goal.… More

Grumbles aside, no one is opposing giving California's Digital 395 project $10 million more

25 August 2013 by Steve Blum
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The opposition has yet to emerge.

The first round of comments on a proposed $10 million spiff for the Digital 395 middle mile project from the California Advanced Services Fund are in, and so far, no one has registered formal opposition to it. On 5 September 2013, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is scheduled to decide whether to cover the overrun costs racked up by the project. That would boost the state’s contribution to $29 million, which is on top of $80 million from the 2009 federal stimulus program and about $1 million from project principals and local agencies.… More

Locals urge CPUC to close eastern California fiber gap


Hard to connect.

Mono County officials have come out in full support of giving another $10 million to the Digital 395 middle mile project, which would link Mono, Inyo and eastern Kern counties to major fiber hubs. Top elected officials – the board of supervisors and the sheriff – sent letters to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), as did the county administrator.

All three letters echoed the same themes: Mono and Inyo Counties would be hurt by having the fiber network split into disconnected northern and southern halves, and the loss of service to communities in the gap, particularly June Lake, would be damaging.… More

Admin costs take a bigger bite out of California broadband subsidy fund

20 August 2013 by Steve Blum
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I thought there was more in there.

The amount of money available to the current round of California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) infrastructure grant applicants is probably something like $135 million, considerably less than the $148 million I’ve been estimating. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has published the proposed budget for the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) for next fiscal year, which runs from July 2014 to June 2015. It shows a sharp increase in overhead costs for running the program, including an extra $1.5 million for the state’s broadband mapping project.… More

California broadband grant requests inch toward decisions

California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) staff have started drafting resolutions for funding at least some of the broadband infrastructure proposals submitted last February for subsidies from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF).

The fact that staff is putting the necessary paperwork together – preliminary environmental assessments and public safety impact, for example – doesn’t mean that a project will rate highly enough to be recommended, but it does mean that the preliminary task of determining whether a project is eligible for CASF money is complete, or nearly so.… More

CEO provides details on Digital 395 progess and cost overruns


Yellow dots highlight unfinished business.

If the Digital 395 project doesn’t get the extra $10 million its backers are requesting from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF), it will still be technically capable of providing service to some eastern California communities. Michael Ort, the CEO of Praxis Associates, gave a progress report on the project to the California Broadband Council yesterday, detailing work done so far, what’s left to do and, most importantly, why the state should spend more money to finish it.… More

Eastern Sierra fiber optic project needs $10 million more from California broadband subsidy fund

9 August 2013 by Steve Blum
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Inyo County segment. Red is the original route, dark blue is the new route required by government regulators.

The Digital 395 broadband project needs another $10 million from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) to cover unanticipated costs. A draft resolution released this week by California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) staff endorses the request and the commission is scheduled to vote on it at its 5 September 2013 meeting.

Originally funded by a $81 million grant from the 2009 federal broadband stimulus program, $19 million from CASF and $1 million from the applicants, Digital 395 is a 530 mile fiber optic middle mile system that will run from Reno to Carson City, Nevada, then head down the eastern side of California along U.S.… More