public policy – Page 171 – Steve Blum's Blog

Ponderosa broadband subsidy proposal ducks middle mile responsibilities

20 November 2013 by Steve Blum
broadband, casf, cpuc, middle mile, ponderosa telephone, public policy

Quacks like a middle mile project.

A draft resolution approving a $1 million California Advanced Services Fund grant for a DSL upgrade in the small mountain community of Cressman in Fresno County was posted on the California Public Utilities Commission website yesterday. Proposed by Ponderosa Telephone Company, the project has middle mile fiber and a middle mile price tag, but doesn’t offer middle mile access.

The cost per household is $8,900, making it the second most costly project so far in the current round of CASF subsidy applications.… More

Rural broadband alternatives remain under the radar in farm bill negotiatons

19 November 2013 by Steve Blum
broadband, community networks, farm bill, public policy, RUS

The cloaking device seems to be working.

Rural development subsidies, including broadband construction programs, do not seem to be among the hot button issues as the debate in Washington continues over the trillion-dollar farm and welfare package known as the farm bill.

There are major differences between the broadband subsidies approved earlier this year by the republican controlled house and the democrat controlled senate. The house version more or less continues the current program, maintaining the focus on loans and keeping it at $25 million per year.… More

Santa Cruz mayor's keynote surf challenge caps inaugural Civinomicon

18 November 2013 by Steve Blum
civinomics, public policy, santa cruz

The Santa Cruz style of leadership.

Civinomicon was a weekend of interesting conversation about making Santa Cruz a better place, punctuated by comments from speakers who actually have that goal in their job descriptions.

Santa Cruz County treasurer Fred Keeley, supervisor Zach Friend and Santa Cruz mayor Hilary Bryant keynoted last Friday, Saturday and Sunday respectively.

“We were having a discussion about economic development and the ideas started flying. The conversation was magical,” said Bryant, who also participated in the interest group sessions.… More

Prospective microtrenching is one more tool in the muni broadband kit

15 November 2013 by Steve Blum
broadband, community networks, microtrenching, open trench, public policy

Measuring the benefit.

The idea behind open trench and shadow conduit policies is that you can minimise damage to roads and maximise the future benefit of fiber by doing everything at once, rather than tearing up pavement whenever a project comes along. Even if you don’t need the conduit right away, the small marginal cost of putting conduit into an open trench could be offset just by the money saved on road maintenance.

A rule of thumb is that cutting into a street reduces its remaining lifespan by 10%.… More

CPUC takes more time on broadband subsidy limits

13 November 2013 by Steve Blum
broadband, casf, cpuc, ponderosa telephone, public policy, race telecommunications

I can explain that…

The California Public Utilities Commission is again bumping a decision on a particularly expensive broadband subsidy request for another two weeks. Commissioner Michel Florio pulled the $1.8 million grant proposal made by the Ponderosa Telephone Company for a Madera County fiber-to-the-home project from tomorrow’s commission agenda. As is customary practice, no reason was given, but it’s the second time this application has been put on hold.

It’s easy to spot what sets this California Advanced Services Fund application apart from the ten others that commissioners have approved without discussion in the past couple months: the amount of money they would be spending on each household in the proposed service area.… More

LA isn't playing with a full broadband deck

11 November 2013 by Steve Blum
broadband, community networks, ftth, LA, los angeles, public policy

Last week the LA city council endorsed a plan, written by the city’s IT chief, Steve Reneker, and sponsored by freshman councilman Bob Blumenfield to entice private investors into providing ubiquitous broadband coverage to 3.8 million people over nearly 500 square miles.

The city isn’t offering much, though. A ten year deal to handle some of the city’s internal IT and telecoms business is a possibility. So is access to relatively minor city assets – light poles and buildings were mentioned – and maybe a break on permit and approval fees.… More

Golden Bear versus everyone else in Californian broadband subsidy competition

10 November 2013 by Steve Blum
broadband, casf, cpuc, golden bear, public policy

Pondering options as the game dwindles away.

Counting just the money that’ll be available over the next couple of years, there’s about $107 million left in the CASF grant kitty, give or take. The remaining grant applications total $178 million, making it likely that some will be denied or drastically reduced. One proposal – the Golden Bear middle mile project in the northern end of the state – accounts for $119 million of that, which leads to three possible scenarios…

Most or all of the fourteen other pending projects, totalling $59 million, will be funded, likely leaving too little for Golden Bear to be viable.

… More

Solving transportation problems with broadband investment logic

9 November 2013 by Steve Blum
infrastructure, public policy

The meter is running.

There are two fundamentally different choices for financing infrastructure projects in California: public money or private investment. Private ownership predominates in the telecoms and energy sectors. Water is a mix of both, although the big ticket projects are primarily publicly owned. Roads are nearly all taxpayer-funded and managed by government agencies.

An accumulating backlog of deferred maintenance on publicly owned infrastructure – one estimate puts it in the $800 billion range – grabbed the attention of participants at the second annual California Economic Summit, held this week in Los Angeles.… More

Clearing the way for better infrastructure in California

8 November 2013 by Steve Blum
caeconomy, digital 395, infrastructure, public policy, sdge

It costs more here.

California’s infrastructure was “designed for 25 million people”, state treasurer Bill Lockyer told an opening breakout session at the California Economic Summit in Los Angeles. The problem, he said, is that California will have 50 millon people before there’s a fix in place.

The focus was on roads and water – publicly funded projects – but it’s equally true for infrastructure that’s supported by private capital, such as telecommunications and energy.

That conversation was mostly about ways to funnel more tax dollars towards road maintenance and construction but as the conference moved on, the cost side of the equation took center stage.… More

CPUC faces a decision on broadband subsidy limits

7 November 2013 by Steve Blum
broadband, casf, cpuc, ftth, ponderosa telephone, public policy, race telecommunications, willitsonline

Broadband construction subsidies are averaging $2,200 per household, as the California Public Utilities Commission works through the current round of proposals submitted for California Advanced Services Fund grants. Nine applications for last mile projects have been approved so far, with an estimated reach of 9,700 homes and totalling $21 million.

CASF approved projects, as of 31 October 2013.

The most money – $3,800 per household passed – is going to an FTTH project in the high desert town of Boron.… More