public policy

Salinas pursues fast broadband to build ag tech corridor


Click for the full picture.

With big and small agricultural companies expanding in downtown Salinas and the southeast area of the city earmarked as an Ag Tech Corridor, the need for better broadband infrastructure is becoming critical. Yesterday, the Salinas City Council voted to ask for proposals from potential private sector partners who are interested in using city assets to build out high capacity networks.

Tellus Venture Associates recently completed a study for the City of Salinas that evaluated existing infrastructure and examined options for improving it.… More

New California mobile broadband metrics closer to reality

15 December 2015 by Steve Blum
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Then and now. Half the time, mobile broadband in Alameda and Contra Costa counties is pretty good. But all the time? Not so much.

Mobile broadband service in California is reasonably good overall. In some places, it’s excellent. In others, non-existent. And there’s a lot of gradations in-between. But you wouldn’t know that by relying on the marketing claims made by the four big mobile carriers, AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile. According to them, they deliver super service everywhere, except where it’s super duper.… More

Frontier's purchase of Verizon is a step in a competitive direction, says California attorney general

14 December 2015 by Steve Blum
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The decision to allow Frontier Communications to buy Verizon’s wireline systems in California was based partly on an opinion by the California attorney general’s office. The California Public Utilities Commission, which had the final say, asked the AG whether or not the purchase would be anti-competitive. On the contrary, came the reply, it should result in more competition…

We find that this acquisition has the potential to increase competition among competitive local exchange carriers. If indeed Verizon California has allowed its copper infrastructure to fall into disrepair, Frontier is likely to improve and maintain Verizon California’’s copper networks in a manner that may not have occurred absent the transaction.

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Comcast offers Seattle the Philly weasel, er, deal

11 December 2015 by Steve Blum
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After months of fighting, Comcast and the City of Philadelphia reached agreement on a new 15 year cable franchise agreement that included a few spiffs, like expanded eligibility for the low income, $10 a month Internet Essentials program. The announcement came on the eve of a city council vote in Seattle, that would have approved a less generous deal. So, Seattle balked and asked for the same terms as given to Philadelphia. Surprisingly rapidly, Comcast and Seattle negotiators agreed on a few deal sweeteners, including the same IE eligibility upgrade.… More

Federal broadband development policy moves ahead in congress

7 December 2015 by Steve Blum
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Easier access on the horizon.

The U.S. house of representative’s communications and technology subcommittee approved a package of broadband development measures on Wednesday, aimed at making it easier to use federal property to build infrastructure and publish more information about existing facilities. The bill includes dig once language developed by Silicon Valley congresswoman Anna Eshoo. As currently drafted, the bill would establish…

  • An inventory of federal broadband assets, and any broadband asset information voluntarily provided by state or local governments.
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Next steps to watch in Frontier's takeover of Verizon systems

6 December 2015 by Steve Blum
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It’ll all turn blue shortly. Click for the full-sized version.

It’ll be three or four months before Verizon formally hands Frontier Communications the keys to its wireline telephone systems in California (and Florida and Texas). On Thursday, the California Public Utilities Commission unanimously approved both the sale and a long list of conditions the two companies have to meet. That was the last significant regulatory hurdle for the deal. Texas said yes, Florida doesn’t review such things and the federal government also gave its blessing.… More

No clear winner in net neutrality appeal argument

5 December 2015 by Steve Blum
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Network neutrality rules, adopted by the Federal Communications Commission earlier this year, were examined yesterday by a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. Both sides – the FCC and its allies that favor tighter regulation of Internet service providers, and telecommunications companies of all technological flavors that do not – came out of the session with upbeat assessments of whether the three-judge panel would buy their arguments.

According to an article in Ars Technica, the judges seemed amenable to the idea that the FCC can subject residential broadband to common carrier rules but more skeptical about whether those same rules may be applied to mobile services or interconnection agreements between companies…

“The argument started off in a way that we took to be quite hopeful,” according to attorney Kevin Russell, who is representing consumer advocacy groups and other interveners who support the FCC’s rules…

Appeals Court Judge David Tatel “ask[ed] the challengers whether the Supreme Court hadn’t already decided most of the case in a prior decision called Brand X, which he suggested was best read to say that the commission gets broad authority to decide how best to classify these kinds of services,” Russell said…

Potential problem areas for net neutrality proponents include the FCC’s assertion of authority over interconnection disputes, the application of net neutrality rules to mobile networks, and questions about whether the FCC provided the public enough notice before enacting its rules.

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Big fine for back room conversations with CPUC

4 December 2015 by Steve Blum
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That’s one hell of a dinner tab.

Talking to the wrong person at the wrong time at the California Public Utilities Commission can be very expensive. Yesterday the CPUC imposed a $17 million fine on Southern California Edison (SCE) for, among other things, not reporting private conversations with former CPUC president Michael Peevey and current commissioner Mike Florio, nor an email sent to all five commissioners.

Under state law and CPUC rules, anyone who’s involved in particular kinds of business with the commission is required to file a formal report of any private conversation or other exchange – known as ex parte communications – with a commissioner or top level staff.… More

Frontier gets permission to buy Verizon's California wireline systems

3 December 2015 by Steve Blum
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On a unanimous vote, the California Public Utilities Commission approved the sale of Verizon’s wireline telephone systems to Frontier Communications this morning. I’ll post the final version of the resolution when it’s available, but it’ll pretty much be this:

Proposed decision approving Frontier/Verizon deal, 2 December 2015 version
With the addition of these appendices

There might be other attachments to the final version. The deal is expected to close at the end of March.

Delay for open access to utility poles by mobile carriers in California

3 December 2015 by Steve Blum
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New rules that would allow mobile broadband companies to install cells and other equipment on utility poles under more or less the same terms and with the same access rights as telephone and cable companies have been delayed until at least next month. The change in policy – essentially giving mobile companies open access to utility poles – was on the California Public Utilities Commission’s agenda this morning, but it was pulled and rescheduled for the 15 January 2016 meeting at the request of commissioner Catherine Sandoval.… More