fcc

Frontier preps to pull a wireless bait and switch on Californians

9 October 2017 by Steve Blum
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Frontier Communications is backtracking on pledges made to the California Public Utilities Commission as it successfully sought permission to take over Verizon’s copper and fiber systems in California. During that process, it claimed to be a “dedicated wireline service provider” as it was trying to convince the CPUC that it could do a better job than Verizon…

Frontier is strategically focused solely on wireline telecommunications and has a long and successful history providing those services.

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Feds clear a dark path for CenturyLink-Level 3 deal in California

8 October 2017 by Steve Blum
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CenturyLink’s purchase of Level 3 Communications is on track to be approved by the California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday. It’s always possible that a decision could be bumped to a later meeting, but there’s no indication at this point that there will be any delays.

A settlement CenturyLink reached with anti-trust lawyers at the federal justice department last week takes the edge off the damage the deal will do to California’s broadband market, although it doesn’t eliminate it.… More

CenturyLink trades long haul fiber routes for permission to buy Level 3

4 October 2017 by Steve Blum
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Allowing two of the major – sometimes only – sources of inter-city dark fiber to merge would be anti-competitive and illegal, according to the federal justice department. So in order to gain approval to buy Level 3 Communications, CenturyLink agreed to a settlement that requires it to give up control of 24 strands of dark fiber between 30 pairs of cities, including five key California routes.

The settlement also requires CenturyLink to divest overlapping metro fiber systems in Albuquerque, Boise and Tucson.… More

The U.S. mobile broadband market is competitve, says FCC

3 October 2017 by Steve Blum
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The Federal Communications Commission has made a case for declaring that the mobile broadband market in the U.S. is broadly competitive, in a qualitative, preponderance of the evidence sort of way. Looking at a number of different metrics, including usage (see chart above), pricing, advertising, investment coverage, the FCC decided that when it was all added up, the result was “there is effective competition in the marketplace for mobile wireless services”.

One key indicator – half statistical, half anecdote – was the way the four major nationwide carriers responded to each other when unlimited data plans were reintroduced…

One significant trend that has developed recently is the return of “unlimited” data plans.

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New FCC rules kick telegraph service into the 21st century

30 September 2017 by Steve Blum
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The Federal Communications Commission isn’t giving up on the telegraph. In fact, it’s giving telegraph companies a turbo-charged boost of free market competition. But don’t worry, it isn’t going completely crazy. The FCC is making it very clear that telegraph service is still subject to common carrier rules. In a lighter touch sort of way, of course, since this new and improved FCC is gung ho about light touch common carrier regulation.

In a wonderfully circular bit of reasoning, the FCC has decided that since there aren’t any telegraph companies, it’s okay for them to discontinue service without giving notice, because that will promote telegraph competition…

No entities filing [service reports] in the past five years indicated that they provide telegraph service, and we are not aware of any interstate telegraph service providers today.

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CPUC changes tack, heads toward an emphatic yes, speed matters

28 September 2017 by Steve Blum
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The latest draft of the California Public Utilities Commission’s broadband advice to the Federal Communications Commission specifically calls out speed as a key benchmark, and recommends that the standard for advanced telecoms capability remain 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload.

The first draft ducked the speed issue and focused on other metrics such as latency and dropped connections. Which are important, particularly for high end commercial and industrial applications. But speed matters and the comments that CPUC commissioners are scheduled to consider at their meeting later this morning put it at the top of the list…

The 25/3 speed tier, the FCC’s current benchmark for “Advanced Services,” represents a useful, reasonable, and forward-looking dividing point to define a “high-speed” broadband tier.

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Measure mobile performance, don't just assume says CPUC draft

26 September 2017 by Steve Blum
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The California Public Utilities Commission might not offer an opinion on how fast broadband service should be in order to support “advanced telecommunications capability”, but it is on track to say whether mobile and wireline service should be lumped together. According to draft comments that’ll be filed with the Federal Communications Commission if CPUC commissioners concur, the answer is a qualified no…

The CPUC should share its finding that mobile and residential broadband services are “generally not substitutes”, in order to assist the FCC in its consideration of this issue.

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FCC doesn't know enough about competition, or lack thereof, says GAO

23 September 2017 by Steve Blum
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The Federal Communications Commission needs better information about broadband competition, according to a report by the federal government accountability office. Existing data shows that 51% of U.S. residents only have access to one provider that offers at least a minimum level of broadband service, which the GAO defines using the FCC’s own advanced services standard of 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload speeds.

The agency collects a lot of data, including information about how many broadband providers serve a given market, but not key information about prices and service offerings, the GAO report said…

As indicated by FCC’s broadband data, competition does not exist in all areas.

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FCC chair Pai sounds smarter when he's not the smartest guy in the room

19 September 2017 by Steve Blum
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Once he left the big stage at the Mobile World Congress Americas in San Francisco last week, Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai walked a couple of blocks to an event put on by the Lincoln Network, a Silicon Valley political club with a libertarian outlook. It was a much smaller stage, but he seemed completely at home in a room full of smart people – some even smarter than him – who would rather let the market sort things out than to try to fine tune the Digital Age using the blunt, mindless tools of government.… More

U.S. mobile show reboots with international scope and brains. Mostly

13 September 2017 by Steve Blum
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Rebranding and a return to San Francisco has reversed CTIA’s slide into trade show oblivion. Now known as the Mobile World Congress Americas and run by GSMA, the outfit that puts on the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February, the show is drawing a more international crowd and a better class of speakers. Or at least speakers that are living up to MWC’s standards.

The first keynote yesterday featured Carlos Slim Domit, the chairman of America Movil, which is the largest mobile telecoms company in Latin America, and the fourth largest in the world.… More