rural broadband – Page 2 – Steve Blum's Blog

CPUC updates tentative RDOF incentive plan, as its broadband fund falls short by $77 million

26 October 2020 by Steve Blum
casf, cpuc, public policy, rdof, rural broadband

Sick piggy bank

The California Public Utilities Commission will put $150 million on the table for Internet service providers to add to their budgets as they bid in a reverse auction for federal Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) subsidies, if a plan proposed by staff is eventually approved by commissioners. Some of the details of that plan were released earlier this month, and a list of census block groups that will be eligible for “kickers” from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) was posted late on Friday.… More

Breaking: California’s RDOF incentive plan released, $150 million offered to bidders in targeted communities. Maybe

23 October 2020 by Steve Blum
casf, cpuc, public policy, rdof, rural broadband

Front line dispatch 625

A list of census block groups eligible for subsidies from both the federal Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) and, provisionally, the California Advanced Services Fund was posted on the California Public Utilities Commission’s website late today.

The plan is to make CASF money available to Internet service providers that want to compete for federal subsidies in the neediest Californian communities, in order to incentivise them to bid more aggressively in the RDOF reverse auction. As much as $150 million might be available.… More

AT&T kills wired broadband service for half a million Californians

22 October 2020 by Steve Blum
att, casf, connect america fund, dsl, rural broadband

AT&T’s decision to stop selling legacy DSL service – the sort that uses 1990s technology and rides on regulated phone lines – affects 547,000 Californians, 1.4% of the state’s population. 67,000 of them will completely lose the ability to buy residential wireline broadband service from a commercial provider. Rural counties will be hit hard, with Tuolumne County taking the stiffest punch: 3.4% of its population will no longer be able to get wireline broadband service at any speed.… More

Time running out for CPUC to maximise federal bang for California broadband bucks

20 October 2020 by Steve Blum
casf, cpuc, public policy, rdof, rural broadband

So far, the California Public Utilities Commission isn’t budging on its nonsensical plan to decide after the upcoming federal Rural Digital Opportunity Fund reverse auction whether it will offer cash incentives to Internet service providers that might be bidding for broadband service and infrastructure subsidies for Californian communities.

Instead, it’s taking comments on a plan drafted by staff. Not comments from the general public though. Only those who file the necessary paperwork to become a “party” to the “proceeding” have a say.… More

California’s two biggest broadband companies may pass up federal RDOF subsidy auction, but others are in the hunt

16 October 2020 by Steve Blum
casf, cpuc, public policy, rdof, rural broadband

Money case 625

The Federal Communications Commission included 24 obviously Californian contenders in its final list of 386 qualified bidders for Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) money (list is below). The announcement didn’t say which service tiers they’re eligible to bid in. There are four tiers, with higher service levels getting preference in the auction: 25 Mbps download/3 Mbps upload, 50 Mbps down/5 Mbps up, 100 Mbps down/20 Mbps up, 1 Gbps down/500 Mbps up (what the FCC considers to be gigabit service).… More

CPUC judge tells Frontier, consumer groups to stop squabbling and deal with the issues

15 October 2020 by Steve Blum
casf, cpuc, frontiercommunications, public policy, rural broadband

Both Frontier Communications and the “intervenors” who want a say in how its bankruptcy reorganisation plays out in California were scolded yesterday by a California Public Utilities Commission administrative law judge (ALJ). The result might be a delay – maybe a week, maybe something else – in concluding the CPUC’s review of the reorganisation plan and the bankruptcy settlement.

In an emailed ruling, ALJ Peter Wercinski cancelled three days of hearings scheduled for the end of the month, saying that none of the parties involved have yet addressed the issues surrounding the bankruptcy that were identified by the commission…

The Public Advocates Office stated in its October 12, 2020 response that “all material issues in the Scoping Memo remain at issue.”

… More

California broadband project subsidy requests trimmed, but most might go to the back of the line

14 October 2020 by Steve Blum
casf, cpuc, public policy, rdof, rural broadband

Sunesys build freedom blvd 625 Three revised broadband project grant applications to the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) were posted over the past couple of days. Two fiber to the premise builds – Frontier Communications’ in Crescent City and Plumas-Sierra Telecommunications’ in the Scott Road area of Lassen and Sierra counties – were trimmed by a few hundred thousand dollars. But another – Hunter Communication’s $290 million proposal in Mendocino County – was slashed to $158 million.

Even so, Hunter’s prospects are dismal.… More

AT&T abandons rural broadband systems as it stops selling 1990s era DSL tech

8 October 2020 by Steve Blum
att, casf, connect america fund, dsl, rural broadband

AT&T will no longer sell new connections to old school DSL service, although it claims it will continue to support customers who already have it. It notified customers of the change via the last cycle of bill statements. In one respect, it’s a rational and proper decision – AT&T offers much better service via newer technology – but in another respect it’s bad news: wireline networks in rural communities redlined by AT&T haven’t been sufficiently maintained, let alone upgraded, to support modern systems.… More

Newsom urged to call lawmakers back to Sacramento to close broadband gap

7 October 2020 by Steve Blum
ab570, casf, public policy, rural broadband, sb1130

More than 60 people representing nearly as many organisations signed a letter, which was delivered on Tuesday, asking California governor Gavin Newsom to declare a special legislative session to specifically address the growing divide between digital haves and have nots in California…

As leaders in industry, local government, non-profit, education, and media, we represent millions of Californian families, teachers, and older adults, all of whom should have access to the benefits of technology. We urge you to use your authority as Governor to reconvene the state legislature under a special session to pass universal broadband access legislation this year that makes the necessary investments in 21st century access to end the digital divide.

… More

California broadband subsidy proposals go into extra innings, with new rules and more competition

5 October 2020 by Steve Blum
casf, cpuc, public policy, rdof, rural broadband

Extra innings

The fate of the 54 pending proposals for broadband infrastructure grants from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) won’t be fully known until early next year, assuming the California Public Utilities Commission approves a draft rewrite of the program’s rules. The goal is to use CASF money to make Californian bids more competitive in the reverse auction for Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) subsidies that’ll be run by the Federal Communications Commission later this month.… More