public policy

Next round looms in muni broadband preemption fight

22 November 2015 by Steve Blum
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Responses from the states of Tennessee and North Carolina to the Federal Communication Commission’s defence of its preemption of their restrictions on municipal broadband are due later this week. My expectation is that they’ll gloss over most of the counter arguments offered by the FCC and several other groups that support the preemption, and reiterate their core point, which is that states have the traditional right to set limits on how, what and where cities may offer service of any sort, and current telecoms law doesn’t say otherwise.… More

Middle mile plan plugs northern California gap but needs open access guarantee

19 November 2015 by Steve Blum
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Open access rules are only as strong as the weakest link.

Siskiyou Telephone Company is asking for a $5.8 million grant from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) to plug a 22-mile fiber gap between the Siskiyou County towns of Happy Camp and Somes Bar. The middle mile project would boost broadband capacity in the region by providing the last link in a fiber chain that runs from Eureka on the coast to Yreka on the I-5 corridor, according to the publicly posted project summary.… More

Intelligent management of broadband subsidies works

18 November 2015 by Steve Blum
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Each taking care of its own.

I had the opportunity to speak at the California Broadband Workshop in Mountain View yesterday, organised by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. Here are the remarks I prepared, which greatly resemble the remarks I delivered…

Good morning. I’d like to make three points.

First, public subsidies provide the greatest benefit to the greatest number when used to leverage private capital and steer it toward public policy goals. Publicly owned assets are a powerful tool for encouraging competitive builds and keeping public policy goals front and center.… More

Rural areas get biggest benefit from higher Californian broadband standard

17 November 2015 by Steve Blum
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Another try at raising California’s minimum broadband standard to 25 Mbps down/3 Mbps up, from the current 6 Mbps down/1.5 Mbps up level, is gathering momentum in Sacramento. Introduced earlier this year by Santa Cruz assemblyman Mark Stone, assembly bill 238 would have raised the bar both for eligibility requirements for California Advanced Service Fund (CASF) subsidies, and for the infrastructure that’s built using that money. It’s stalled now, due to unexpected opposition from rural interests as well as the usual suspects.… More

Broadband is on CPUC's short list for review of Charter deal

16 November 2015 by Steve Blum
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Charter bundles broadband. Why shouldn’t the CPUC?

The cost and availability of broadband in California will be a key factor in determining whether Charter Communications is allowed to buy Time Warner’s and Bright House Networks’ cable systems. That was the decision on Friday by the president of the California Public Utilities Commission, Michael Picker, as he set out the criteria and the schedule for deciding if the transaction will be approved.

On the surface, it is a far less ambitious review than the CPUC undertook of the now dead Comcast mega-merger and market swap with Time Warner and Charter.… More

FCC's argument against voter discretion is out of bounds

13 November 2015 by Steve Blum
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Voters don’t have to stick to the story you give them.

Local governments are not private businesses and are not managed as if they were. That simple fact of life seems to be bothering the Federal Communications Commission. In its defence of its preemption of state restrictions on municipal broadband systems, filed with a federal appeals court, the FCC points to commonplace public disclosure, debate and voting requirements imposed by North Carolina as attempts to regulate interstate commerce rather than govern municipalities…

These include a requirement that the city hold public hearings and a special election.

… More

CPUC approval of Frontier-Verizon deal dodges broadband jurisdiction

11 November 2015 by Steve Blum
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Many Californians say there’s no shame in being a Dodger. Or so I’ve been told.

The tentative CPUC ruling approving Frontier Communication’s purchase of Verizon’s wireline systems in California avoids claiming any authority to regulate broadband service. Instead, the proposed decision drafted by a California Public Utilities Commission administrative law judge relies on time-tested public interest criteria, plain old telephone regulatory powers and a set of private agreements between Frontier and a long list of advocacy groups.… More

Federal justice department won't defend muni broadband preemption

10 November 2015 by Steve Blum
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Out on a limb.

Municipal broadband advocates aren’t getting any help from the federal justice department. In a one line letter filed with a federal appeals court last week, the justice department wrote “respondent United States of America takes no position” in the dispute between the Federal Communications Commission and the states of Tennessee and North Carolina over whether state restrictions on muni broadband can be preempted by the FCC.

According to a Washington Post story (h/t to the Baller Herbst list for the pointer), the likeliest explanation is that the FCC is fighting a losing battle…

The Justice Department said Friday that it won’t be helping the Federal Communications Commission fight a couple of key lawsuits on municipal broadband, in a possible indication of trouble ahead for the FCC…

It’s not unheard of for the Justice Department to bow out of a case involving a federal agency.

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Frontier must upgrade broadband for 800,000 Californians in order to buy Verizon systems

9 November 2015 by Steve Blum
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Frontier will have a lot of Verizon mess to clean up.

Frontier Communications will be able to buy Verizon’s wireline systems in California, if it almost doubles the number of homes and businesses that will get new or upgraded broadband service, and if the California Public Utilities Commission votes yes on the proposed decision approving the deal drafted by administrative law judge Karl Bemesderfer and released on Friday.

Relying on a stack of agreements between Frontier and various advocacy groups and the CPUC’s office of ratepayer advocates, an opinion by the state attorney general that the deal “will not adversely impact competition”, and evidence gathered during the several months the sale has been under review, Bemesderfer’s proposed decision would find that it meets the requirements of California public utilities law.… More

California mountain community requests $759K for FTTH

8 November 2015 by Steve Blum
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Click for the big picture.

A fiber to the home project in the Tahoe Basin in eastern Placer County has been proposed for a construction subsidy from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF). Submitted by Inyo Networks – one of the companies involved in the Digital 395 network in eastern California – the grant application asks for $759,000, which is 70% of the total $1.1 million project cost…

The proposed Alpine Peaks Broadband Project will serve a designated “Priority Area” community in the Upper Ward Canyon area of eastern Placer County.

… More