public policy – Page 7 – Steve Blum's Blog

California broadband subsidy bill goes from farce to tragedy as Big Telecom gets right of the first night

13 August 2020 by Steve Blum
ab570, casf, public policy, rural broadband, sb1130

To ensure that money from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) doesn’t go to independent Internet service providers who might loosen cable’s and telco’s monopoly/duopoly grip on Californians’ broadband access, the newly amended assembly bill 570 gives incumbents a right of first refusal over any subsidised broadband infrastructure project proposed by anyone in their footprints.

A small tweak to the bill’s language gives cable and telephone companies a huge competitive advantage over independent ISPs. Current rules define grant eligibility on the basis of the infrastructure and service that’s available right now.… More

Net neutrality returns to California, in law and in court

12 August 2020 by Steve Blum
fcc, netneutrality, public policy, sb822

Once again, network neutrality is law of the land in California, although there’s not much practical effect yet. Two years ago, the California legislature passed and governor Jerry Brown signed senate bill 822, authored by Scott Wiener (D – San Francisco). It bans blocking, throttling and paid prioritisation of Internet traffic on the basis of content, including specifically zero rating in-house content, as AT&T and other wireless carriers do.

The Trump administration and lobbying fronts for major telecoms companies immediately filed a challenge in a Sacramento federal court.… More

Taxing a dying business and giving the money to Big Telecoms’ friends won’t get kids to school

11 August 2020 by Steve Blum
ab570, casf, public policy, rural broadband, sb1130

California’s broadband infrastructure subsidy program is about to run out of money. With $145 million left in the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) under current assumptions, and $533 million in pending project proposals, it’s likely to go dry this year, even as schools go completely online.

The problem isn’t the 2022 end of the program’s funding mechanism, as one bill sitting in the California legislature claims. Assembly bill 570 is ghostwritten by the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF), an incumbent-funded and advised non-profit, and carried by assemblywoman Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D – Yolo), who is also well paid by AT&T, cable companies and other industry interests.… More

Cable companies can’t cherry pick “wealthy customers” but they can compete with rural telcos, CPUC decides

10 August 2020 by Steve Blum
cpuc, monopoly, public policy, rlec, rural broadband

Cable companies and other “competitive local exchange carriers” (CLEC) will be able to offer telephone service in (mostly) rural areas of California formerly reserved for small, independent telephone companies. The California Public Utilities Commission voted on Thursday to open up rural local exchange carrier (RLEC) territories to wireline voice competition. There were no changes to the first draft of the new rules proposed by commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves last month.

That permission comes with much needed strings attached, Guzman Aceves said…

It’s a little of an ironic position for me knowing that many of the carriers that want to compete in these rural territories often are some of the major barriers of competition elsewhere.

… More

CPUC puts muni ownership option on the table, asks tough questions about Frontier’s bankruptcy plan

6 August 2020 by Steve Blum
casf, cpuc, frontiercommunications, public policy, rural broadband

Frontier Communications didn’t get a bankruptcy fast pass from the California Public Utilities Commission. Instead, a ruling yesterday by commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves sets out a long list of issues that Frontier must address before its bankruptcy exit plan is approved by the CPUC, including its impact on customers and communities, and the role of local government in providing telecoms services.

A key question is whether the CPUC “should require that local or tribal governments have a right of first offer or a right of first refusal regarding any transfer or disposal of [Frontier’s] assets”.… More

Frontier says bankruptcy won’t change California service quality. CPUC must decide if that’s good news

5 August 2020 by Steve Blum
casf, cpuc, frontiercommunications, public policy, rural broadband

Frontier Communications wants the California Public Utilities Commission to blindly bless its bankruptcy exit plan. Yesterday, it filed statements from two executives who argued that the financial restructuring and resulting change in ownership won’t have any effect on the more than two million Californians in its footprint.

“Service quality will at least be maintained”, Frontier’s head of lobbying and lawyering, Mark Nielsen said. That’s because “the restructuring will not alter Frontier’s day-to-day opertions”.

Yes, “opertions”.… More

Two broadband subsidy bills face California legislators. One walks away, the other limps

4 August 2020 by Steve Blum
ab570, casf, public policy, rural broadband, sb1130

Both of the active broadband bills in the California legislature survived committee hearings yesterday. The bill with higher broadband standards passed without changes. Slower speed standards in a rival, pork-stuffed measure were sharply criticised. It has to overcome double barrelled skepticism before it moves much further.

Senate bill 1130, authored by senator Lena Gonzalez (D – Los Angeles), would raise California’s minimum broadband standard to symmetrical 25 Mbps download/25 Mbps upload speeds. The assembly communications and conveyances committee approved it as presented.… More

Dueling broadband bills face off in California legislature today

3 August 2020 by Steve Blum
ab570, casf, public policy, rural broadband, sb1130

Clint

Fast, reliable, future-proof broadband gets a hearing this morning as the California assembly’s communications and conveyances committee (C&C) takes up senate bill 1130. A competing measure – assembly bill 570 – which would lock rural Californians into 1990s DSL technology for another decade or two, will be heard by the senate’s energy, utilities and communications committee (EU&C) this afternoon.

So far, there’s no indication of legislative pushback on SB 1130, which is authored by senator Lena Gonzalez (D – Los Angeles).… More

Symmetrical 25 Mbps broadband standard back on track in California assembly

30 July 2020 by Steve Blum
casf, public policy, rural broadband, sb1130, sb431

Funding for fast, reliable broadband service for all Californians gets a hearing on Monday in the California assembly. Senate bill 1130 was supposed to heard by the communications and conveyances committee this week, but was delayed by a political turf war between assembly and senate leadership.

SB 1130 pegs symmetrical 25 Mbps download/25 Mbps upload speeds as California’s residential broadband standard. It’s not a promise of full fiber-based service, but it’s close. Light years closer than the ridiculous 6 Mbps down/1 Mbps minimum that California suffers from now, and that a rival measure pushed by cable and telephone companies would bake into law.… More

Telcos, cable delete fiber, add more pork to rival broadband subsidy bill in California legislature

29 July 2020 by Steve Blum
ab570, casf, public policy, rural broadband, sb1130

Frontier Communications grabs a bankruptcy bailout and cable companies get subsidies to reach high income homes in the latest version of assembly bill 570, posted on the California legislature’s website on Monday. It’s big telecom’s alternative to senate bill 1130, which would raise California’s minimum broadband standard to symmetrical 25 Mbps fiber-ish speeds.

AB 570 is authored by assemblywoman Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D – Yolo). Through the end of last year, she collected $83,000 from companies in the communications and electronics sector, including $24,000 from AT&T and $12,000 from Comcast, Charter Communications and other cable companies, according to the FollowTheMoney.org… More