public policy

No consensus on public property lease rates, but FCC committee moves ahead anyway

24 August 2018 by Steve Blum
, , ,

Telecoms companies and local government representatives didn’t agree on how lease rates for assets such as street light poles should be set, but at least they were able to articulately lay out their positions and identify what they do agree on. The Federal Communications Commission’s broadband deployment advisory committee received a draft report last month that looked at how fees and rental rates are set. It was produced by a sub committee that had two members from local agencies, plus a municipal lobbyist and a state government representative.… More

Net neutrality revival heads to a California assembly vote

23 August 2018 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

Two bills aimed at restoring network neutrality in California made it through a previous legislative road block yesterday. The California assembly’s communications and conveyances committee approved senate bills 822 and 460 on party line votes, with all net neutrality rules intact.

Most of the discussion yesterday was about zero rating and interconnection agreements. Lobbyists for AT&T, mobile carriers and Comcast’s and Charter Communications’ front organisation led the opposition to the bills. They didn’t like any of it, but they particularly objected to a ban on deals between ISPs and web companies that do an end run around net neutrality rules, and to restrictions on zero rating.… More

California assembly committee gets a net neutrality do over today

22 August 2018 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

California’s network neutrality revival is queued up for a key committee hearing this afternoon, with another one scheduled for tomorrow. Senate bills 822 and 460 are on the agenda – the only items on the agenda – of the California assembly’s communications and conveyances committee at 1:30 p.m.

That’s the same committee that gutted SB 822 in June. Its chairman, assemblyman Miguel Santiago (D – Los Angeles), had a change of heart after withering attacks from the online community and appeals – aka a stern talking to – from state and national democratic party leaders.… More

FCC net neutrality repeal was arbitrary, capricious and weird, federal appeals court told

21 August 2018 by Steve Blum
, ,

The Federal Communications Commission ignored facts and the law when it voted to repeal network neutrality rules late last year. That’s the case that two coalitions made to a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. yesterday.

A group led by Mozilla that includes a wide range of for profit companies and non-profit organisations made the key point that broadband is a telecommunications service, and not an unregulated information service, as the FCC’s tortured logic claimed…

The law defines “telecommunications” as the transmission of information between points specified by the user without change in the information’s form or content.

… More

CPUC should follow New York’s lead, hold Charter to obligations

17 August 2018 by Steve Blum
, , ,

The California Public Utilities Commission imposed a long list of obligations on Charter Communications, when it granted permission for the purchase of Californian cable systems belonging to Time Warner and Bright House in 2016. Some of those requirements mirror the conditions that the New York Public Services Commission attached to its approval of the deal.

Unlike the NYPSC, however, the CPUC has not demanded public accountability from Charter. New York regulators nipped at Charter’s heels since the acquisition closed, and then revoked permission and ordered Charter to reverse the sale and give up its New York markets because “the company was not interested in being a good corporate citizen”.… More

Performance, not weasel words, should drive California broadband subsidies

16 August 2018 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

The reboot of the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) broadband infrastructure subsidy program continues, with a new round of comments and suggestions landing at the California Public Utilities Commission.

I drafted the Central Coast Broadband Consortium’s filing. One issue that the CPUC should consider very carefully is what qualifies as a bona fide service offer.

When the California legislature allowed lobbyists for AT&T, Frontier Communications, Comcast and Charter Communications to rewrite the law and turn CASF into their own, private piggy bank, the minimum broadband standard was lowered to 6 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload speeds.… More

CPUC won’t kill SCE’s dark fiber business. Yet

15 August 2018 by Steve Blum
, , ,

Southern California Edison fought its dark fiber battle to a draw, but all out war looms on the horizon. That’s my reading of a proposed decision by a California Public Utilties Commission administrative law judge that would end SCE’s quest for approval of a bulk fiber lease deal with Verizon, if the commission votes to approve it next month.

SCE, like other electric utilities in California, installed fiber optic cables on its pole routes, initially to monitor and operate its infrastructure.… More

New York says Charter is “just lining its pockets”, revokes Time Warner purchase

13 August 2018 by Steve Blum
, ,

The New York state public service commission started the process of unwinding Charter Communications’ purchase of Time Warner Cable systems, in a decision issued on 27 July 2018. The NYPSC says Charter is evading its responsibility to extend its infrastructure and upgrade its service, particularly in rural areas. Those obligations were imposed when the NYPSC gave its blessing to the acquisition.

According to the NYPSC, Charter’s sins include…

  • The company’s repeated failures to meet deadlines;
  • Charter’s attempts to skirt obligations to serve rural communities;
  • Unsafe practices in the field;
  • Its failure to fully commit to its obligations under the 2016 merger agreement; and
  • The company’s purposeful obfuscation of its performance and compliance obligations to the Commission and its customers.
… More

Frontier knows how to game the broadband subsidy system, and that’s OK CPUC says

12 August 2018 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

The California Public Utilities Commission has decided that broadband subsidy proposals can be challenged almost forever, instead of right up until the moment commissioners vote, as it has allowed in the past. It rejected an appeal of a 2017 grant by a wireless Internet service provider in Trinity County, Velocity Communications, ruling that once a draft decision is issued, ISPs can’t submit speed test data that purports to show that the area in question is “served” and thus ineligible for a California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) grant.… More