fcc – Page 25 – Steve Blum's Blog

Telco lobbyists eager to sue states over net neutrality laws

29 March 2018 by Steve Blum
broadband, fcc, netneutrality, public policy

AT&T, Frontier Communications and other telcos will meet state and local level network neutrality initiatives head on. Using their Washington, D.C. lobbying front, USTelecom, they intend to “aggressively challenge state or municipal attempts to fracture the federal regulatory structure”. Or lack thereof.

In a rambling blog post that oddly invokes the original U.S. Articles of Confederation – it hasn’t had any legal effect for more than 200 years but even so, it explicitly gave states the power to make such decisions – USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter pledges to say “hell no” to any attempt by states or municipalities to revive network neutrality obligations.… More

FCC prepares to auction off $2 billion in broadband subsidies

28 March 2018 by Steve Blum
broadband, connect america fund, fcc, public policy

There’s $2 billion worth of broadband subsidies on the table at the Federal Communications Commission, and providers that are interested in competing for it have until Friday to register.

The FCC published a list of areas, primarily rural, that were left out of previous rounds of federal Connect America Fund (CAF) subsidies, mostly because it cost too much to build infrastructure there or because incumbent telephone companies didn’t accept the FCC’s offer in the last round.… More

FCC sets up rich exurb versus poor rural, urban debate over broadband subsidies

26 March 2018 by Steve Blum
cpuc, fcc, monopoly, public policy, rural broadband

Should low income areas be first in line for broadband subsidies? That’s a question that both the Federal Communications Commission and the California Public Utilities Commission are asking. The CPUC is considering giving priority for California Advanced Services Fund infrastructure grants to communities where median household income is at or below $49,200 a year.

The FCC floated that same idea last week. In the course of approving limits on allowable expenses for some subsidised rural broadband projects, it decided to take the next step and ask for public comment on possible approaches: giving eligible consumers a theoretical choice of providers through a voucher system, adding household income to the criteria for picking eligible areas, or even basing federal subsidies on a state’s ability to pay…

For example, should we target support not only to high-cost areas but low-income areas as well?

… More

California senate considers expanded net neutrality rights and enforcement tools

15 March 2018 by Steve Blum
fcc, netneutrality, public policy, sb460, sb822

A second, more detailed network neutrality revival bill is on the table at the California capitol. Senator Scott Wiener (D – San Francisco) introduced senate bill 822 earlier this year, but it was little more than a statement of intent to jump into the Internet regulation void left by the Federal Communications Commission when it repealed network neutrality rules and stripped broadband of its common carrier status. He amended it on Tuesday, adding in a long list of outlawed practices and ways to enforce the ban.… More

FCC will have to defend net neutrality repeal in San Francisco

12 March 2018 by Steve Blum
broadband, cpuc, fcc, netneutrality, public policy

The luck of the draw means the future of network neutrality and broadband’s status as a common carrier service will be argued in San Francisco. Credit for that is split between the California Public Utilities Commission and Santa Clara County, who filed separate challenges to the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to eliminate net neutrality rules and scrap common carrier obligations for broadband service with the ninth circuit federal appeals court.

Several other organisations filed their appeals in Washington, D.C.,… More

FCC considers clearing a path through federal reviews for small cells

7 March 2018 by Steve Blum
broadband, fcc, public policy, wireless

Update: the FCC approved the report and order, click here for it.
Small cell sites and similarly sized wireless facilities will be able to skip federal environmental and historic preservation reviews if, as expected, the Federal Communications Commission okays new rules at its meeting later this month. As drafted, the FCC report and order would exempt “small wireless facilities” from studies and paperwork required by the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act.… More

FTC is everyone's broadband cop, but don't expect a fast response

28 February 2018 by Steve Blum
broadband, fcc, ftc, netneutrality, public policy

The Federal Trade Commission can apply consumer protection laws to broadband service, even when a telephone company is delivering it. A federal appeals court in San Francisco made that clear on Monday when it rejected AT&T’s argument that the FTC’s authority doesn’t extend to telephone companies or other providers that have “common carrier” status.

An earlier ruling, made last year, would have barred the FTC from any oversight role regarding companies with common carrier status, even when the business line involved wasn’t a common carrier service.… More

FCC broadband speed standard isn't "advanced" anymore

27 February 2018 by Steve Blum
broadband, casf, fcc, public policy

Don’t be fooled. What the Federal Communications Commission labels “advanced telecommunications capability” is just the basic minimum broadband speed you need to access online services today. It’s advanced in the same sense that London’s New Inn, built in 1810 to replace the original, is new: it seemed that way at the time.

The concept of advanced online services was introduced into federal policy in 1996, when the U.S. congress last overhauled federal telecoms law.… More

FCC officially publishes decision reversing net neutrality

23 February 2018 by Steve Blum
broadband, fcc, netneutrality, public policy

The game clock is now running on the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to reverse broadband’s status as a common carrier service and end network neutrality rules. Sorta. The decision approved by commissioners in December was published in the Federal Register yesterday. That means court challenges can begin – an earlier appeal by state attorneys general was largely symbolic and presumably will be refiled. There’s a ten day procedural window for everyone to pile on in the federal appeals court of their choosing, after that the challenges will probably, but not certainly, be consolidated into a single case that’ll be heard in Washington, D.C.… More