California broadband projects up for review at CPUC

18 August 2016 by Steve Blum
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UPDATE: The CPUC approved the Occidental project and the consortia and public housing grants, and rescinded subsidies for the five dormant CASF projects in a unanimous, consent agenda vote this morning.

Occidental, a small community in rural Sonoma County, will get gigabit broadband service for $100 a month, if the California Public Utilities Commission approves a $7.7 million construction grant at its meeting later the morning. The fiber-to-the-home project was proposed earlier this year by Race Telecommunications and originally specced at serving 757 homes. That number was reduced to 458 after agricultural land and vacant lots were factored out. That didn’t change the total price tag, so the per household subsidy from the California Advanced Services Fund would be $16,800.

But what the CPUC giveth, it can taketh away. Five previously approved projects are about to have $4.5 million in funding rescinded. More details on those are here. Only one of the recipients objected. In a the dog ate the homework sort of letter, WillitsOnline asked to keep its $149,000 grant for a DSL upgrade in the Mendocino County town of Westport, but hinted it would need more money to get it done. The resolution in front of commissioners today would reject that request but encourage WillitsOnline to reapply for what was looking like a significantly different project.

Three regional consortia are up for grants totalling $737,000 that would allow them to carry on their broadband development work, for two years in Tahoe, three years in the East Bay and five years on the Central Coast.

A dozen public housing communities in San Francisco and the Sacramento area are up for a total of $507,000 in grants to run digital literacy programs. That resolution would also change the rules and allow the programs to give out refurbished computers that are up to five years old – the current limit for CASF subsidies is two years.

I’m the project lead for the Central Coast Broadband Consortium, and the East Bay and Tahoe consortia are my clients. I’m not a disinterested commentator. Quite the contrary. Take it for what it’s worth.