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Suddenlink FTTH push might not reach California

1 December 2016 by Steve Blum
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Most of Suddenlink is somewhere other than California.

Altice, the fourth largest cable operator in the U.S., plans to leapfrog DOCSIS 3.1 coaxial cable upgrades and go straight to fiber. At least in some of the markets it serves. Yesterday, the company announced its intention to build “a next-generation fiber-to-the-home network capable of delivering broadband speeds of up to 10 Gbps across its footprint”. Sorta. It qualified that promise by saying it “expects to reach all of its Optimum footprint and most of its Suddenlink footprint” within five years.… More

CPUC focuses on California's monopoly broadband market

30 November 2016 by Steve Blum
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Only one, where it counts.

A sharper take on California’s uncompetitive market for telecoms services goes before the California Public Utilities Commission tomorrow. A revised draft of a decision authored by CPUC administrative law judge Karl Bemesderfer was posted yesterday. It addresses the tall stack of comments on the first draft filed by telecoms companies and advocacy groups alike.

The major change is a promise to address tactics that monopoly telephone and cable companies use to block competitors, particularly regarding “access to poles, conduit, and rights of way”.… More

Broadband hits a speed bump in California

29 November 2016 by Steve Blum
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Internet connection speeds took a dip in California during the second quarter of this year. The Akamai State of the Internet report for April through June of 2016 shows the average connection speed from users in California to its content delivery network dropped to 16.1 Mbps, from 16.4 Mbps in the first quarter of the year. On the other hand, connection speeds are still rising on a year over year basis – the average speed in California was 14.0 Mbps in the second quarter of 2015.… More

Google Fiber says no settlement, CPUC to decide protest of Webpass deal

28 November 2016 by Steve Blum
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Big or small?

Google Fiber won’t agree to a settlement with the only group to lodge a protest in California to its acquisition of Webpass, an independent Internet service provider. The deal requires approval from the California Public Utilities Commission because Webpass is certified as a competitive telecoms company, which makes it a regulated public utility.

This sort of review is usually routine. Exceptions are generally the result of past problems with CPUC rules – not an issue in this case – or occur when the companies involved are major players in California’s telecoms ecosystem.… More

SigFox plans California ag tech IoT network build out

27 November 2016 by Steve Blum
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Click for the full deck.

Small bursts of data at infrequent intervals are sufficient for many Internet of Things (IoT) applications. That’s as true in the agricultural technology sector as it is for urban uses, such as meter reading or environmental monitoring. AgTech, though, brings its own challenges and advantages to the party. On the one hand, there are fewer obstructions to block or attenuate wireless signals and spectrum tends to be less crowded. On the other, electrical power is often scarce and the realities of farming mean that anything you put in the ground often has to be temporary – fields are constantly being plowed up and replanted.… More

FCC considers such unfinished business as can be finished

26 November 2016 by Steve Blum
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There’s one more open meeting on the Federal Communications Commission’s 2016 schedule, and the agenda will be limited to relatively minor and generally innocuous policy decisions. That’s in keeping with FCC chairman Tom Wheeler’s sudden pullback ahead of the November meeting and his stated hope that decisions on controversial items would be “addressed after the transfer of leadership from this agency“.

Wheeler released a preliminary agenda for the 15 December 2016 meeting just ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.… More

Broadband monopoly battles may shift to states when FCC retreats

25 November 2016 by Steve Blum
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A key telecoms advisor to Donald Trump seems to be floating the idea of pushing more broadband regulatory responsibility down to states. Mark Jamison, currently a lecturer at the University of Florida and formerly a staff lobbyist for Sprint, is one half of the Trump transition landing team assigned to the Federal Communications Commission. In a blog post published before the election, he argues that there’s no longer a need for the FCC, as it currently exists…

Telecommunications network providers and ISPs are rarely, if ever, monopolies.

… More

Salinas Valley preps for IoT development wave

24 November 2016 by Steve Blum
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Click for the full deck.

Middle mile infrastructure is improving in the Salinas valley, with a quantum shift due early next year. That’s expected to help improve poor last mile broadband access, at least when compared to what the average California can expect to get. In a nutshell, that was the message I delivered to the Salinas AgTech meet up last week. You can download the presentation here.

The evening’s program was about broadband resources that could be available to support the development and deployment of Internet of things (IoT) applications, services and products in the region.… More

Telecoms policy transition is a turnover, not a new game

23 November 2016 by Steve Blum
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Pick up the ball and move it in the opposite direction.

A two-man Trump transition “landing team” is descending on the Federal Communications Commission. Jeffrey Eisenach and Mark Jamison have made their career at the dark junction of industry, academia and government. Both are affiliated with the D.C.-based American Enterprise Institute, an industry-friendly consulting group that serves clients on the right wing of the political ecosystem, and both have strong ties to the telecoms industry, Eisenach as a consultant to Verizon and Jamison as a lobbyist for Sprint.… More

Trump telecom policy may be hiding in plain sight on Capitol Hill

22 November 2016 by Steve Blum
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The only major telecommunications bill with more than a slim chance of making it out of the U.S. congress and onto president Obama’s desk before everything re-sets in January is the Mobile Now act, aka senate bill 2555. But it’s not the only one worth watching.

Authored by the chairman of the senate’s commerce, science and transportation committee, John Thune (R – South Dakota), the bill would free up more spectrum for mobile broadband purposes, for both licensed and unlicensed users, and streamline procedures for installing broadband infrastructure – towers and fiber – on federal property.… More