public policy

Unlicensed spectrum needs clear rules or no rules, not guesswork in between

29 December 2015 by Steve Blum
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Not just another monkey.

There are no rules against blocking someone else’s WiFi hotspot, according to the two republican members of the Federal Communications Commission. Ajit Pai and Michael O’Rielly posted dissents to a decision to fine M.C. Dean, a concessionaire at the Baltimore convention center, $718,000 for interfering with attendees ability to connect to their own mobile hotspots.

On the surface, it’s a Catch-22 argument: Pai and O’Rielly are saying that since people who use unlicensed spectrum – Part 15 users, in FCC jargon – have to accept any interference they receive, interfering with them isn’t really interference.… More

FTTH project pitched for CASF subsidy in south Santa Clara County

28 December 2015 by Steve Blum
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Click for more.

When you travel south of the Silicon Valley, Internet access begins to degrade. The southern stretch of Santa Clara County – the Coyote Valley – relies on a uneven mix of service from Verizon (soon to be Frontier), AT&T and Charter Communications, plus a handful of independents. LCB Communications and co-owned South Valley Internet, a wireless ISP and DSL reseller in the area, want to get into the fiber to the home business, and is asking the California Public Utilities Commission for a $2.8 million subsidy from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF).… More

California broadband grant proposed for FTTH in Nicasio

24 December 2015 by Steve Blum
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Click for a bigger picture.

The western Marin County town of Nicasio is in the hunt for for a $1.7 million grant from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) to build a fiber to the home broadband system. The application was submitted by Inyo Networks, which is involved in several pending CASF project proposals as well as the already operating Digital 395 system. According to the publicly posted summary…

The area is fully “wireline unserved” by the [incumbent telephone company] and is not served by a cable television service provider alternative either.

… More

Big gap between FCC press releases and final enforcement

23 December 2015 by Steve Blum
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I’m coming to get ya. Honest.

The Federal Communications Commission is barking but not biting, according to federal lawmakers in both houses and on both sides of the aisle. According to a Politico article, the hefty fines that the FCC has said it’s imposing on a wide variety of transgressors haven’t been, and may never be, collected.

The problem seems to be that the FCC’s enforcement bureau issues press releases announcing big fines, without having finished its investigations or getting to the point that the money is actually collectable.… More

Tacoma muni fiber upgrade will need city subsidies, and that's the optimistic case

22 December 2015 by Steve Blum
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It’ll be a long time making up the shortfall, if everything goes perfectly.

If the City of Tacoma wants to hang on to control of its municipal cable system, adding broadband to the service – as the city council voted to do – won’t be enough to pay the bills. Financial help from the city will be needed to upgrade the system to gigabit capacity, according to a presentation prepared by a consultant for the Tacoma public utility board, which shares oversight responsibilities with the council.… More

Omnibus federal spending bill extends tax ban, Internet surveillance

21 December 2015 by Steve Blum

The U.S. congress ended the year by passing a mammoth federal funding bill, which included a Christmas stocking full of miscellaneous measures (h/t to Morning Consult for the pointer). The bill expanded federal surveillance authority on the one hand, but restricted the ability of financial law enforcement agencies to dig into old email on the other. The ban on Internet taxes was extended for a year and congress resisted the impulse to tinker with the FCC’s net neutrality ruling.

Tacoma city council votes to double down on muni broadband

20 December 2015 by Steve Blum
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Go, but try to keep it in the city.

Tacoma’s municipal cable system will remain city owned and operated, at least for the foreseeable future. The Tacoma city council voted to reject offers made by locally-based broadband companies to lease the system, invest money in upgrades and operate it as a private business. Instead, the council told the city’s municipal electric utility, which runs the system, to come back with a business plan for keeping it in public hands by next April.… More

Don't call Google for a ride home from the bar yet

19 December 2015 by Steve Blum
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Good news and bad news about self-driving cars from the California department of motor vehicles. The good news is that the DMV will allow cars to drive themselves; the bad news is that you still need to have a licensed driver in the front seat who “must be capable of taking over immediate control in the event of an autonomous technology failure or other emergency”. In other words, no robotic designated drivers.

The restrictions don’t suit Google, which has been in the forefront of developing autonomous cars in California, according to a story in the San Jose Mercury News…

“We’re gravely disappointed that California is already writing a ceiling on the potential for fully self-driving cars to help all of us who live here,” said Google spokesman Johnny Luu in a statement.

… More

Update: FCC okays Altice takeover of Suddenlink

18 December 2015 by Steve Blum
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The Federal Communications Commission agreed with the California Public Utilities Commission today and approved Altice’s purchase of a controlling interest in Suddenlink. Altice is a major European telecoms company and Suddenlink is its first acquisition of a U.S. cable company. Except for provisions regarding law enforcement and spy agency access to Suddenlink’s network, the FCC imposed no conditions on the deal.

CPUC okays sale of Suddenlink to Altice

18 December 2015 by Steve Blum
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Not a big footprint in California.

UPDATE: the day after the CPUC approved the deal, the FCC did likewise, adding a condition requiring Altice to guarantee law enforcement and spy agency access to its network.

Altice has permission to take over control of Suddenlink’s cable systems in California. Without discussion, the California Public Utilities Commission approved the transaction at its meeting on Thursday. According to the decision…

The proposed acquisition occurs entirely at the parent ownership level and the Applicants indicate that the transaction will be “seamless and transparent to consumers in terms of current services, rates, terms and conditions.”17

… More