fcc

California WISPs win $149 million in FCC broadband subsidy auction

30 August 2018 by Steve Blum
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Internet service providers – most, if not all, wireless – will get $149 million in federal subsidies to serve 52,000 homes and businesses in California over the next 10 years. The Federal Communications Commission’s Connect America Fund (CAF 2) auction ended this week. Bidders competed for money to provide broadband service in census blocks bypassed by the main CAF 2 subsidy round in 2015.

Although California didn’t proportionately have as many census blocks and locations on the table as some other states, it came out very well in the bidding, gaining 10% of the total money on offer.… More

Good news, bad news, no news for California net neutrality bills

29 August 2018 by Steve Blum
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The good news is that California senate bill 822 won’t – can’t – be watered down or otherwise amended. Last night was the deadline set by the California constitution for making and posting amendments to any pending legislation (short of a declaration of emergency by the governor). Authored by senator Scott Wiener (D – San Francisco), SB 822 would reinstate network neutrality regulations scrapped last year by the Federal Communications Commission. It would outlaw blocking, throttling, paid prioritisation and non-neutral zero rating of consumer broadband service, as well as any attempt by Internet service providers to evade those bans via upstream maneuvers.… More

California net neutrality bill, SB 460, watered down by assembly committee

28 August 2018 by Steve Blum
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The changes made Monday to senate bill 460 were posted earlier today. Instead of requiring all state and local agencies to buy broadband services from companies that abide by network neutrality rules, it now only applies to contracts of $100,000 or more, and contains generous exceptions to that restriction. The amendments were approved by the assembly’s appropriations committee, which often acts as a proxy for assembly leadership – democratic and republican – but were suggested last week in a staff analysis prepared for the assembly privacy and consumer protection committee.… More

One of two net neutrality bills move ahead in California assembly, with unknown changes

28 August 2018 by Steve Blum
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Senate bill 460 was approved yesterday by the assembly appropriations committee, on a party line vote. The legislature’s online information systems says it was passed “as amended”, which means the committee made some changes. The new version of the bill hasn’t been posted yet, and there’s no online video replay – I wasn’t able to listen in yesterday.

SB 460, which requires state and local agencies to only buy Internet service from companies that abide by net neutrality rules, is a companion bill to SB 822, which would establish those regulations and apply them across the board in California.… More

California net neutrality bills hit the final stretch

27 August 2018 by Steve Blum
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It’s five days and counting, to the end of the California legislature’s 2018 session. There are hundreds of bills still under consideration. Not all of them will pass, of course. Some will be voted down, but even more will die a quiet death, for lack of a vote.

Senate bill 822 is not likely to go away quietly. It’s the high profile bill, by senator Scott Wiener (D – San Francisco), that would establish stringent network neutrality rules in California.… More

No consensus on public property lease rates, but FCC committee moves ahead anyway

24 August 2018 by Steve Blum
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Telecoms companies and local government representatives didn’t agree on how lease rates for assets such as street light poles should be set, but at least they were able to articulately lay out their positions and identify what they do agree on. The Federal Communications Commission’s broadband deployment advisory committee received a draft report last month that looked at how fees and rental rates are set. It was produced by a sub committee that had two members from local agencies, plus a municipal lobbyist and a state government representative.… More

Net neutrality revival heads to a California assembly vote

23 August 2018 by Steve Blum
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Two bills aimed at restoring network neutrality in California made it through a previous legislative road block yesterday. The California assembly’s communications and conveyances committee approved senate bills 822 and 460 on party line votes, with all net neutrality rules intact.

Most of the discussion yesterday was about zero rating and interconnection agreements. Lobbyists for AT&T, mobile carriers and Comcast’s and Charter Communications’ front organisation led the opposition to the bills. They didn’t like any of it, but they particularly objected to a ban on deals between ISPs and web companies that do an end run around net neutrality rules, and to restrictions on zero rating.… More

California assembly committee gets a net neutrality do over today

22 August 2018 by Steve Blum
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California’s network neutrality revival is queued up for a key committee hearing this afternoon, with another one scheduled for tomorrow. Senate bills 822 and 460 are on the agenda – the only items on the agenda – of the California assembly’s communications and conveyances committee at 1:30 p.m.

That’s the same committee that gutted SB 822 in June. Its chairman, assemblyman Miguel Santiago (D – Los Angeles), had a change of heart after withering attacks from the online community and appeals – aka a stern talking to – from state and national democratic party leaders.… More

FCC net neutrality repeal was arbitrary, capricious and weird, federal appeals court told

21 August 2018 by Steve Blum
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The Federal Communications Commission ignored facts and the law when it voted to repeal network neutrality rules late last year. That’s the case that two coalitions made to a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. yesterday.

A group led by Mozilla that includes a wide range of for profit companies and non-profit organisations made the key point that broadband is a telecommunications service, and not an unregulated information service, as the FCC’s tortured logic claimed…

The law defines “telecommunications” as the transmission of information between points specified by the user without change in the information’s form or content.

… More