Month: August 2014

Samsung makes stuff, and now stuff to connect its stuff

21 August 2014 by Steve Blum
, , ,

Another thing for the Internet of things.

Samsung has decided to take a different home automation route than Apple or Google. The announcement this week that it is acquiring SmartThings gives a hint that the Korean consumer electronic giant is looking, first and foremost, at creating an automation platform for its own vast array of products, rather than a web service business built around its smart phones. It might eventually do that too, but the decision to go with SmartThings, which relies on an in-home hub, shows a definite hardware-centric attitude.… More

California senate weighs even more protection for incumbent telephone and cable companies

20 August 2014 by Steve Blum
, , ,

The system is the solution.

There’s no love for independent Internet service providers in the California senate. A bill that would have made it harder for independents to put together broadband infrastructure projects that can be subsidised by the California Advanced Services Fund has been amended by the senate appropriations committee to make it nearly impossible.

Not only does assembly bill 2272 mandate union scale pay and union work rules…

Under the [prevailing wage] law, there are multiple responsibilities of the awarding body, which is defined as the department, board, authority, office, or agent awarding a contract for public work.

… More

California legislature puts broadband infrastructure financing on par with water and roads

19 August 2014 by Steve Blum
, , ,

Roads, water, sewers, broadband. You need it all to build an economy.

It’s up to governor Brown to decide whether broadband infrastructure gets equal treatment with transportation and water projects in California, at least when local governments want to build it. On a lopsided vote, the state assembly approved the final version of assembly bill 2292 yesterday, which explicitly allows local governments to use infrastructure financing districts (IFDs) to issue bonds to build broadband projects, and then pay the money back with property tax revenue.… More

California legislature can help and hurt broadband infrastructure development this week

18 August 2014 by Steve Blum
, , , , ,

One step forward and two slides back.

Two bills with big implications for broadband infrastructure in California are queued up for votes in the state legislature this week. Assembly bill 2272 was blessed by the senate leadership last week and sent on for a floor vote. The date hasn’t been set yet.

That bill would put a huge dent in the California Advanced Services Fund by requiring all the projects it subsidises to follow an inflated statewide set of union work rules and pay scales, regardless of who is doing the job or what the going rates are in a particular area.… More

Comcast honors FCC commissioner with $110,000 contribution

17 August 2014 by Steve Blum
, , ,

No conflict of interest, it seems.

FCC commissioner Mignon Clyburn was – and still is, really – to be honored at a dinner sponsored in part by Comcast and Time-Warner, despite the fact she is reviewing, and will presumably vote on, their proposed merger. The occasion is the Walter Kaitz foundation dinner next month, where she’ll receive the group’s diversity award for being the first African-American woman to chair the FCC, a position she held last year while Tom Wheeler was waiting to be confirmed by the the U.S.… More

Broadband infrastructure can – and sometimes will – be regulated in California

16 August 2014 by Steve Blum
, , ,

The California Public Utilities Commission is squarely back in the game of regulating broadband service providers, at least up to a point. That was the second shot across the bow fired in a ruling on Thursday ruling by a CPUC administrative law judge. In it, the commission declared that it would use broad powers it believes was granted by federal law to “remove barriers to [broadband] infrastructure investment”, as well as state law that charges it with deciding whether mergers it clearly does regulate – in this case, involving subsidiaries that provide telephone service – are in the public interest…

The ultimate test of a proposed change of control is whether or not it is in the public interest.

… More

CPUC steps in front of Comcast train, asserts authority over California broadband

15 August 2014 by Steve Blum
, , ,

Rejecting Comcast’s and Time-Warner’s claim that the California Public Utilities Commission can only consider a narrow set of largely technical questions regarding their proposed merger, a CPUC administrative law judge ruled yesterday that the commission can evaluate – and approve or disapprove – aspects of the merger on the basis of a wide range of public interest issues.

The ruling tracks closely with protests filed by advocacy groups and the commission’s office of ratepayer advocates.… More

CPUC considers making rural broadband experiments 10% sweeter

14 August 2014 by Steve Blum
, , , , ,

Proposals for FCC-funded rural broadband experiments in California will get an extra, and automatic, 10% subsidy, if the California Public Utilities Commission approves new draft rules released earlier this week.

As currently written, the resolution…

Pre-authorizes CASF monies for any California projects that the FCC selects and provides for such projects to be subject to the FCC Rural Broadband Experiments rules, not the CASF program rules. California applicants interested in participating in these Experiments must file with the FCC by October 13, 2014.

… More

California governor, lawmakers consider expanded infrastructure financing power for local government

13 August 2014 by Steve Blum
, , ,

A new plan to finance public infrastructure is being hatched in Sacramento and, at this point, broadband is included.

Chris Hill, a senior budget analyst working for California governor Jerry Brown, talked about the negotiations going on with legislative leaders, during an infrastructure breakout session at yesterday’s California Economic Summit conference at the state capitol. The idea is to allow local governments to create what are being called enhanced infrastructure financing districts that could sell bonds to build a wide variety of projects and repay the debt using property tax money.… More

More and more effective investment in California on the table

12 August 2014 by Steve Blum
, ,

Lawmakers meet in Sacramento today with regional leaders from around California, to talk about solving a number of economic challenges faced by the state, including how to pay for and upgrade basic infrastructure. It’s a follow-on to the California Economic Summit held in Los Angeles last year. The summit organisers are already claiming victory, of a sort…

Looking back on our goals for the year, every one of the major legislative proposals identified in The Summit Plan to Advance Prosperity in 2014 has been accomplished – from new investments in workforce training and infrastructure to a permanent source of funding for affordable housing.

… More