public policy

Benicia fiber deal puts industrial broadband plan into action


Click for the full presentation.

The City of Benicia is working with Lit San Leandro LLC (LSL) to bring a gigabit-class fiber network to the Benicia Industrial Park and the adjacent Arsenal area. That’s the top line from a status report I gave to the Benicia City Council this evening.

Benicia issued a request for proposals last year, asking interested service providers to submit ideas for delivering industrial and commercial-grade broadband service. Among the resources the City put on the table was $750,000.… More

Only telephone companies can take part in rural broadband experiments


Eligible areas in the California, per the CPUC (click to get a bigger map).

The FCC today released the full details on the rural broadband experiments approved by the commission on Friday. Of legal necessity, the program is limited to regulated telephone companies, although independent ISPs can either partner with one or go through the process to become one.

Eligibility is pretty much what was expected, with one new twist. The money can only be given to “Eligible Telecommunications Carriers” (ETCs) and projects have to include voice service and meet all the rules that pertain to it.… More

Wheeler's "breeze" blows hot air

13 July 2014 by Steve Blum
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What – me worry?

Fierce Online Video ran a great article by Samantha Bookman comparing a cheerleading editorial in the Wall Street Journal by FCC chairman Tom Wheeler with a much more pessimistic view of future that came from a broad canvassing of Internet experts by Pew Research. According to the article, Wheeler, a former lead lobbyist for both the mobile phone and cable television industries, wrote…

“In the not-too-distant future, wireless communications will connect not just everyone, but everything.

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Expert opinion: Internet companies play the cards as dealt, dammit

11 July 2014 by Steve Blum
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Pew Research asked more than 1,400 people it considers to be experts in Internet philosophy about what they think the future holds. The businesses that built the Internet are killing it, they said…

While there is no one definition of Net neutrality, it is generally expressed as the idea that the best public network should be operated in such a way as to treat all senders and receivers of content as equally as is technologically possible while maintaining information flows well.

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Oops, U.S. supreme court kills cable TV industry

10 July 2014 by Steve Blum
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On the other hand, cable still has a fistful of dollars.

Well. That didn’t take long. Barely a fortnight after the U.S. supreme court ruled that Aereo “looks-like-cable-TV” so it must be treated like cable TV (in dissenting justice Antonin Scalia’s phrase), Aero has told a federal trial court judge, OK, we’re cable TV…

The Supreme Court’s holding that Aereo is a cable system under the Copyright Act is significant because, as a cable system, Aereo is now entitled to the benefits of the copyright statutory license pursuant to the Copyright Act…Aereo is proceeding to file the necessary statements of account and royalty fees.

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Californians with better Internet infrastructure have a better life, and vice versa

9 July 2014 by Steve Blum
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Bling is no substitute for bandwidth.

Statewide quantitative research done by the Field Poll on behalf of the California Emerging Technology Fund shows that most Californian adults – 86% – use the Internet “at least occasionally”. Most – 75% – have some kind of Internet access at home. But the way they access the Internet at home is also a good predictor of mainstream status.

Nearly all adults between 18 and 29, or with a college degree, or making $60,000 a year or better have Internet access at home.… More

No progress made in closing California's digital divide

8 July 2014 by Steve Blum
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If you’re a Californian who’s college age or even just a twenty-something, or you’re any age at all and you have a college degree, or if you’re making $60,000 or more a year, then it’s almost certain you’re on the Internet. If that’s not you, then not so much.

That’s the conclusion of a Field Poll conducted for the California Emerging Technology Fund that put some harder numbers on the digital divide here. The research, released today, showed that that core demographic groups – young, educated and/or making a reasonable living – are over the 95% mark in terms of Internet adoption.… More

Digital 395 fiber draws a last mile crowd in eastern California

Faster residential and business broadband service – including gigabit-class fiber-to-the-home service in some communities – is following in the wake of the Digital 395 project, an open access middle mile fiber link from Reno down through eastern California to Barstow. The California Public Utilities Commission just approved a $4.7 million grant proposed by Race Telecommunications to build FTTH systems in four small Mono County communities using the Digital 395 backbone.
The areas around Aspen Springs, Chalfant, Crowley Lake and Sunny Slopes should see upgraded service in the next couple of years.… More

FCC's E-rate program trading up to WiFi and a gig

7 July 2014 by Steve Blum
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By Jim Warner
Network engineer, U.C. Santa Cruz
Chair, Central Coast Broadband Consortium technical expert group

This is arguably a badly timed note about an FCC proposal due for decision on Friday, July 11. Any opportunity to comment – and have your comments count – ended months ago.

A year ago the commission put out a Notice of Proposed Rule Making that reviewed this history of changes to the E-rate program that provides about $2.3B/yr subsidies to educational uses of telecommunications services:

Click here for the NPRM

The big headline – when the rules come out – is that the FCC will be shifting the E-rate program to make Wi-Fi service ubiquitous in the nation’s schools.… More

Can Californian activism derail cable consolidation?

6 July 2014 by Steve Blum
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The California Public Utilities Commission might have something to say about the proposed Comcast/Time-Warner merger and the follow-on market swapping with Charter Communications. Most of the regulatory and legal approval focus has been on Washington, where the department of justice and the FCC are looking at issues such as compliance with anti-trust laws and the impact on the national broadband and television service markets. But according to an article in the Capitol Weekly, there’s an argument to be made that the CPUC has a major role to play too.… More