Rural California Wants Fiber Funding Amid COVID-19
Some seek to upgrade rural internet speeds amid the public health crisis by overhauling the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF). Increasing standards could fit into a legislative agenda likely focused on COVID-19, rural officials said in interviews this week. Consumer advocates urged the California Public Utilities Commission to reprioritize CASF. Comments were due Thursday.
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Rural advocates support a bill that would increase CASF minimum broadband standard to symmetrical 25 Mbps speeds from 6 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload. Subsidized projects would have to deliver 100 Mbps symmetrical at low latency, under the bill by Sen. Lena Gonzalez (D). SB-1130 would require open-access networks and remove a requirement local governments hold an open bidding process before they can apply for grants themselves.
Expect “several broadband proposals” in the legislature this year, said Connie Stewart, executive director of Humboldt State University’s California Center for Rural Policy (CCRP). COVID-19 cases may peak much later in rural areas than they will in cities, so act now, she said.
Cable thinks SB-1130 moving forward this year is “questionable,” and the California Cable & Telecommunications Association will get involved if it does, emailed President Carolyn McIntyre. CCTA doesn’t have a position. AT&T and Frontier Communications didn’t comment.
“Committees are asking legislators to only move bills connected to challenges involving COVID-19, which updating CASF to address social distancing would fit,” emailed Electronic Frontier Foundation Senior Legislative Counsel Ernesto Falcon. Most lobbying is now over the phone or through Zoom, and while Sacramento may reopen in a couple of months, hearings could happen by teleconference, he said.
Budget constraints will determine what bills are prioritized, said Tracy Rhine, Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) legislative advocate. Rhine bets Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) sees the connection between COVID-19 and broadband: “Mandated working from home and the fact that the schools are closed for the rest of the year has really brought this issue to the forefront.” CASF viewing 6/1 Mbps as served is “problematic” for rural places, said Rhine. The fastest service she can get to her home in El Dorado County, about 35 miles from Sacramento, is 6/1 Mbps DSL. Downloads are usually closer to 1 Mbps, far from fast enough for telehealth and distance learning, she said.
Politicians who think it's enough for non-urban places to have 6/1 Mbps, when that’s below the federal standard, mustn't “expect any economic income out of rural areas,” Stewart said. Stop believing big telecom companies who argue there’s no need to fund competition because incumbents will provide adequate service, she said.
“If you set your goals super-low so that most communities are considered ‘served’ by broadband, it makes vast swaths of the state ineligible for investments simply because they have decades-old DSL networks,” EFF's Falcon blogged Monday. EFF, RCRC, CCRP and other broadband advocates urged revising CASF to spur open-access fiber deployment, in a March 9 letter to Newsom. His office and Sen. Gonzalez didn’t comment.
The CPUC is asking how it can respond to the pandemic through CASF (see 2003270047). Meanwhile, the agency may consider a $10.8 million CASF grant to the Karuk tribe for a broadband project at its May 7 meeting, said a draft resolution Wednesday.
Start awarding CASF adoption grants “on a rolling basis, make hotspots available, provide increased funding for take-home devices, and require CASF grantees to temporarily increase broadband speeds,” the commission’s independent Public Advocates Office commented Thursday in docket 12-10-012. Wi-Fi hotspots should provide at least 25 Mbps/3 Mbps with no data caps so consumers can use telehealth, the PAO said. Require CASF infrastructure grantees to add 50 Mbps to customers’ current speeds for free while they shelter-in-place, it said.
Restructure CASF adoption funding “to specifically address the implications of mandatory statewide distance learning,” said RCRC. “Rural counties consistently experience the lowest broadband adoption rates in the state according to Commission data.” Subsidize extending mobile hotspots to existing wireless customers or give grants for hotspots and computers to local governments, the counties group said.
“There’s enough wiggle room in the statute to allow the CPUC to make those kinds of changes,” said Rhine. Bigger changes to the infrastructure fund sought by RCRC require a law change, she said.