fcc – Page 9 – Steve Blum's Blog

“Hunger games” duels for broadband subsidies proposed by FCC

5 August 2019 by Steve Blum
casf, connect america fund, cpuc, fcc, public policy

Broadband subsidies from the Federal Communications Commission are paid for out of the Universal Service Fund" (USF) which, in turn, gets its money from taxes on telephone bills. The FCC runs four programs that way: the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (formerly known as the Connect America Fund), the e-rate program that pays for broadband service to schools and libraries, the rural health care program, which does the same for hospitals, and the Lifeline program, which buys down service costs for low income households.… More

FCC approves new broadband subsidy and data collection programs, but each ignores the other

2 August 2019 by Steve Blum
connect america fund, fcc, public policy, rural broadband

The Federal Communications Commission will be asking for comments on its plan to spend, at first, $16 billion and eventually $20 billion on rural broadband subsidies, with a minimum speed requirement of 25 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up. It’s also moving ahead with a new broadband availability data collection process, based on electronic map files, rather than spreadsheets. The two initiatives were approved at yesterday’s FCC meeting.

Both democratic commissioners – Jessica Roseworcel and Geoffrey Starks – objected to the republican majority’s blind acceptance of broadband availability data submitted by Internet service providers as a basis for deciding where subsidies should be spent.… More

FCC’s San Francisco broadband preemption appealed

26 July 2019 by Steve Blum
fcc, mdu, mte, public policy, san francisco

San Francisco is taking the Federal Communications Commission to court. Again. On Monday, the City and County of San Francisco filed a challenge to the FCC’s preemption of its broadband access ordinance with the ninth circuit federal appeals court, also based in San Francisco.

The ordinance requires building owners to allow tenants to buy broadband service from the provider of their choice. Providers are able, under the ordinance, to use any available wiring inside the building that’s owned by the landlord to deliver such service.… More

FCC proposes new map-based collection method for broadband availability reports

19 July 2019 by Steve Blum
broadband, fcc, microsoft, NTIA, public policy

The ever increasing volume of complaints about the accuracy of broadband availability data published by the Federal Communications Commission is producing results. In August, the FCC will vote on a proposal to require Internet service providers to submit electronic map data that shows where they offer service, at what speeds it’s offered and which technology it uses.

The current data sets are based on census block reports, with a census block reckoned as served at a given speed level if one home or business within it can get that level.… More

FCC’s rural broadband subsidy reboot proposes faster speeds, but performance is still a question

18 July 2019 by Steve Blum
connect america fund, fcc, public policy, rural broadband

Broadband service at 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload speeds “is not a luxury” reserved for people who live in cities and suburbs, according to a draft FCC notice that kicks off the process of rebooting federal broadband service subsidies for rural communities. In August, the FCC plans to vote on a draft notice of proposed rulemaking that would open the door to comments and proposals – from any interested party – regarding how to spend “at least” $20.4 billion earmarked for the “rural digital opportunity fund”.… More

California kicks T-Mobile-Sprint deal to September. Or maybe much later

17 July 2019 by Steve Blum
cpuc, fcc, monopoly, sprint, t-mobile

The California Public Utilities Commission can’t act on T-Mobile’s request for permission to acquire Sprint until the middle of September, at the earliest. Yesterday was the deadline for any proposed decisions – in any proceeding, T-Mobile or not – to be placed on the commission’s 15 August 2019 meeting agenda. The next scheduled meeting after that is on 12 September, which means a draft decision would have to be released for the legally required 30-day public review period by 13 August.… More

FCC republicans chase San Francisco “bogeyman”

12 July 2019 by Steve Blum
fcc, mdu, mte, public policy, san francisco

San Francisco’s open access law that allows any Internet service provider to use landlord-owned wiring inside a building to reach tenants might not be so preempted by Wednesday’s Federal Communications Commission decision. And the FCC’s republican majority is acting more like hired gun lawyers advocating for monopoly-model incumbents than the disinterested expert regulators they’re supposed to be.

Jon Brodkin breaks down the back and forth in a good article in Ars Technica. The ruling formally adopted by republican commissions says that San Francisco can’t require one ISP to share wires it’s already using with another ISP.… More

FCC’s preemption of San Francisco broadband ordinance gets slapped by U.S. house of representatives

3 July 2019 by Steve Blum
fcc, mdu, mte, public policy, san francisco

Democrats in the U.S. house of representatives want to block plans to preempt San Francisco’s broadband access ordinance. Last week, the house voted more or less on party lines to prevent the Federal Communications Commission from implementing new rules that would overturn any local regulations that require landlords to give competitive Internet service providers access to wiring inside their buildings.

The language was inserted by California house member Katie Porter (D – Orange) into an appropriations bill.… More

FCC’s pole preemption commandeers City of Whoville, court told

1 July 2019 by Steve Blum
ab57, fcc, pole attachment, public policy, small cells

Grinch

Eleven organisations and/or groups of organisations jumped in on the side of challengers to FCC decisions preempting local and state control of public right of way management and ownership of assets, such as streetlight poles, located there.

Five of the amicus curiae – friend of the court – briefs filed with the federal appeals court in San Francisco came from municipal electric utilities and associations representing them. The state of Oregon, an association representing Washington state cities and a group led by New York City offered supporting arguments, and the County of San Diego sent an endorsement letter.… More

Electric companies argue FCC has no authority over power lines

26 June 2019 by Steve Blum
ab57, fcc, pole attachment, public policy, small cells

Investor-owned electric utilities are challenging the one touch make ready (OTMR) rules issued by the Federal Communications last year. It’s part of a broader appeal of two decisions that the FCC made last year: the August 2018 wireline deployment decision and the September 2018 wireless deployment decision.

In those two decisions, the FCC issued an expansive set of preemptions that overruled local ownership of assets in the public right of way (such as streetlight poles), state and local timelines for wireless permit decisions, schedules for work in the public right of way, and generally took industry-friendly positions on issues that affect the ability of telecoms companies to install facilities – wireline or wireless – at will.… More