Steve Blum's Blog
Update: Webpass was just acquired by Google Fiber. That won’t have an immediate impact on the proceeding – lots of hoops to jump through first – but long term, it’ll be fun to watch. Stay tuned.
Telephone companies and other regulated utilities have to share conduit and pole access. They can charge each other a particular rate for it or, if usable space is lacking, require upgrades.… More
Afternoon update: There’s a growing consensus that AB 2788 is dead, rather than just delayed. Resurrection is always possible while the legislature is in session, though. We’ll know its status for sure, at least its current status, by Monday, if not before.
A proposal to allow mobile carriers to install cell sites pretty much anywhere they want – including on publicly owned property – without meaningful review by local government has been bumped by a week.… More
The federal appeals court ruling that upheld the Federal Communications Commission’s common carrier and network neutrality rules for broadband did collateral damage to the State of Tennessee’s attempt to overturn the FCC’s preemption of state restrictions on local municipal broadband initiatives. But it doesn’t appear fatal, or even particularly serious.
At the same 2015 meeting where it voted to regulate broadband as a common carrier service, the FCC also decided to toss out state laws in Tennessee and North Carolina that prevented two muni fiber systems from expanding into neighboring jurisdictions.… More
Using a legislative maneuver delicately referred to as gut and amend, assemblyman Mike Gatto (D – Los Angeles) transmogrified a bill about natural gas storage into a free pass for mobile phone companies to 1. install cell sites pretty much anywhere they want with little or no oversight by local governments and 2. force local governments to lease publicly owned facilities for the purpose (h/t to Omary Masry at the City and County of San Francisco for the pointer).… More
Republicans in the U.S. house of representatives want to write a ban on FCC broadband rate regulations into law. But that simple step would have far reaching implications for the net neutrality restrictions the FCC placed on ISPs. As the dissenting judge in the latest appellate court case wrote, it’s not just about how much an ISP can charge subscribers…
… MoreThe [FCC] (at least for the moment) allows ISPs to provide consumers differing levels of service at differing prices.
Tuesday’s decision by a federal appeals court to uphold the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to regulate broadband as a common carrier service was not unanimous. The dissenting judge made three points in his counter-opinion. Two are spot on and the third is a judgement call, one that the other two judges who heard the appeal fairly didn’t buy.
Stephen Williams agreed with his two colleagues – Sri Srinivasan and David Tatel – that the FCC can reclassify Internet access and make it a telecommunications service which is potentially subject to detailed regulatory oversight.… More
In a unanimous vote on Tuesday, the California senate’s transportation and housing committee approved assembly bill 1549, a proposal carried by north coast assemblyman Jim Wood. I was among those at the hearing and prepared to speak on its behalf, but we took our cue from committee chair Jim Beall (D – Silicon Valley) who, in polite words, hinted there’s no opposition, we’re all in favor, so make it quick. So we did.… More
Call it two and a half out of three. That was the vote by a panel of federal appeals court judges as they tossed out challenges by a wide range of Internet service providers, and ruled that the Federal Communications Commission acted legally when it said broadband is a telecommunications service, rather than an information service, and imposed common carrier regulations on broadband service last year.
Two judges were completely in favor of the new rules, and the third agreed with some of their reasoning but dissented on other points.… More
Update:
The appeals court is putting its decision on hold for seven days, to allow time for further appeals. As a practical matter, it doesn’t mean much: the FCC’s broadband common carrier rules have been in effect all along and will remain in effect.
You can download the decision here:
184 pages – good reading!… More
A federal appeals court has let stand the FCC decision that imposes common carrier regulations on broadband service
This is what the initial notice says:
… MoreJUDGMENT
These causes came on to be heard on the petitions for review of an order of the Federal Communications Commission and were argued by counsel. On consideration thereof, it is
ORDERED and ADJUDGED that the petitions for review are denied, in accordance with the opinion of the court filed herein this date.