It’s looking like late October or early November for a preliminary decision by the California Public Utilities Commission on the first round of regional broadband consortia grant applications. On that timetable, formal approval by the Commission could come in early or mid-December.
Applications for the initial funding round closed on 22 August 2011, with 15 consortia submitting proposals. Most were for non-overlapping geographic regions. Given that the regional consortia funding kitty can theoretically pay for them all, it’s a good bet that most, perhaps all, will move ahead in the process.
Proposals given the green light will be batched together into a single draft approval resolution. If that happens by 1 November, then the Commission could vote on it as early as its 1 December 2011 meeting, or perhaps its following one on 15 December.