pole attachment

Cities ask federal court to speed up review of pole ownership preemption, FCC says keep it slow

7 October 2019 by Steve Blum
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La small cell

Local governments from around the U.S. asked the federal appeals court in San Francisco to speed up consideration of their challenge to the Federal Communications Commission preemption of local ownership and control of the public right of way and assets located in it, such as street light poles and traffic signals.

In a motion filed last month, they told judges that on the one hand, disputes are piling up, and on the other, the FCC is aggressively pushing ahead…

First, there are several other cases progressing through the lower courts that will be affected by the outcome of this appeal…Delay in resolution will simply complicate the work of district courts and Circuit Courts of Appeal throughout the country, as more applications are filed and more disputes arise.

… More

PG&E pole attachment shot clock ready for another CPUC vote

4 October 2019 by Steve Blum
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Fiber attachments 625

The do-over of a settlement resolving a utility pole attachment dispute between Pacific Gas and Electric and Crown Castle is queued up at the California Public Utilities Commission. The original settlement was drafted by administrative law judge Patricia Miles and approved in March. But commissioners reversed the decision due to procedural mistakes, and told Miles to fix those errors try again. She did, and the new draft is the same as the old one.

If approved, the imposed settlement gives PG&E forty five days to “provide a response” to a pole attachment request from Crown Castle.… More

Net neutrality ruling sinks FCC local pole ownership preemption theory

3 October 2019 by Steve Blum
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Although a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. blessed the Federal Communication Commission’s “2018 Order” repealing network neutrality rules, the judges hearing the case overturned one section that tried to preempt any effort by state or local governments to step into the gap. If the plain language of Tuesday’s opinion is also applied to the FCC’s attempt to preempt local ownership and control of street light poles and other publicly owned assets located in the public right of way, then it’s a slam dunk bet that it’ll be overturned too.… More

Hope for California’s net neutrality law, as court upholds repeal of federal rules

2 October 2019 by Steve Blum
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Open internet dont tread on me 2

The Federal Communications Commission’s republican majority acted properly and within the limits of its authority in 2018 when it cancelled network neutrality rules approved in 2015 by the then-democratic controlled FCC.

Mostly.

A three judge panel on the federal appellate court based in Washington, D.C. – aka the DC circuit – issued its opinion yesterday, providing support for California’s enactment of its own net neutrality rules, but otherwise rejecting most of the arguments made by net neutrality advocates.… More

Salinas, AT&T sign master pole license agreement with small cell design standards and $750 annual rent, sorta

Downtown salinas

AT&T and the City of Salinas hedged their bets and signed a master license agreement for attaching small cell sites to city-owned poles that complies with current Federal Communications Commission guidelines, but snaps back to market-based fees if those rules are changed, or overruled by a federal court.

Last year, the FCC declared that municipal assets installed along roads or otherwise in the public right of way, like street light poles or traffic aren’t really city (or county) property, but instead are part of the right of way itself.… More

Fewer complaints, so far, as California utilities cut power to reduce wildfire risk

25 September 2019 by Steve Blum
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Update: PG&E shut off power this morning, as previously announced. As of this evening, it had restored power in north Bay Area counties, and some of the affected Sierra foothill communities. SCE turned power back on for the Riverside County homes affected by Tuesday’s cuts. Public reaction to PG&E de-energisation moves remained as relatively muted as it did on Tuesday. The San Francisco Chronicle spoke to one upset Sonoma County supervisor, but on the whole there was very little NIMBY outrage.… More

FCC’s weed whacker work fails another court test

24 September 2019 by Steve Blum
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The Federal Communications Commission’s republican majority is now 0 for 2 in federal appeals court challenges to its weed whacker campaign to prune back telecommunications and media regulations. In an opinion released yesterday, the third circuit federal appeals court, based in Philadelphia, voted 2 to 1 to overturn an FCC ruling that loosened restrictions on media ownership, because republican commissioners blew off concerns about the effect it would have on women and minorities. In August, Washington, D.C.-based… More

“Rate neutral framework”, whatever that is, promised as PG&E offers plan to pay wildfire costs and get out of bankruptcy

10 September 2019 by Steve Blum
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PG&E filed its plan for coming out of bankruptcy with the federal judge handling the case yesterday. The company proposes to give $8.4 billion to those harmed by wildfires over the past four years, both individual and public agencies, another $8.5 billion to insurance companies that have already paid out claims resulting from those fires, as well as a previously agreed $1 billion to a group of northern California public agencies.

In a press release, PG&E’s CEO, Bill Johnson, was quoted as saying the reorganisation plan is a “rate neutral framework”, but didn’t elaborate.… More

FCC is a mouthpiece for telecoms industry’s “self-interested assertions”, local governments tell federal court

6 September 2019 by Steve Blum
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Riverside pole mount

The rounds of written arguments and counter arguments in the appeals of last year’s FCC decisions preempting state and local governments’ control of public right of ways and ownership of property, such as street light poles and traffic signals, they install there is drawing to a close. Several groups filed rebuttals to the FCC’s defence of its preemption. The primary opposition came from a reply brief filed by a long list of cities and counties in the federal appeals court based in San Francisco, which is hearing the combined challenges to two sweeping rulings made by the FCC last year.… More

FCC’s bromance with mobile lobbyists shines through in briefs. Court briefs, that is

5 September 2019 by Steve Blum
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The FCC’s subservience to the telecommunications companies it’s supposed to regulating – or at least the grovelling of its republican majority – is highlighted by the industry’s defence of sweeping preemptions issued by the commission last year. In a brief filed with the San Francisco-based ninth circuit federal appeals court, carriers and their lobbyists effectively admit they were gaming the judicial system when they tried to steer the case to a friendlier court, with the collusion of the FCC.… More