uia – Steve Blum's Blog

Reboot for dueling San Bernardino FTTH projects

10 October 2016 by Steve Blum
casf, ftth, public policy, race telecommunications, uia

Frontier’s federal CAF2 subsidised census blocks.
Two competing proposals to build a fiber to the home system in the San Bernardino County town of Phelan and surrounding communities are now a lot closer to meeting in the middle.

More than a year ago, in August 2015, Race Telecommunications submitted a proposal asking the California Public Utilities Commission for a $48 million grant from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) for its Gigafy Phelan project – that’s 60% of the then-estimated construction cost to reach about 10,000 homes with fiber.… More

Competition heats up for broadband subsidies in the Californian desert

22 January 2016 by Steve Blum
casf, cpuc, public policy, race telecommunications, uia

There’s a second bid for grant money to build a fiber to the home system in the San Bernardino County desert communities of Phelan, Piñon Hills, Oak Hills and West Cajon Valley, plus parts of Victorville and Hesperia. Yesterday, Ultimate Internet Access, Inc. (UIA) asked for a $21 million infrastructure subsidy from the California Advanced Services Fund CASF) for the project. It’s now competing directly with Race Telecommunications for the cash.

Last August, Race submitted a $48 million grant proposal, also for an FTTH build in that area.… More

Fiber to the home subsidies approved for two California communities

14 May 2015 by Steve Blum
casf, cpuc, ftth, public policy, uia

By Jamesb01 (image transferred to Commons by JaumeBG. [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Fiber to the cabin coming to Wrightwood.

The first two broadband infrastructure grants of the year, totaling $3.3 million, were approved last week by the California Public Utilities Commission. Ultimate Internet Access’s Helendale and Wrightwood projects sailed through on a unanimous vote by commissioners. Both are fiber to the home proposals promising to deliver a gigabit up and down to about a couple thousand residents each for $70 per month.
With one exception, the projects as approved were the same as originally outlined last month by CPUC staff.… More

CPUC considers $3.3 million subsidy for two FTTH projects

9 April 2015 by Steve Blum
casf, cpuc, ftth, public policy, uia

Poor broadband service in Helendale now, but fiber could be on the way.

Two fiber-to-the-home projects in the California desert, northeast of Los Angeles, will be getting a total of $3.3 million in subsidies from the California Advanced Service Fund (CASF), if the California Public Utilities Commission approves draft resolutions released last week.

The proposals, for Helendale and Wrightwood, were submitted last December by Ultimate Internet Access (UIA), an independent Internet service provider that’s already active in the area.… More