race telecommunications – Page 4

CPUC affirms relevance of broadband pricing and caps, approves subsidies for five Californian projects

31 October 2013 by Steve Blum
broadband, casf, cpuc, ftth, pinnacles telephone, ponderosa telephone, public policy, race telecommunications, verizon

The California Public Utilities Commission said yes this morning to spending $4.8 million from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) on five rural broadband projects.
Commissioners approved the subsidies unanimously and without discussion. The resolutions included language rejecting unsupported mobile broadband coverage claims made by Verizon and indicating that the commission considers broadband pricing and data caps to be relevant issues, if not formal criteria, when it decides whether to subsidise competitive broadband projects…

In addition, while the Commission in [its decision setting out rules for the CASF program] did not include broadband performance measure other than speed, the wireless broadband service offerings include data caps and pricing that are more restrictive than the proposed project’s service offerings which has lower prices and no explicit data caps.

… More

CPUC rebukes Verizon, prepares to vote on five broadband projects

30 October 2013 by Steve Blum
broadband, casf, cpuc, ftth, pinnacles telephone, ponderosa telephone, public policy, race telecommunications

No point in kicking if the game is long over.

A series of procedural temper tantrums earned Verizon politely worded advice to pay attention to the rules and nothing more. In revised draft resolutions (still) recommending approval of California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) subsidies for three broadband projects challenged by Verizon, California Public Utilities Commission staff laid out what should have been done. For example, regarding a project proposed for Boonville in Mendocino County…

CD staff reminds Verizon that for all CASF project proposals, a challenge window and deadline is set up for submitting challenges on pending applications.

… More

Two big projects awarded construction subsidies by CPUC

18 October 2013 by Steve Blum
broadband, casf, cpuc, ftth, public policy, race telecommunications

Meeting in Redding yesterday, the California Public Utilities Commission approved requests for a total of $19 million in grants from the California Advanced Services Fund for two projects, one on the far northern coast and the other in the Tehachapi mountains of southern California.
Race Telecommunications received $12.6 million to build a fiber-to-the-home system in the Tehachapi pass area of Kern County. The Karuk and Yurok tribes received $6.6 million for a combination middle and last mile project in Humboldt County.… More

Verizon throws three more broadband subsidy tantrums

14 October 2013 by Steve Blum
boonville, boron, broadband, casf, community networks, cpuc, public policy, race telecommunications, verizon, westport

Can you hear me now?

To get a broadband construction subsidy from the California Advanced Services Fund (CPUC), you have to show that the area where you want to build is at least underserved, as defined by the California Public Utilities Commission speed standard of 6 Mbps down and 1.5 Mbps up. Incumbent carriers are then given a chance to prove you wrong.

In the current round of CASF grant and loan applications, submitted last February, some projects – particularly Golden Bear in north California and ViaSat all over the map – drew protests from a wide range of providers.… More

Sheer tenacity primes Boron FTTH for California broadband subsidy

24 September 2013 by Steve Blum
broadband, casf, community networks, cpuc, escrbc, ftth, public policy, race telecommunications

Boron upgrades from twenty mules to a gigabit.

On its fourth try, Race Telecommunications seems set to get public grant backing to build a fiber-to-the-home system in the small Mojave desert town of Boron. California Public Utilities Commission staff have released a draft resolution that, if approved by commissioners, would spend up to $3.4 million from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) to pay 60% of the cost of building a fiber optic network to serve about 900 customers in the Boron area, plus cover the cost of any state or federal income tax on the grant.… More

Major Kern County broadband project prepped for CPUC vote

13 September 2013 by Steve Blum
broadband, casf, cpuc, ftth, public policy, race telecommunications

The Tehachapi Pass of the future will have broadband too. And probably a lot sooner.

Race Telecommunications proposed building a fiber-to-the-home system near the Tehachapi Pass in an application for a California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) grant earlier this year. Now, it’s been vetted by California Public Utilities Commission staff, and it’s heading for a vote by commissioners at their 17 October 2013 meeting.

A draft resolution released yesterday explained why the Kern County High Desert project, intended for the communities of Stallion Springs, Bear Valley Springs and Golden Hills, got the green light for 12.6 million from CASF…

Staff recommends this project for funding, because it has an above average overall score relative to the other projects.

… More

California broadband grant requests inch toward decisions

18 August 2013 by Steve Blum
broadband, casf, community networks, cpuc, digital 395, golden bear, public policy, race telecommunications, viasat

California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) staff have started drafting resolutions for funding at least some of the broadband infrastructure proposals submitted last February for subsidies from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF).

The fact that staff is putting the necessary paperwork together – preliminary environmental assessments and public safety impact, for example – doesn’t mean that a project will rate highly enough to be recommended, but it does mean that the preliminary task of determining whether a project is eligible for CASF money is complete, or nearly so.… More

CEO provides details on Digital 395 progess and cost overruns

13 August 2013 by Steve Blum
broadband, casf, community networks, cpuc, digital 395, escrbc, public policy, race telecommunications

Yellow dots highlight unfinished business.

If the Digital 395 project doesn’t get the extra $10 million its backers are requesting from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF), it will still be technically capable of providing service to some eastern California communities. Michael Ort, the CEO of Praxis Associates, gave a progress report on the project to the California Broadband Council yesterday, detailing work done so far, what’s left to do and, most importantly, why the state should spend more money to finish it.… More

Two projects pulled as CASF challenges come thick as flying monkeys

25 April 2013 by Steve Blum
broadband, casf, cpuc, escrbc, ftth, public policy, race telecommunications, verizon, viasat

Just set me down in Kansas. They have fiber there.

Two applications submitted by Race Communications for California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) subsidies are off the table, leaving twenty-seven still under consideration. Of those, incumbent carriers have challenged twenty projects, claiming that some or all of the areas proposed for funding already receive sufficient broadband service and are ineligible.

Race originally put in five proposals for fiber-to-the-home systems in Eastern California. Mojave and California City – towns in eastern Kern County – are already wired and receiving service that meets the California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) minimum 6 Mbps download and 1.5 Mbps upload standard.… More

CASF consortia producing broadband projects

28 February 2013 by Steve Blum
broadband, casf, ccbc, community networks, cpuc, escrbc, public policy, race telecommunications, regional consortia

ESCRBC meeting in June Lake last November brought broadband supply and demand together.

Race Telecommunication’s proposal to build fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) systems in four Mono County communities shows how middle mile fiber can make last mile service possible and how the regional broadband consortia funded by the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) can bring together the right people at the right time.

Those four small systems would be built along the Digital 395 route between Reno and Barstow.… More