middle mile

CPUC knows how to end taxpayer-funded middle mile fiber grabs. As it should

11 June 2020 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

Connected central coast 625

It can be done right. As it has.

One of the challenges to broadband subsidy proposals submitted to the California Public Utilities Commission this week shows why open access middle mile fiber is a necessity for closing rural broadband gaps, and how the lack of it is a major barrier to improving Internet service in California.

Plumas Sierra Telecommunications, which is the telecoms arm of the Plumas Sierra Electric Cooperative, objects to Frontier’s request for money to pay for a building a middle mile fiber route to reach the towns of Herlong and Janesville in Lassen County.… More

Zayo, a major fiber optic network owner, sold to private investors

9 May 2019 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

Zayo bay area

Zayo announced yesterday that it had “a definitive merger agreement to be acquired by affiliates of Digital Colony Partners and the EQT Infrastructure IV fund”. The $8.2 billion deal takes Zayo off the New York Stock Exchange and puts it in the hands of owners who might have the patience to play the long game against the monopoly-model telcos – AT&T, Verizon and CenturyLink, particularly – who control the lion’s share of long haul and metro fiber in the U.S.… More

Verizon buys enough fiber to reach Mars, sorta

20 April 2017 by Steve Blum
, , ,

Make it quick.

Verizon is pumping up the volume about its three year deal with Corning to spend $1.05 billion on “fiber optic cable and associated hardware”. It even got a congratulatory (and self-congratulatory) press release from Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai. As it should It’s a big commitment and will add a considerable amount of potential bandwidth to the U.S. supply.

Verizon also claims that it will be buying “up to” 20 million kilometers (12.4 million miles, it helpfully adds) of “optical fiber” each year, from 2018 through 2020.… More

CPUC broadband subsidy skepticism grows, grants on hold

10 February 2017 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

A proposal to build a 300 mile middle mile fiber network connecting remote communities in northern California to high speed Internet access might or might not be in line for extra cash. The Digital 299 project would go through the mountainous terrain along state route 299 from Redding in the Sacramento Valley, through Trinity County and on to Eureka on the Humboldt County coast.

Yesterday, the California Public Utilities Commission weighed a recommendation from staff for a $41 million subsidy from the California Advanced Services Fund against pleas from local communities along the proposed route for an extra $6 million that they believe is necessary to make the project financially viable.… More

More push for more money for northern California middle mile project

31 January 2017 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

The Digital 299 middle mile fiber project under consideration for a $42 million subsidy from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) will have been under review for a year and half, if the California Public Utilities Commission votes on it as scheduled next week. Yesterday was the deadline for submitting comments – pro or con – and seven organisations did so.

The applicant, Inyo Networks, is asking the commission to increase the grant to $49 million.… More

Fiber route from California's north coast to central valley in line for $42 million subsidy

28 December 2016 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

Another major middle mile fiber project is queued up for approval at the California Public Utilities Commission. A draft decision that would grant a $42 million subsidy from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) to the Digital 299 project was published just before the Christmas break and is expected to be up for a vote by commissioners in February. Inyo Networks – the company behind the Digital 395 system and other CASF-funded projects – made the proposal in August 2015.… More

No lame duck FCC decisions, says Wheeler

18 November 2016 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

Or better yet, dead stop.

Tom Wheeler is leaving any significant decisions on telecommunications policy to the incoming Trump administration and the new republican majority that will follow on the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC chairman spoke after a very brief open meeting yesterday, saying he has not spoken with anyone from the incoming Trump administration, but he is bowing to pressure from republicans in congress, who want him to walk away from the table now.… More

Wheeler surrenders to republicans, cancels today's FCC agenda

17 November 2016 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

Unconditional.

The Federal Communications Commission won’t be voting today on price controls and other regulations for wholesale broadband service and facilities. Nor will it address mobile roaming standards, or adopt rules for mobile infrastructure subsidies or set requirements for audio narration of video content for the people with vision impairments. A planned (but not revealed) enforcement action has also been scrapped. All that’s left for commissioners to do today is vote on a Freedom of Information Act request.… More

FCC set to cut legacy wholesale broadband prices, oversee faster services

11 October 2016 by Steve Blum
, , ,

Competitive split.

There’s a 45 Mbps divide in the wholesale bandwidth business, and the Federal Communications Commission is preparing new and separate regulations to address both sides. It’s one of the three key issues that chairman Tom Wheeler promised the cell phone industry he would address to clear the path for deployment of 5G technology, the other two being spectrum and local restrictions on wireless sites.

In a summary – Wheeler doesn’t release drafts of new rules to the public, preferring instead to limit his conversations to industry stakeholders – he described prices for (mostly) legacy broadband services at 45 Mbps and below as “artificially high” and outlined a plan to first cap current rates and then chop them over time, by as much as 20% in the next the three years alone.… More

FCC chair Wheeler says fiber companies can't hold 5G hostage

7 September 2016 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

Valediction.

Backhaul is critical to development of next generation mobile networks, FCC chairman Tom Wheeler said in Las Vegas this morning, promising the commission will ensure “that lack of competition in some places cannot be used to hold 5G hostage”.

It doesn’t look like the Federal Communications Commission will be taking up pricing and access regulations for middle mile backhaul in September, though. In what could be his final CTIA keynote as FCC chair, Wheeler promised new rules, but “before the end of this year” and not before the end of the month.… More