public policy – Page 9 – Steve Blum's Blog

Bill to beat down broadband subsidy program drops in California assembly

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

It was long expected. On Monday, assemblywoman Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D – Yolo) gutted an affordable housing bill and substituted text that would, if enacted, reaffirm that California’s broadband standard is stuck in the 1990s at 6 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload speeds, and make it even more difficult to use the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) to bring modern service to rural communities.

Assembly bill 570 is the cable and telephone industry’s response to senate bill 1130, which is carried by senator Lena Gonzalez (D – Los Angeles) and would raise California’s minimum broadband speed to a symmetrical 25 Mbps down and up.… More

FCC limits on cell site expansion permits challenged by California cities

26 June 2020 by Steve Blum
ab57, fcc, mobile broadband, public policy, wireless permitting

California cities are pushing back against the tighter limits on wireless infrastructure permit reviews that the Federal Communications Commission approved in a party line vote earlier this month. Three cities in Los Angeles County – Glendora, Rancho Palos Verde and Torrance – and the California and Oregon leagues of cities filed a challenge to the FCC’s ruling with the San Francisco-based ninth circuit federal appeals court.

The FCC ruling said cities, or other local agencies, can’t delay starting a 60-day federal shot clock and can’t add aesthetic requirements when granting permit for expansions or other additions to cell sites and towers, or other wireless facilities, so long as the changes are within certain limits.… More

Nearly all broadband subsidy proposals could survive California’s chopping block. Nearly

24 June 2020 by Steve Blum
ab1665, ab82, casf, public policy, rural broadband, sb1130

CASF funding status Part 3:

There won’t be enough money in the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) to pay for all the broadband projects proposed for subsidies last month. Grant requests total $533 million, but there’s only $145 million in tax revenue projected to be available for CASF infrastructure projects, as the program is designed and run now.

Something has to give. But not everything. One potential remedy is to top up project budgets with federal money.… More

California broadband subsidy fund dwindles to less than a third needed for pending projects

23 June 2020 by Steve Blum
ab1665, casf, public policy, rural broadband, sb1130

CASF funding status Part 2:

With only $145 million in collectable tax revenue left to spend on broadband infrastructure subsidies, the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) will run dry this year. Last month, 54 broadband projects totalling $533 million in grant requests were proposed for CASF funding. Many, if not all, will be trimmed and some will almost certainly be rejected completely.

My blog post yesterday details the $130 million shortfall in tax revenue collected for CASF – actual and projected – over the final five years of the program, assuming that the legislature doesn’t extend it or the California Public Utilities Commission can’t raise the tax rate applied to in-state phone bills that funds it.… More

California’s broadband upgrade fund could lose $120 million, after senate committee caps subsidy bill

22 June 2020 by Steve Blum
ab1665, casf, public policy, rural broadband, sb1130

CASF funding status Part 1:

The California senate’s appropriations committee slammed a hard limit on the amount of money the California Public Utilities Commission can collect from taxpayers to fund broadband infrastructure subsidies. If the cap becomes law, it will lead to a cut of about $120 million from money previously approved for expanding and upgrading broadband service in California, primarily in rural communities.

The amendments to senate bill 1130 – approved behind closed doors on Thursday – would remove the CPUC’s authority to increase the tax on telephone bills that’s collected for the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF).… More

Tight limits on local review of cell site expansions just got tighter, as FCC widens preemptions

15 June 2020 by Steve Blum
ab57, fcc, mobile broadband, public policy, wireless permitting

On a party line vote last week – republicans yes, democrats no – the Federal Communications Commission further preempted local government control over wireless facilities such as cell sites and towers. The ruling tightens enforcement of a 60-day shot clock for local permit approval of what it reckons to be minor modifications to a site. If time expires, the permit is "deemed granted. It also bans additional aesthetic requirements and widens a loophole that allows wireless companies to escape existing ones.… More

AT&T blows off net neutrality as it zero rates HBO Max

12 June 2020 by Steve Blum
att, fcc, netneutrality, public policy, sb822

AT&T is giving its HBO Max streaming service a free ride on its mobile broadband network. The bandwidth consumed by AT&T mobile customers while watching HBO Max programming won’t be counted against their monthly data caps. According to a story in The Verge by Nilay Patel, AT&T’s streaming competition won’t get the same zero rating treatment…

HBO Max, AT&T’s big bet on the future of streaming, will be excused from AT&T’s mobile data caps, while competing services like Netflix and Disney Plus will use up your data…

AT&T…confirmed to The Verge that HBO Max will be excused from the company’s traditional data caps and the soft data caps on unlimited plans.

… More

Cable, mobile companies fight rollback of perks they’ve paid California lawmakers big bucks to write

8 June 2020 by Steve Blum
netneutrality, public policy, sb1058, sb1069, sb1130

Special privileges that cable companies and mobile carriers have bought from the California legislature over the years could be rolled back a bit if two bills approved by the California senate’s energy, utilities and communications (EU&C) committee make it into law.

Senate bill 1058, authored by Ben Hueso (D – San Diego), would require “every Internet service provider” (as the legislative counsel’s digest put it) to “file an annual emergency operations plan” with the California Public Utilities Commission.… More

Newsom, CPUC line up on (relatively) minor changes to California broadband subsidy program

5 June 2020 by Steve Blum
ab82, casf, cpuc, public policy, rural broadband, sb1130

A second, perhaps competing, revision to California’s broadband infrastructure subsidy program is queued up for possible consideration at the state capitol. The California Public Utilities Commission is proposing changes to the law governing the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF), to make it easier to use it to attract federal broadband money to the state by supplementing the budgets of projects competing for federal grants.

The administration’s proposal is flying under the radar right now. It’s consistent with the vague reference to better competing for federal broadband dollars in governor Gavin Newsom’s budget revision last month.… More

California broadband subsidy bill slows down to 25 Mbps copper speeds, with “a goal” of fiber for all

4 June 2020 by Steve Blum
ab1665, casf, public policy, rural broadband, sb1130

Broadband projects subsidised by the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) wouldn’t have to be all fiber, according to the latest changes to senate bill 1130. The amendments, published late Tuesday night, lower the minimum broadband service speeds supported by new, subsidised infrastructure from 100 Mbps download/100 Mbps upload, which only full fiber to the premise facilities can deliver on a mass market basis, to 25 Mbps download/3 Mbps upload, which is within the range of middling copper-based DSL systems.… More