ftth

Initial Charlottesville FTTH share pegged at a realistic 20%

9 February 2017 by Steve Blum
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Click for more details.

Ting, a fiber to the home overbuilder, expects its take rate in Charlottesville, Virginia to hit the 20% mark in its first year, and keep growing from there. That’s based on the initial response to its build out, which is very much guided by the level of interest that residents show, according to a Seeking Alpha transcript of Ting’s corporate parent’s latest earnings call (h/t to Sean Buckley at FierceTelecom for the pointer).… More

CPUC considers filling Silicon Valley broadband gap

27 January 2017 by Steve Blum
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A $1.1 million subsidy for a trimmed back fiber to the home project in Paradise Valley, a community in the hilly outskirts of Silicon Valley, is up for approval at the California Public Utilities Commission. Proposed in 2015 as a $2.8 million venture reaching 515 homes, the Light Saber project in southern Santa Clara County was challenged by a local wireless Internet service provider, who claimed to already cover the area.

Not completely so, apparently: more than 350 homes in less affluent San Martin were cut from the project area, but a draft resolution approving a grant for the rest from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) is slated for a vote by commissioners at their first meeting in February.… More

Suddenlink FTTH push might not reach California

1 December 2016 by Steve Blum
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Most of Suddenlink is somewhere other than California.

Altice, the fourth largest cable operator in the U.S., plans to leapfrog DOCSIS 3.1 coaxial cable upgrades and go straight to fiber. At least in some of the markets it serves. Yesterday, the company announced its intention to build “a next-generation fiber-to-the-home network capable of delivering broadband speeds of up to 10 Gbps across its footprint”. Sorta. It qualified that promise by saying it “expects to reach all of its Optimum footprint and most of its Suddenlink footprint” within five years.… More

Welcome to Webpass City, California

27 October 2016 by Steve Blum
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We won. Why shouldn’t you believe it?

Google finally ‘fessed up to ditching its fiber construction business. In a blog post worthy of Baghdad Bob, the (now) former head of Google Fiber and related businesses – Craig Barratt – promised to “stay ahead of the curve — pushing the boundaries of technology, business, and policy — to remain a leader in delivering superfast Internet“. As he also announced his resignation.

By the time you read this, Google Fiber’s website might have changed, I’m sorry, pivoted again, but as it stands Californian cities are either transitioning from potential fiber city limbo to incumbent monopoly hell, or have been blessed as “Webpass cities”.… More

Frontier complaints drop as it fixes California FTTH problems

18 October 2016 by Steve Blum
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Business as usual.

Hundreds of fiber-to-the-home customers crashed and burned when Frontier Communications took over ownership of Verizon’s wireline networks in California last April. Phone, Internet and television service was disrupted, apparently because the customer data Frontier received from Verizon was faulty. The problems were compounded by a temporary call center that was drafted in to help Frontier get through the transition period.

The company’s position is they’re in business as usual mode now, and preliminary data from the California Public Utilities Commission appear to back it up.… More

Reboot for dueling San Bernardino FTTH projects

10 October 2016 by Steve Blum
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Frontier’s federal CAF2 subsidised census blocks.
Two competing proposals to build a fiber to the home system in the San Bernardino County town of Phelan and surrounding communities are now a lot closer to meeting in the middle.

More than a year ago, in August 2015, Race Telecommunications submitted a proposal asking the California Public Utilities Commission for a $48 million grant from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) for its Gigafy Phelan project – that’s 60% of the then-estimated construction cost to reach about 10,000 homes with fiber.… More

Military homes proposed for California broadband grant

24 September 2016 by Steve Blum
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High density, low service.

A broadband subsidy plan for Vandenberg Air Force Base could bring fiber to the home (or at least to the building) service to military housing there. Renegade Technologies, a Lompoc-based information technology company, submitted an application for a $460,000 grant and a $154,000 loan from the California Advanced Services Fund, proposing to “provide advanced Internet access services to all dwelling units in residential areas of Vandenberg Air Force Base including apartments & dormitories by installing a new fiber-to-the-building (FTTB) infrastructure”.… More

Salt Lake City may be debut of Google Fiber 2.0

26 August 2016 by Steve Blum
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Critical mass.

Google has launched what might be its last fiber project. Or maybe it’s the first deployment of Google Fiber 2.0. Residents and small businesses in the densely populated central area of Salt Lake City can now sign up for service, if they are in reach of the fiber plant that’s been installed.

As it typical, Google is hazy on the details of exactly where service is available, or what future expansion plans might be.… More

CPUC okays grants for Occidental FTTH, consortia, public housing; cancels dormant projects

18 August 2016 by Steve Blum
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With no discussion and plenty of advocates in attendance, the California Public Utilities Commission unanimously approved a $7.7 million construction subsidy for a fiber to the home project in Occidental and grants for three regional broadband consortia and 12 public housing programs. It also rescinded five previously approved but currently stalled California Advanced Services Fund infrastructure projects, putting $4.5 million back into the kitty. More details here.

California broadband projects up for review at CPUC

18 August 2016 by Steve Blum
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UPDATE: The CPUC approved the Occidental project and the consortia and public housing grants, and rescinded subsidies for the five dormant CASF projects in a unanimous, consent agenda vote this morning.

Occidental, a small community in rural Sonoma County, will get gigabit broadband service for $100 a month, if the California Public Utilities Commission approves a $7.7 million construction grant at its meeting later the morning. The fiber-to-the-home project was proposed earlier this year by Race Telecommunications and originally specced at serving 757 homes.… More