California legislature to grant redlining absolution to mobile industry

8 September 2017 by Steve Blum
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Mobile carriers don’t redline neighborhoods or communities on the basis of income levels. That declaration is the latest present to go under the Senate Bill 649 christmas tree as it nears a final decision in the state legislature. The primary aim of the bill is to give wireless companies open access to street light poles and other “vertical infrastructure” owned by cities and counties in California, at below market rates.

New language tightening up definitions was added to SB 649 in preparation for a floor vote by the California assembly.… More

Telco, cable wish list queued up in California legislature

5 September 2017 by Steve Blum
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Two major bills that telephone and cable companies want are set for floor votes in Sacramento, and one they don’t want is in deep freeze, as the legislative session enters its final, hectic two weeks. At the end of last week the senate and assembly appropriations committees okayed assembly bill 1665 and senate bill 649, respectively.

AB 375, on the other hand, remains stuck in the senate rules committee. It’s an attempt to write Internet privacy protections that were scrapped by the federal government into California law.… More

Hope dims for good broadband policy in Sacramento

21 August 2017 by Steve Blum
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It’s an eclipse that’s shading the sun this morning, not the return of the California legislature from a month-long break. Although you might be excused for thinking so. The dismal outlook for broadband policy in the California capitol is as gloomy as the Oregon coast will be this morning. But our neighbors to the north will only have to wait a couple of minutes for the light to return. We’ll have to endure the darkness.

Three bills are pending that could shape Californian broadband policy for years to come.… More

Cable industry snags a side deal in California legislature's wireless giveaway

21 July 2017 by Steve Blum
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Another present was placed under the senate bill 649 Christmas tree this week. Language was added that would make it crystal clear that local governments in California can’t require cable companies to pay any fees or obtain any permits, beyond what’s allowed by state law, including particularly the digital infrastructure and video competition act (DIVCA) and SB 649.

It will probably have a relatively minor impact, assuming it’s not interpreted to ban routine construction approvals – building and encroachment permits, for example – which seems unlikely.… More

California bill magically improves broadband service to 280,000 homes

13 July 2017 by Steve Blum
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If too many Californians have substandard broadband, the best way to fix it is to lower the standards. That’s the perverse logic that’s captured the thinking, such as it is, of a senate committee that’s considering a rewrite of California’s primary broadband infrastructure subsidy program. It would let AT&T and Frontier Communications fence off poorly served rural communities from competition, and get taxpayer money as a reward.

As the senate energy, utilities and communications (EU&C) committee’s analysis of assembly bill 1665 explains…

This bill would alter the current CASF goal by reducing the eligibility speed to 6 Mbps/1 Mbps from the current 6 Mbps/1.5Mbps and exclude CAF II areas, as well as, areas where incumbent providers claim they plan to deploy service.

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Another green light for preemption of local light poles in California assembly

7 July 2017 by Steve Blum
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The language has been tidied up a bit, but a bill snaking its way through the California legislature would still give wireless companies the right to install equipment on light poles, buildings and other vertical infrastructure owned by cities pretty much at will, for a nominal, below market rate fee. Senate bill 649 was blessed by the assembly’s local government committee on a 6 to 2 vote, with one abstention, and sent on to the communications and conveyances committee, where the assumption is that it will find an even warmer welcome.… More

Bill preempting local control of cell permits, light poles amended in California assembly

26 June 2017 by Steve Blum
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The language has been tweaked and a new formula added for setting rental rates, but the basic principle remains: California senate bill 649 would give mobile carriers and other wireless broadband providers – licensed or not – on-demand access to city and county owned vertical assets in the public right of way at below-market rates, and take away much of the discretion local governments have over where and how wireless telecoms facilities are built.

Although the bill generally applies to "small cells", the definition it uses – 27 cubic feet of stuff on a pole plus 35 cubic feet of gear on the ground, plus electric meters and switches – is big enough to include most modern wireless installations.… More

California cities meet wave of mobile carrier land grabs

23 June 2017 by Steve Blum
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I’ve been involved in several meetings between mobile infrastructure companies and staff from various California cities over the past couple of months. There’s a new gold rush going on now. And mobile carriers – Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint – are running around trying to do deals with cities ahead of 5G and pre-5G network upgrades. They want to put “small cells” on street lights and other city-owned vertical assets. Deals which might be preempted in their favor by SB 649 anyway.… More

California assembly considers preemption of local pole ownership, cell site permits

7 June 2017 by Steve Blum
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A bill to largely end local government control of municipally-owned light poles and other vertical infrastructure and eliminate discretion over where cell sites can be located has landed in the California assembly. The perks are limited to "small cells", but the way the definition is written, it’ll allow pretty big installations anywhere in the public right of way or in commercial or industrially zoned areas, as well as setting rental rates for publicly-owned poles at below market rates.… More

Bill ending local control of cell site permits, light pole rentals advances in California senate

30 May 2017 by Steve Blum
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Open access to city-owned street light poles at below market rates and a fast track for cell site approvals has landed on the floor of the California senate. Last week, the appropriations committee gave the go ahead to senate bill 649, which, if passed, would slash city and county control of municipally owned vertical infrastructure and require automatic approval of any "small cell" proposed for installation in the public right of way or in commercial and industrial zones.… More