public policy

Broadband projects should compete for more federal money, report recommends

22 September 2015 by Steve Blum
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Broadband gets a swing at it too.

There’s not a lot new in the recommendations released yesterday by the federal Broadband Opportunity Council, an interagency talking shop launched earlier this year as part of U.S. president Barack Obama’s community broadband initiative. But it is useful source for information about existing federal broadband programs and it at least gets some commitments, and even a few deadlines, down on paper.

The big question, of course, is where’s the money?… More

U.S. cable industry's rush to consolidate continues

18 September 2015 by Steve Blum
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How the game is played.

Altice SA announced an agreement to buy Cablevision for $17.7 billion and assumption of existing debt yesterday. That follows Altice’s ongoing bid to buy a controlling stake in Suddenlink. If both deals are approved and Charter is allowed to take over Time Warner and Bright House, then Altice would become the fourth largest cable company in the U.S., and the seventh largest pay TV company overall, with about 4 million subscribers.… More

Legislators vote for fewer chats between CPUC and utilities

16 September 2015 by Steve Blum
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One drink too many.

Several changes to the way the California Public Utilities Commission operates are on Governor Brown’s desk. The California legislature passed several bills that would tighten the rules for who commissioners can talk to while proceedings are underway – formally known as ex parte communications – require more public disclosure and make other administrative changes.

The major changes are in senate bill 660, authored by Ben Hueso (D – Chula Vista) and Mark Leno (D – San Francisco).… More

Feds and Texas say yes to Frontier purchase of Verizon system

15 September 2015 by Steve Blum
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Fiber and copper, but no strings.

Frontier Communications’ purchase of Verizon’s wireline telephone systems – copper and fiber – in California, Texas and Florida can go ahead, with no particular conditions attached, according to the Federal Communications Commission. On the whole, the public will benefit from the purchase because Frontier will improve landline broadband service and Verizon won’t, according to the FCC’s order approving the deal…

We conclude that Frontier is more likely to accelerate broadband service in the transaction market areas than Verizon would be absent the transaction, and that this potential for acceleration represents a tangible public interest benefit.

… More

ViaSat bid for California broadband subsidies rejected

14 September 2015 by Steve Blum
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There’s a difference between ambition and greed.

Nearly three years after it was first submitted, ViaSat’s proposal to deliver broadband service to a stunningly large swath of western and southern California is officially dead. The company had asked the California Public Utilities Commission for $11.1 million to buy satellite dishes and receivers for people living in underserved areas from the Oregon border, south along the coast and the western side of the central valley, to the Mexican border, and east to Arizona.… More

Fiber middle mile link proposed for small California mountain community

12 September 2015 by Steve Blum
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Click for the big picture.

The tiny eastern California community of Kennedy Meadows could be in line for a broadband capacity upgrade. The Ducor Telephone Company is asking the California Public Utilities Commission for $1.6 million from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) to build a fiber line from Kennedy Meadows to the Digital 395 route that runs along the eastern side of the Sierra, between Reno and Barstow.

According to the publicly available summary, Ducor’s microwave link has hit capacity and there’s no practical way to improve it…

Currently, network facilities serving the region cannot deliver acceptable levels of broadband service.

… More

California-style regulation can kill or cure broadband, study says

10 September 2015 by Steve Blum
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Reducing regulatory complexity, uncertainty and reach is the key to improving California’s broadband infrastructure, according to a report published by the Bay Area Council Economic Institute. The study assessed the telecommunications and energy infrastructure necessary to successfully competing in a 21st century economy, and the steps needed to get it.

The focus of the telecoms recommendations was regulation, both at the local planning and permitting level and by the California Public Utilities Commission. Environmental regulations were singled out as a particular barrier…

The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) is considered another cost and delay factor in any infrastructure development that involves trenching or surface disturbance.

… More

Rural means something different in California

8 September 2015 by Steve Blum
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California has been shut out of federal broadband grants for infrastructure projects in rural areas for the past several years. I was asked why don’t California’s wineries and farms throw lobbying dollars at the problem?

The wineries and farms don’t need to. California agriculture is characterised by large corporate holdings (albeit sometimes family controlled). The ag operations themselves can usually get sufficient connectivity, by building their own point to point microwave links and, occasionally, fiber connections.… More

Federal court sets banana peel standard for consumer data protection

7 September 2015 by Steve Blum
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Not best cybersecurity practice.

Companies that let bin loads of customer data get hauled away have one more thing to worry about: being sued by the Federal Trade Commission. A federal appeals court in Philadelphia ruled that the broad authority to police “unfair methods of competition in commerce” that congress gave the FTC 100 years ago extends to cyberspace. That means the FTC can move ahead with legal action against Wyndham Hotels, which let crackers transfer data from more than 600,000 customers to a server based in Russia in 2008 and 2009.… More

Projects, policies and plans for broadband development on California's central coast

6 September 2015 by Steve Blum
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Click for the presentation.

Broadband projects and policy are moving ahead on California’s central coast. That was my message to a meeting with elected officials from Monterey and Santa Cruz counties, convened in June by the Central Coast Broadband Consortium (CCBC).

The project with the biggest impact on the region is the middle mile link between Santa Cruz and Soledad, which is being built by Sunesys and largely paid for by the California Public Utilities Commission via the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF).… More