escrbc – Page 2 – Steve Blum's Blog

Suddenlink makes aggressive move with Digital 395 bandwidth

19 September 2013 by Steve Blum
broadband, cpuc, digital 395, escrbc, public policy, regional consortia, suddenlink

Suddenlink takes the Digital 395 pole position.

No longer constrained by severely limited backhaul capacity, Suddenlink has cranked up Internet speeds for its customers in Mammoth Lakes and is planning to do the same in the other eastern California communities it serves. Customers with service plans that delivered 1.5 to 3 Mbps are now getting 15 Mbps at no extra cost, and can upgrade to a 30 Mbps tier if they want. That’s according to Jason Oelkers, Suddenlink’s California system manager, speaking today at the Eastern Sierra Connect Regional Broadband Consortium annual forum in Bishop, which sits astride the route.… More

Locals urge CPUC to close eastern California fiber gap

23 August 2013 by Steve Blum
broadband, casf, community networks, cpuc, digital 395, escrbc, public policy

Hard to connect.

Mono County officials have come out in full support of giving another $10 million to the Digital 395 middle mile project, which would link Mono, Inyo and eastern Kern counties to major fiber hubs. Top elected officials – the board of supervisors and the sheriff – sent letters to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), as did the county administrator.

All three letters echoed the same themes: Mono and Inyo Counties would be hurt by having the fiber network split into disconnected northern and southern halves, and the loss of service to communities in the gap, particularly June Lake, would be damaging.… More

CEO provides details on Digital 395 progess and cost overruns

13 August 2013 by Steve Blum
broadband, casf, community networks, cpuc, digital 395, escrbc, public policy, race telecommunications

Yellow dots highlight unfinished business.

If the Digital 395 project doesn’t get the extra $10 million its backers are requesting from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF), it will still be technically capable of providing service to some eastern California communities. Michael Ort, the CEO of Praxis Associates, gave a progress report on the project to the California Broadband Council yesterday, detailing work done so far, what’s left to do and, most importantly, why the state should spend more money to finish it.… More

Two projects pulled as CASF challenges come thick as flying monkeys

25 April 2013 by Steve Blum
broadband, casf, cpuc, escrbc, ftth, public policy, race telecommunications, verizon, viasat

Just set me down in Kansas. They have fiber there.

Two applications submitted by Race Communications for California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) subsidies are off the table, leaving twenty-seven still under consideration. Of those, incumbent carriers have challenged twenty projects, claiming that some or all of the areas proposed for funding already receive sufficient broadband service and are ineligible.

Race originally put in five proposals for fiber-to-the-home systems in Eastern California. Mojave and California City – towns in eastern Kern County – are already wired and receiving service that meets the California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) minimum 6 Mbps download and 1.5 Mbps upload standard.… More

CASF consortia producing broadband projects

28 February 2013 by Steve Blum
broadband, casf, ccbc, community networks, cpuc, escrbc, public policy, race telecommunications, regional consortia

ESCRBC meeting in June Lake last November brought broadband supply and demand together.

Race Telecommunication’s proposal to build fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) systems in four Mono County communities shows how middle mile fiber can make last mile service possible and how the regional broadband consortia funded by the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) can bring together the right people at the right time.

Those four small systems would be built along the Digital 395 route between Reno and Barstow.… More

Race is on for five CASF proposals

26 February 2013 by Steve Blum
broadband, casf, community networks, cpuc, escrbc, ftth, public policy, race telecommunications, regional consortia

Race’s High Desert project area, in the Tehachapi Pass area, west of the town of Tehachapi.

Last October, Race Telecommunications asked for $13 million from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) to build fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) systems in the desert towns of Mojave and Boron. The areas proposed were not completely unserved by CASF definitions – as required in the October round – so they’re back with expanded plans.

Race has five projects on the table now, totaling $38 million in grant requests.… More

Eastern California lights up in July

12 December 2012 by Steve Blum
ARRA, broadband stimulus, BTOP, business, casf, cetf, community networks, cpuc, dark fiber, economic development, escrbc, middle mile, regional consortia, rural broadband

“We have started and we will finish,” said Michael Ort, CEO of Praxis Associates, the company behind the Digital 395 project. “There have been people who have bet against us and that’s a great motivator. It’s going to happen.”

The ambitious, ARRA-funded network will connect Reno to Barstow, in the California desert east of Los Angeles, installing nearly 600 miles of fiber optic cable. Most of the path runs along U.S. 395, down the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada through towns like Carson City, Mammoth Lakes, Bishop and Ridgecrest.… More