public policy

AT&T fiber redlines low income communities, U.C. Berkeley study finds

21 June 2017 by Steve Blum
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Where high income households are thick on the ground, AT&T builds out fiber to the home systems, but does minimal upgrades for middle income areas and leaves low income communities with 1990s-style legacy DSL or nothing at all. That’s the top line conclusion from a study done by U.C. Berkeley’s Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society…

  • The median household income of California communities with access to AT&T’s fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network is $94,208. This exceeds by $32,297 the $61,911 median household income for all California households in the AT&T wireline footprint.
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FTTH expansion proposed for Riverside County desert communities

20 June 2017 by Steve Blum
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Click for the big picture.

Anza Electric Cooperative wants to expand its fiber-to-the-home system in southwestern Riverside County. After being awarded a $2.7 million FTTH infrastructure grant from the California Advanced Services Fund in 2015, Anza used its existing electric plant as the backbone for a fiber network aimed at reaching 3,800 homes in its service territory.

Now, it’s asking the California Public Utilities Commission for another $2.2 million, to reach 1,200 more homes and "several businesses", and provide free service to fire stations and the Ronald McDonald camp for kids with cancer According to the public version of its grant application summary…

Connect Anza will deploy a fiber optic cable on existing poles and rights of way and establish a network of sufficient capacity to establish high speed, quality internet service for Anza Electric Cooperatives (AEC’s) existing service territory covering over 500 square miles, located wholly within western Riverside County.

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California FTTH grant approved under current subsidy program rules

19 June 2017 by Steve Blum
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California’s primary broadband subsidy program will stay on its present course, at least until the legislature changes it or the California Public Utilities Commission resets priorities and rules going forward. That’s the takeaway from a CPUC vote to approve a $1.1 million grant from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) for a fiber to the home project in southern Santa Clara County.

It’s an important message to independent Internet service providers who might be considering CASF-funded projects in the future: it’s expensive to prepare and submit applications – more than $100,000 in some cases – and the prospect of having one rejected a year or two later because the rules changed increases the risk beyond the point most are willing to go.… More

Sometimes, telecoms lobbyists can't help telling the truth

18 June 2017 by Steve Blum
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When I see a headline like "Broadband speeds have soared under net neutrality rules, cable lobby says", I gotta click on it. So I did and landed on an article by Jon Brodkin on Ars Technica.

There’s no Damascene conversion involved, though. What Brodkin is highlighting is how cable lobbyists, such as the National Cable Television Association (or whatever they say the acronym stands for these days), brag about faster Internet speeds, while at the same time bemoaning the infrastructure investment apocalypse that must surely follow the FCC’s 2015 decision to regulate broadband as a common carrier service…

As we can see, the NCTA has flexible messaging and applies conflicting arguments to different situations.

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$900K chopped from San Bernardino FTTH subsidy plan, but it's moving again

A fiber to the home project in San Bernardino County is back on track, sorta. California Public Utilities Commission staff cut $900,000 from a proposed $29 million grant to Race Telecommunications for the Gigafy Phelan project, and sent it all back into a 30 day comment, reply and commission consideration cycle.

Gigafy Phelan is an ambitious attempt to extend FTTH service to 8,400 homes in California’s high desert region, in and around the town of Phelan.… More

Trump appoints Rosenworcel to FCC

15 June 2017 by Steve Blum
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Trump appoints Rosenworcel to FCC


Third time is the charm.

Jessica Rosenworcel is on her way back to the Federal Communications Commission. President Donald Trump has re-nominated her to one of the two seats reserved for democrats. The question he left hanging, though, is which seat?

This will be the third attempt at reappointing Rosenworcel to the commission. She was originally appointed by president Barack Obama in 2011, served her initial five year term with high marks from both sides of the aisle, and stayed until the end of last year, as the law allows when no renomination or replacement has been confirmed by the U.S.… More

Pai drives FCC with eyes on rear view mirror

14 June 2017 by Steve Blum
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During a rural broadband road trip through the midwestern U.S., Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai shared time with a republican senator on a Milwaukee talk radio program (h/t to Phillip Dampier at Stop the Cap for tracking the interview down and getting the word out). Although he professed an open mind regarding the repeal of common carrier rules for broadband service – it’s under consideration at the FCC, so he has to say that – he dismissed net neutrality as a "slogan".… More

Copper network killer rules could be back on the table

13 June 2017 by Steve Blum
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Yanking out copper networks and replacing them with wireless service is one of the possible outcomes of the Federal Communication Commission’s reconsideration of the wireline service regulations it adopted last year. The swap can actually be done now, but only if the replacement meets certain service and quality standards.

In California, those standards are set by the California Public Utilities Commission. If the FCC rolls back its rules, it wouldn’t necessarily change that. But it could, and the CPUC might be weighing in on the FCC’s proceeding.… More

FCC's idea of open access to broadband service might not be so open

12 June 2017 by Steve Blum
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It’s hard to tell where the Federal Communications Commission is going with a new enquiry into open (or not) access rules for broadband, television and telephone service providers in apartments, condos, commercial buildings and other multiple tenant environments. Assuming commissioners vote to begin it – a safe bet – all they’d be doing immediately is asking for comments from anyone with an opinion on the subject. It’s not being done out of idle curiosity, though.… More

Broadband bills among the dead in the California legislature

11 June 2017 by Steve Blum
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The road kill this year in the California legislature includes several broadband and telecommunications-related bills that either missed a deadline for approval by either the full assembly or senate, or died a quiet in a committee. Those include…

Senate bill 566 by senator Mike McGuire (D – Healdsburg) would have required companies that provide telephone service – VoIP and cable companies included – to notify the state office of emergency services when rural connections go down and provide it with a real, live human to speak with about it as repairs proceed.… More