public policy – Page 173 – Steve Blum's Blog

Rural broadband on the table as farm bill negotiations resume

27 October 2013 by Steve Blum
broadband, farm bill, public policy, RUS

Talks resume in Washington this week.

The future of rural broadband subsidies in the U.S. could be decided at a meeting, currently scheduled for Wednesday, between senators and members of the house of representatives in Washington. The house and senate have passed two very different versions of a bill to reauthorise a trillion dollars worth of farm-related programs. Broadband spending amounts to a small fraction of the total, in either version, so the main attention will be on the big money issues, like food stamps, crop insurance and direct farm subsidies.… More

AT&T warns of the danger of building monopoly fiber networks

24 October 2013 by Steve Blum
att, broadband, casf, fcc, public policy, santa cruz

I’m shocked, shocked to find subsidised monopolies here.

AT&T has issued an open warning about the dangers of giving public subsidies to an organization, in this case a school or library, to build its own dark fiber network…

If private fiber networks are deployed only to serve certain select locations…they will risk becoming islands of connectivity in a sea of inadequate broadband…If E-rate [federal subsidies for educational sector broadband] is to be used to deploy networks, then it will only be cost effective for the country if the funds are used by telecom providers to build publicly available networks in communities that lack adequate broadband today.

… More

Santa Cruz County broadband policy initiative becomes a model for California

22 October 2013 by Steve Blum
att, broadband, cetf, public policy, santa cruz, valley vision

Santa Cruz innovation gains traction in California.

The effort to clear obstacles to better broadband infrastructure in Santa Cruz County was widely praised by local elected officials and telecoms company representatives from across California, at a two day conference in Sacramento last week, organised by the California Emerging Technology Fund and Valley Vision.

“It’s a very effective process”, said Marc Blakeman, an AT&T staff lobbyist who spoke to the eighty-plus people in attendance. As the roundtable discussion turned to local challenges in other parts of the state, elected leaders repeatedly cited Santa Cruz County’s broadband infrastructure policy as a model to follow.… More

Cut Californian red tape to connect Californians

21 October 2013 by Steve Blum
broadband, casf, cetf, digital 395, public policy, valley vision

“California needs to stop pursuing its own regulatory agenda”, said Rob Volker, CEO of the California Broadband Cooperative, the organisation that will operate the Digital 395 middle mile system. Getting approvals from dozens of agency – federal, state, local, tribal – consumed two out of the three years that were scheduled and budgeted to complete the project, driving the price up by $25 million. $10 to $11 million of that extra cost will come out of the California Advanced Services Fund, which might otherwise might have gone towards new broadband infrastructure elsewhere in the state.… More

Broadband incumbents and local leaders see similar broadband challenge in California

20 October 2013 by Steve Blum
att, broadband, cetf, comcast, public policy, valley vision

You have to bury the lie before you can bury fiber.

Hundreds of thousands of Californian homes do not have access to modern broadband service. Building infrastructure to reach them is a priority for industry, and local and state government. There was wide agreement on both points at a conference held in Sacramento that brought together elected officials and broadband professionals from every corner of California.

The event was organised by the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF), with the assistance of Valley Vision, the lead organisation in the Connected Capital Area Broadband Consortium.… More

Two big projects awarded construction subsidies by CPUC

18 October 2013 by Steve Blum
broadband, casf, cpuc, ftth, public policy, race telecommunications

Meeting in Redding yesterday, the California Public Utilities Commission approved requests for a total of $19 million in grants from the California Advanced Services Fund for two projects, one on the far northern coast and the other in the Tehachapi mountains of southern California.
Race Telecommunications received $12.6 million to build a fiber-to-the-home system in the Tehachapi pass area of Kern County. The Karuk and Yurok tribes received $6.6 million for a combination middle and last mile project in Humboldt County.… More

California broadband map opened to comments from customers

17 October 2013 by Steve Blum
broadband, casf, cpuc, public policy

Not a lot of choice, but there’s room for a brief comment at the end.

If you don’t think your broadband provider is telling the truth, or if just want to say how happy you are with the service you’re getting, you can now add your comments to the California Broadband Availability map, published by the California Public Utilities Commission.

Initially restricted to regional broadband consortia, the public comment feature of the CPUC’s map is now open to anyone.… More

Verizon throws three more broadband subsidy tantrums

14 October 2013 by Steve Blum
boonville, boron, broadband, casf, community networks, cpuc, public policy, race telecommunications, verizon, westport

Can you hear me now?

To get a broadband construction subsidy from the California Advanced Services Fund (CPUC), you have to show that the area where you want to build is at least underserved, as defined by the California Public Utilities Commission speed standard of 6 Mbps down and 1.5 Mbps up. Incumbent carriers are then given a chance to prove you wrong.

In the current round of CASF grant and loan applications, submitted last February, some projects – particularly Golden Bear in north California and ViaSat all over the map – drew protests from a wide range of providers.… More

Supreme Court clears way for lower fees, easier access to utility poles

9 October 2013 by Steve Blum
broadband, public policy, wireless

More competition for the communications zone.

A standard attachment fee of $7 per foot of vertical space and permission for wireless companies to install equipment on utility poles was blessed Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court. It declined to hear an appeal from a broad group of electric utilities that objected to new pole attachment rules adopted by the FCC in 2011.

The electric utilities claimed that the FCC and the lower appeals court that heard the case misinterpreted federal law, with the result…

The FCC’s one-sided regulation of the century-old ‘joint use’ or ‘joint ownership’ relationship will upset well established private contractual relationships to the unfair benefit of ILECs and the enormous detriment of the electric utility industry.

… More

No quick changes for Californian broadband subsidy program

7 October 2013 by Steve Blum
ab1299, broadband, casf, community networks, cpuc, public policy, sb740

Glaciers are slow, but reliably arrive.

Because it was tagged as urgency legislation and then approved by a two-thirds vote of the California legislature, senate bill 740 took effect the moment it was signed by Governor Brown. Even so, don’t expect any immediate changes to the way the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) is managed or broadband construction subsidies are given out.

Eleven months ago, the California Public Utilities Commission began the lengthy process of changing CASF eligibility rules, under the assumption that the legislature would allow it.… More