monopoly – Steve Blum's Blog

T-Mobile might get extra time to deploy in California, but must add extra jobs and meet California test standards

19 October 2020 by Steve Blum
cpuc, mobile broadband, monopoly, sprint, t-mobile

T-Mobile will get another two years – until 2026 – to deploy 300 Mbps 5G service to 93% of Californians, if a draft decision published on Friday is approved by the California Public Utilities Commission. But two other requested “modifications” to the CPUC’s conditions for approving T-Mobile’s merger with Sprint were rejected in the decision proposed by administrative law judge Karl Bemesderfer.

Assuming that CPUC commissioners vote in favor of it – a pretty good bet – it means that T-Mobile will have to add 1,000 net new jobs in California, instead of firing 1,000 higher paid employees and hiring 1,000 lower wage workers at a call center in Fresno County, as it appears to be doing.… More

In the face of “environmental and social justice” obligations, Comcast attempts retreat from rural service

24 September 2020 by Steve Blum
comcast, cpuc, monopoly, ponderosa telephone, rlec

Comcast wants to give up its campaign to compete with a small rural telephone company – a rural local exchange carrier (RLEC) – in a high end, new development outside of Fresno. After the California Public Utilities Commission decided to allow such wireline voice competition if the would be competitor serves the greater community and not just wealthy exurbanites, Comcast asked to withdraw its request for permission to go head to head with Ponderosa Telephone in the Tesoro Viejo development.… More

CPUC confronts California’s “monopolised” broadband market, despite “imaginary” and “perverse” federal policy

14 September 2020 by Steve Blum
broadband, cpuc, monopoly, public policy, utility regulation

With the intent to “effectively deploy quality, affordable, and reliable broadband to all Californians”, the California Public Utilities Commission voted on Thursday to break the grip of telecommunications monopolies and change the way the industry is structured, incentivised and regulated.

It’s the CPUC’s response to governor Gavin Newsom’s executive order directing state agencies to fix California’s broadband deficit.

Commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves, who is leading the effort, explained the reasoning behind it in stark terms…

It’s not really focused on how we are improving our current failed system, but it’s really asking what the different ways and approaches we can take to systemically change our current system around providing the critical service of Internet.

… More

CPUC reaffirms T-Mobile/Sprint approval, but wrangling over California jobs continues

20 August 2020 by Steve Blum
cpuc, mobile broadband, monopoly, sprint, t-mobile

The conditions imposed by the California Public Utilities Commission when it approved T-Mobile’s takeover of Sprint will stand, at least for now. The CPUC decided earlier this month to reject a request to re-do its decision made by opponents of the deal. Tweaks were made to the April decision that approved the merger, but those amount to yes, we meant what we said.

Requests for rehearing are often made but rarely granted. It’s a procedural box that needs to be ticked before a CPUC decision can be challenged in court, either by T-Mobile or its opponents.… More

Cable companies can’t cherry pick “wealthy customers” but they can compete with rural telcos, CPUC decides

10 August 2020 by Steve Blum
cpuc, monopoly, public policy, rlec, rural broadband

Cable companies and other “competitive local exchange carriers” (CLEC) will be able to offer telephone service in (mostly) rural areas of California formerly reserved for small, independent telephone companies. The California Public Utilities Commission voted on Thursday to open up rural local exchange carrier (RLEC) territories to wireline voice competition. There were no changes to the first draft of the new rules proposed by commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves last month.

That permission comes with much needed strings attached, Guzman Aceves said…

It’s a little of an ironic position for me knowing that many of the carriers that want to compete in these rural territories often are some of the major barriers of competition elsewhere.

… More

Bringing 21st century broadband to rural California will change a 20th century business (and subsidy) model

24 July 2020 by Steve Blum
cpuc, monopoly, public policy, rlec, rural broadband

One of the legacies of state and federal 20th century universal telephone service subsidy programs is an ecosystem of small, independent telephone companies, often owned by families that live in the isolated rural communities that they serve. A California Public Utilities Commission decision, proposed by commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves and due for a vote in August, would begin to allow modern competitors into that ecosystem.

These rural local exchange carriers (RLECs) – serve isolated communities and individual customers in often rugged and sparsely populated terrain that AT&T historically avoided.… More

Regulated or not, broadband is a utility and 25 down/3 up is the minimum needed. For now, CPUC says

21 July 2020 by Steve Blum
broadband, cpuc, monopoly, public policy, utility regulation

Broadband is both a utility service and essential, according to a decision last week by the California Public Utilities Commission. A framework for analysing the affordability of utility services in the aggregate – the total monthly cost of energy, water and telecoms – was approved in a unanimous vote. The methodology sums the cost of the “essential service quantity” of all utilities and compares it a household’s ability to pay it, given all the other expenses – rent, for example – that have to be met, too.… More

CPUC votes today on setting 25 Mbps down/3 Mbps up as California’s “essential service quantity” of broadband

16 July 2020 by Steve Blum
broadband, cpuc, monopoly, public policy, utility regulation

The California Public Utilities Commission is scheduled to decide today if it will set a minimum level of “essential” broadband service that Californians need to function and, indeed, survive in the 21st century. After extensive public review of the second draft of a ground breaking staff study of minimum utility service needs and people’s ability to pay for it, a decision drafted by commissioner Clifford Rechtschaffen would revise and then formally adopt the report’s conclusions and methodology.… More

Competition means better broadband for a few rural Californians, CPUC draft says. It should be for everyone

14 July 2020 by Steve Blum
cpuc, monopoly, public policy, rlec, rural broadband

Faster and higher quality broadband service will reach some rural Californians if cable companies and other “competitive local exchange carriers” (CLECs) are allowed to compete against rural telcos for phone customers, according to a proposed decision under consideration by the California Public Utilities Commission. Cable lobbyists and lawyers have been pushing for permission to pluck profitable customers from highly subsidised rural telcos – Small LECs, in the jargon – leaving taxpayers to pay an even higher tab to serve the rest.… More

T-Mobile asks CPUC for permission to employ fewer people in California

25 June 2020 by Steve Blum
cpuc, mobile broadband, monopoly, sprint, t-mobile

T-Mobile wants the California Public Utilities Commission to dial back some of the obligations it imposed when it approved the Sprint merger in April. A “petition for modification” of the CPUC’s decision asks for three changes:

Strike the order to add 1,000 new jobs in California. As it has consistently argued, T-Mobile says the CPUC doesn’t have that authority. Meanwhile, T-Mobile is offering hundreds of former Sprint employees the, um, opportunity to “consider a career change”.

… More