public policy – Page 125 – Steve Blum's Blog

CPUC will wait another month to vote on establishing broadband jurisdiction

27 June 2015 by Steve Blum
broadband, comcast, cpuc, public policy

By David Hiser, 1937-, Photographer (NARA record: 3651517) (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The California Public Utilities Commission kicked the Comcast can down the road a month. It was supposed to take up two competing proposals for closing out Comcast’s failed purchase of Time Warner’s cable systems and market swaps with Charter this week, but the decision was pushed off to the commission’s 23 July 2015 meeting. A third alternative is also expected to be on the agenda that day.

The options in front of the CPUC are…

Approve the transaction, even though its no longer on the table, with a long list of conditions.

… More

Suddenlink tries to avoid going down the same regulatory review path as Comcast

26 June 2015 by Steve Blum
altice, broadband, cpuc, fcc, public policy, suddenlink

Click for the full picture.

The purchase of Suddenlink Communications – the seventh largest cable operator in the U.S. and a significant video and Internet service provider in rural California – by a European company, Altice, is officially under review by the California Public Utilities Commission and the Federal Communications Commission.

As is typical with the initial applications, the companies are claiming there’s not much to worry about and approval should be quick and simple.… More

Mayors like and loath FCC broadband rules

25 June 2015 by Steve Blum
fcc, municipal broadband, public policy

Mayors in U.S. cities want the federal government’s help to maintain their cities’ authority to build and operate municipal broadband systems (h/t to the Baller-Herbst list for the pointer). At least, the U.S. conference of mayors does, voting to approve a resolution that calls out Federal Communications Commission chairman Tom Wheeler’s move to preempt state-imposed restrictions on municipal broadband systems and urges congress and the president to follow his lead…

Now, therefore, be it resolved, that the United States Conference of Mayors applauds the FCC, under the leadership of Chairman Tom Wheeler, for preempting state barriers to municipal broadband service, which have served as a significant limitation to competition in the provision of Internet access; and

Be it further resolved, that The United States Conference of Mayors encourages Congress and the Administration to pursue all legislative and regulatory avenues to allow cities and communities maximum flexibility in constructing their own broadband networks.

… More

Berkeley launches a city-led broadband initiative

24 June 2015 by Steve Blum
berkeley, community networks, muni broadband, public policy

Click to get the full picture.

The Berkeley City Council took a big step last night toward supporting broadband development and, perhaps, to pursue a municipal fiber optic project or partnership with a private network operator. By a unanimous vote, the council told city staff to…

Survey the city’s inventory of broadband, traffic signal and other conduit to assess its suitability for supporting a fiber optic network, with the goal of leasing it to one or more fiber companies.

… More

Legality of FCC's muni broadband preemption will be decided in Cincinnati

23 June 2015 by Steve Blum
community networks, fcc, muni broadband, public policy

The local team.

It’s no great surprise, but the two challenges to the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to preempt state bans on municipal broadband have been consolidated into one proceeding. The nod goes to the first case to be submitted, by the State of Tennessee, in the federal appeals court district that’s headquartered in Cincinnati and includes Tennessee. The appeal from the state of North Carolina was filed nearly two months later in the federal court district that’s based in Richmond, Virginia.… More

Low income subsidies for broadband service pushed by FCC

20 June 2015 by Steve Blum
broadband, fcc, lifeline, public policy

What would Ronald Reagan do?

The Federal Communications Commission voted 3 to 2 along party lines on Friday to begin work on a plan to extend lifeline benefits – telephone bill subsidies for low income people – to broadband service. We don’t exactly what they did, because the actual text of the decision won’t be available until commission staff get around to publishing it, but we do know that Ronald Reagan would have either loved or hated it.… More

FCC wastes no time in bringing the net neutrality hammer down hard on mobile carriers

19 June 2015 by Steve Blum
att, fcc, netneutrality, public policy

Shoot the first one out the door. That’ll give them to know our intentions as serious.

The Federal Communications Commission took a hard swat at AT&T, fining it $100 million for trying to weasel out of unlimited data deals it offered back in the days when the iPhone was being launched…

We find that AT&T…apparently willfully and repeatedly violated the Commission’s Open Internet Transparency Rule by: (1) using the misleading and inaccurate term “unlimited” to label a data plan that was in fact subject to prolonged speed reductions after a customer used a set amount of data; and (2) failing to disclose the express speed reductions that it applied to “unlimited” data plan customers once they hit a specified data threshold.

… More

CPUC offered opportunity to duck broadband responsibilities

18 June 2015 by Steve Blum
charter, comcast, cpuc, public policy

The third way.

The California Public Utilities Commission has a third option for closing out the failed Comcast-Time Warner-Charter mega mash up. In response to a request from the companies involved, a CPUC administrative law judge has drafted yet another proposed decision that basically calls it all off, with a couple of housekeeping conditions.

Chief among those conditions is a requirement that the companies turn over digital copies of documents they previously provided to the Federal Communications Commission.… More

Mobile carriers detail plans for adding unlicensed spectrum to their portfolios

16 June 2015 by Steve Blum
fcc, public policy, spectrum, wireless broadband

By PH1 R.J. Lincoln, USN (U.S. DefenseImagery photo VIRIN: DN-SC-82-00353) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Kind of like parking one of these in a yacht harbor. But it’s OK. They’ll be careful.

With the rate of growth – let alone growth itself – in mobile data usage continuing to boom, with no end in sight, mobile carriers are searching for new spectrum. First choice is licensed, exclusive frequencies of course, but there’s no reason for them not to grab for their second choice too, which is unlicensed spectrum.

The Federal Communications Commission has been taking comments on the possibility of mobile carriers operating alongside WiFi in the unlicensed bands.… More

U.S. military share its spectrum with the public for wireless broadband use

15 June 2015 by Steve Blum
fcc, public policy, spectrum, wireless broadband

The U.S. defense department is giving up its sole control 100 MHz of prime spectrum – 3550-3650 MHz – which is adjacent to 50 MHz – 3650-3700 MHz – that’s already available for semi-licensed use, and the Federal Communications Commission is combining it all into a new citizens broadband radio service that will share the space with existing users. An automated spectrum access system (SAS) will coordinate use by three different classes of users with different levels of privileges.… More