public policy

FCC needs to recognise that paying for knowledge isn't the same as buying service

26 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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Negative results can be a positive benefit.

Thirty-seven companies and other organisations were on the list of winning bidders vying to take part in the FCC’s rural broadband experiments. Of those, six are already off the list because they “either withdrew from consideration for rural broadband experiments funding or did not submit the required information by the Friday, December 19 deadline”, according to the FCC.

Another 15 have asked the FCC to waive some of the rules, in particular one that requires certification of technical plans by a professional engineer and another that asks for audited financial statements.… More

Obama promotes Internet to infrastructure, skips community broadband details

21 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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Some Christmas trees actually have fiber.

The five point plan to promote community broadband announced by U.S. president Barack Obama last week was billed as a prelude to last night’s state of the union address. But he didn’t specifically mention it.

More importantly though, what Obama did in his speech is lump broadband in with traditional infrastructure projects…

Twenty-first century businesses need 21st century infrastructure — modern ports, and stronger bridges, faster trains and the fastest Internet.

… More

U.S. supreme court avoids ruling on limits of federal authority over state and local broadband rules, for now

20 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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When your name is Roswell, reality can be subjective.

The U.S. supreme court declined to wade any deeper into the question of how much leeway local governments have to block installation of cellular towers and equipment. In a decision last week regarding a dispute between T-Mobile and Roswell, Georgia, the court ruled very narrowly in T-Mobile’s favor, saying the city didn’t give its reasons for denying a tower permit soon enough.

Federal telecoms law requires local agencies to give a reason when a tower permit application is rejected, in order to provide a basis for the courts to review the decision if there’s an appeal.… More

President Obama’s community broadband initiative follows Santa Cruz’s path

19 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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Broadband competition makes local businesses competitive.

It looks like Santa Cruz County is on the White House’s invitation list for a community broadband summit planned for June. President Barack Obama pledged to support the Next Century Cities coalition – the county is a charter member – in a speech last week. He promised to meet with mayors and county supervisors from the coalition to talk about how to better develop broadband infrastructure and service at the local level.… More

New CPUC president emphasises openness and safety at first meeting

16 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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Michael Picker set out his goals for as president of the California Public Utilities Commission yesterday, as he opened the first meeting of his term.

“We regulate the industries that build and maintain the services that are key to our daily lives and prosperity: electricity, natural gas telecommunications, rail and transportation and water”, he said. “Over the years we’ve served the citizens of the State of California by making sure that the utilities who provide those services and build the infrastructure use their economic power – that’s our central reason for being – for our benefit and safety”.… More

Municipal broadband development is a local job, with or without presidential backing

15 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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Good words, but no new money.

Community-based broadband networks got a ringing endorsement from U.S. president Barack Obama yesterday. You can watch the speech here, or read the transcript prepared by the white house press office.

The question now is whether the speech kicked off a serious policy initiative or just served as the headline issue of the day. It’s very possible this speech or the upcoming state of the union address will be the last we’ll hear about community broadband from the president until he holds a promised summit meeting with mayors and county supervisors in June, which is 1 of the 5 action items that the white house published on Tuesday and Obama reiterated yesterday.… More

Obama criticises lack of broadband competition in Iowa speech

14 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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U.S. president Barack Obama just wrapped up a 20 minute speech that focused on community broadband. He pretty much stuck to the talking points released by the white house yesterday. He talked about tens of millions of U.S. homes that only have 1 high speed ISP available, if they have options any at all, putting them “at the whim of whatever broadband provider is around”. Obama’s solution is to offer cities technical assistance, implement previously approved rural broadband grant and loan programs, ask the FCC to preempt state restrictions on municipal broadband and telling federal agencies to get rid of unnecessary regulations.

Obama endorses community broadband, tells agencies to support it

14 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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Click for the full report.

U.S. president Barack Obama plans to use his bully pulpit today to help advance the cause of community broadband. Yesterday afternoon, the white house released a 5 point program to boost local broadband speeds and “support economic growth”, including…

  • Ending state laws that “harm broadband service competition”.
  • Focusing on local leaders, including holding a local broadband summit at the white house in June.
  • Tasking the commerce department with providing technical assistance to local communities that want to develop broadband systems.
… More

Community broadband gets presidential endorsement when Obama speaks in Iowa tomorrow

13 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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Ahead of a speech tomorrow by U.S. president Barack Obama, the white house released a ringing endorsement of community broadband this afternoon, and promised at least administrative and political support for local government efforts to build broadband networks (h/t to Gladys Palpallatoc at CETF for the timely tweet). No new money for construction was include or, indeed, anything that would require the cooperation of the republican majority in congress. But direction to the commerce and agriculture departments to assist local broadband projects will be heard, as will a request to the FCC – which has a democratic majority – to override state restrictions on what local governments will do.… More

Don't expect congress to bust local broadband barriers

12 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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The 1996 telecommunications act is the basic law that governs broadband, telephone and other communication technologies in the U.S. It was written in the days of dial-up Internet access, and didn’t do a good job of anticipating the broadband industry of the twenty first century. So there’s an effort underway in congress – the house of representatives, particularly – to rewrite it.

Legacy barriers to access poles and conduit should be one of the major changes, if and when the 1996 act is rewritten, according to Staci Pies, Google’s senior policy counsel.… More