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CPUC not ready to cripple dark fiber competition just yet

4 March 2018 by Steve Blum
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No decision so far from the California Public Utilities Commission regarding changing the rules of the game for privately owned electric companies when they engage in dark fiber leasing and other telecoms business activities. The commission was scheduled to vote Thursday on a draft decision that, as currently written, would require Southern California Edison to give 75% of the gross revenue it gets from leasing out dark fiber to its electric customers. Up until now, it’s only had to hand over 10% of gross telecoms revenue to ratepayers.… More

California allows driverless car testing, if anyone still cares

3 March 2018 by Steve Blum
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Driverless vehicles can be tested on California streets and highways beginning next month, but they won’t be completely on their own. The California Department of Motor Vehicles posted new regulations (and supporting arguments) for autonomous vehicles this week. Among the changes is a way for manufacturers or developers to get permission to run vehicles without anyone physically behind the wheel.

Physically. A remote operator is required, someone who “is not seated in the driver’s seat of the vehicle; engages and monitors the autonomous vehicle; is able to communicate with occupants in the vehicle through a communication link” and is “available to assist law enforcement at all times that the vehicle is in operation”.… More

Fiber can compete, but no competition, no fiber

2 March 2018 by Steve Blum
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Fiber-to-the-home broadband service can effectively compete against cable company offerings, but copper-based DSL service can’t. That’s a lesson that’s coming into sharp focus as telcos report 2017 financial results.

Verizon backed away from legacy telephone service, selling its California systems to Frontier among other things, but hung on to its FiOS business, which is concentrated in the northeastern U.S. As a result, Frontier is bleeding DSL subscribers (although it’s doing better where it offers FTTH service), while Verizon’s share of broadband subscribers in its FiOS territory is climbing.… More

Frontier CEO leaves the door open to a California exit

1 March 2018 by Steve Blum
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Frontier Communications had a rough day yesterday, following the release of its fourth quarter 2017 results and the announcement that is would no longer be paying dividends to shareholders. Instead, it will direct that money toward paying down its substantial debt.

The company’s share price dropped about 24% on the day, continuing a slide that’s seen it lose more than 80% of its value over the past year. In a conference call with analysts, president and CEO Dan McCarthy was asked about rumors that Frontier was trying to sell off the wireline systems it acquired from Verizon two years ago in California, Texas and Florida – what it calls its “CTF” market.… More

FTC is everyone's broadband cop, but don't expect a fast response

28 February 2018 by Steve Blum
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The Federal Trade Commission can apply consumer protection laws to broadband service, even when a telephone company is delivering it. A federal appeals court in San Francisco made that clear on Monday when it rejected AT&T’s argument that the FTC’s authority doesn’t extend to telephone companies or other providers that have “common carrier” status.

An earlier ruling, made last year, would have barred the FTC from any oversight role regarding companies with common carrier status, even when the business line involved wasn’t a common carrier service.… More

FCC broadband speed standard isn't "advanced" anymore

27 February 2018 by Steve Blum
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Don’t be fooled. What the Federal Communications Commission labels “advanced telecommunications capability” is just the basic minimum broadband speed you need to access online services today. It’s advanced in the same sense that London’s New Inn, built in 1810 to replace the original, is new: it seemed that way at the time.

The concept of advanced online services was introduced into federal policy in 1996, when the U.S. congress last overhauled federal telecoms law.… More

With end of net neutrality, cable companies can put brakes on subscriber slide

26 February 2018 by Steve Blum
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Fewer than half of U.S. households have traditional cable television subscriptions, according to research done by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC). With the end of network neutrality rules, cable companies, AT&T and, to a lesser extent, other telcos will be able to fight this trend more aggressively. Even if they can’t stop or even slow it, they can use their monopoly broadband gatekeeper power to rake in a greater share of subscriber revenue.

Cable TV subscriptions have been trending downward over the five years that PWC has been running this survey.… More

Mobile phone radiation limits are safe, FDA concludes following ten year study

25 February 2018 by Steve Blum
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Mobile phones don’t significantly increase the risk of cancer, given current safety limits. That’s the federal Food and Drug Administration’s assessment of two long term studies recently completed by the National Institutes of Health.

Rats and mice were exposed to higher-than-allowed levels – up to six-times as much – of radio frequency radiation for nine hours a day for two years. According to the NIH, only one significant negative effect was observed, and only in male rats…

High exposure to radio frequency radiation (RFR) in rodents resulted in tumors in tissues surrounding nerves in the hearts of male rats, but not female rats or any mice, according to draft studies from the National Toxicology Program (NTP)…

“The levels and duration of exposure to RFR were much greater than what people experience with even the highest level of cell phone use, and exposed the rodents’ whole bodies.

… More

Wireless charging is less fussy, but still a work in progress

24 February 2018 by Steve Blum
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One of my goals for CES was to see if wireless charging technology is ready for mainstream consumer adoption. The answer is yes if you’re making contact with a charging pad, but only maybe if you’re not.

Charging pads, of one kind or another, were easy to find at CES. Near field charging – putting a gizmo in direct contact with a wireless charging device – appears to be a maturing technology. Although the Qi standard is gaining – Samsung, LG and Apple support it in some of their models – compatibility is still an issue.… More

FCC officially publishes decision reversing net neutrality

23 February 2018 by Steve Blum
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The game clock is now running on the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to reverse broadband’s status as a common carrier service and end network neutrality rules. Sorta. The decision approved by commissioners in December was published in the Federal Register yesterday. That means court challenges can begin – an earlier appeal by state attorneys general was largely symbolic and presumably will be refiled. There’s a ten day procedural window for everyone to pile on in the federal appeals court of their choosing, after that the challenges will probably, but not certainly, be consolidated into a single case that’ll be heard in Washington, D.C.… More