Uncategorized

SCE asks court to extend wildfire liability to cities and counties, too

22 January 2019 by Steve Blum
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santa barbara county flood map

If a local government allows homes to be built in high risk communities and doesn’t build or manage infrastructure in a way that mitigates that risk, could it be as responsible for disasters as an electric company that similarly installs and operates electric lines to serve those areas? That question was handed to a Los Angeles County superior court judge on Friday by Southern California Edison.

SCE’s wildfire liability problem isn’t as apocalyptic as Pacific Gas and Electric’s, but by any other measure it’s bad.… More

Comcast continues aggressive bill at will tactics against customers, Minnesota attorney general says

21 January 2019 by Steve Blum
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Comcast deceived thousands of customers in Minnesota, according to a complaint filed last month by the state’s attorney general’s office. It’s a familiar story: customers are lured in by impossibly low prices that aren’t honored, and by additional fees for services that customers didn’t order and that no one thought to mention.

According to a story in the Minneapolis Star Tribune by Torey Van Oot, a major problem is that Comcast’s phone representatives – who don’t have a sterling reputation to begin with – can’t be trusted…

The complaint outlines practices and communications that state prosecutors say put Comcast afoul of Minnesota’s consumer protection laws against deception and fraud.

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Frontier-CETF shotgun marriage will continue til death do us part

18 January 2019 by Steve Blum
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Shotgun wedding

Frontier Communications and the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) have tentatively settled a dispute over a mandated low income broadband marketing program. Under the terms of the agreement, instead of ending last year, as previously scheduled…

  • The program will continue indefinitely.
  • Frontier will pay CETF an additional $25,000.
  • CETF won’t have to pay back any of the approximately $700,000 remaining from the $1 million advanced to it.
  • Performance goals remain “aspirational” rather than hard targets.
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Schedule set for appeals of FCC local pole ownership preemption

17 January 2019 by Steve Blum
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Riverside pole mount

The federal appeals court in San Francisco set 5 April 2019 as the filing date for opening briefs in the nine challenges it’s received, so far, to the Federal Communications Commission’s September order preempting municipal ownership of streetlight poles and other potential wireless assets in the public right of way.

The FCC will have a month to respond, then the challengers will have three weeks to file a final rebuttal. So it’ll be the end of May before all the opening arguments are on the table.… More

AT&T, Frontier, Charter carve out exclusive California subsidy territory

16 January 2019 by Steve Blum
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As expected, AT&T and Frontier Communications blocked broadband infrastructure grants in vast swaths of rural California yesterday, at least for anyone but themselves. The companies filed reports with the California Public Utilities Commission stating they weren’t giving up federal Connect America Fund subsidies in any of the census blocks they claimed in 2015.

Charter Communications tried a similar trick, submitting a letter telling the CPUC where it will be upgrading video-only analog systems to digital capability later this year.… More

California is losing its grip on utility service and infrastructure

15 January 2019 by Steve Blum
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Harold lloyd safety last

The future of northern California’s energy supply, and the utility pole routes that support it, will be largely in the hands of federal judges. Pacific Gas and Electric gave notice yesterday that it will, in all likelihood, file for bankruptcy protection in two weeks. The company said that it may have to pay as much as $30 billion in damages stemming from catastrophic wildfires it apparently played a role in starting in 2017 and 2018.… More

FCC’s streetlight ownership preemption takes little effect today

14 January 2019 by Steve Blum
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The Federal Communications Commission’s order preempting local ownership of streetlights and other municipal property in the public right of way is now active. What does it mean to cities? Nothing much, according to a court filing by the FCC…

The Order does not itself require localities to do anything, nor does it compel approval of any particular siting request; it simply articulates standards for courts to apply if and when they are confronted with any future siting disputes that might eventually arise…nor does it prevent localities from recovering all of their actual and reasonable costs…

The Order’s safe harbor for recurring fees up to $270 per small cell per year is not a “limit o[n] compensation” above that amount, as Movants wrongly assert; rather, the Order makes clear that localities may charge higher fees if a reasonable approximation of their costs exceeds that amount.

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Newsom’s budget plan lowers barriers to public broadband financing

13 January 2019 by Steve Blum
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Following up on one of the items in his campaign manifesto, California’s new governor, Gavin Newsom, might make it easier to finance municipal broadband projects. One of the many, many ideas offered in his maiden budget proposal is to make it easier to form enhanced infrastructure financing districts by eliminating requirements for voter approval of bond issues…

Various economic development tools have been introduced following the dissolution of Redevelopment Agencies (RDAs), including Enhanced Infrastructure Financing Districts (EIFDs).

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Microsoft’s rural broadband gamble might have millions of winners

12 January 2019 by Steve Blum
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The rural/urban broadband divide is deep, according to a report by Microsoft. For people living and working in rural areas, it’s confirmation of what they already know, but it’s valuable nonetheless. Microsoft’s critique of the available data – and the 25 Mbps download/3 Mbps upload speed standard – is a useful corporate counterweight to the claims made by AT&T and Frontier, which are the telcos receiving the lion’s share of federal broadband subsidies for 10 Mbps down/1 Mbps up service in rural California.… More

FCC pole preemption appeals leave Denver via loophole, land in San Francisco

11 January 2019 by Steve Blum
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San francisco skyline 625

Update, 11 January 2019: the federal tenth circuit court of appeals denied a request by the City of San Jose and other cities to delay implementation of the FCC’s September preemption order. It is still scheduled to take effect on Monday.

The growing list of challenges to a Federal Communications Commission decision to preempt local ownership of streetlight poles and other municipal property located in the public right of way will be decided by the San Francisco-based ninth circuit federal appeals court.… More