CPUC to Vote on Competition, With Conditions in RLEC Markets
The California Public Utilities Commission may conditionally open 13 small LEC markets to wireline competition. Commissioners could vote as soon as Aug. 6 on Monday's proposed decision and a PD by Commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves to make some changes to…
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the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF). CLECs and cable companies have supported opening the baker’s dozen of RLEC markets (see 1905220031), though the California Cable and Telecommunications Association (CCTA) disagreed with applying conditions to competitive entry, in earlier comments in docket R.11-11-007. The Utility Reform Network and small LECs sought conditions out of concern that competitors would serve only the most lucrative customers. Guzman Aceves disagreed with CCTA. Telecom Act Section 253(b) gives the agency authority to impose non-discriminatory and competitively neutral requirements, while Section 251(f) gives it separate authority to review exemption requests, she wrote. The PD “may have significant financial and other impacts on the Small LECs not specifically addressed in the general conditions adopted today,” so the agency later will “consider additional appropriate location-specific conditions in individual [CLEC] applications” and might open a proceeding on altering CASF to reflect the new CLEC competition in RLEC territories, the commissioner said. A separate CASF proposal teed up for Aug. 6 would authorize CPUC staff to set application windows and timelines for broadband infrastructure account and allow staff to use state operations funds to provide technical assistance for tribes. The Guzman Aceves plan would close docket R.12-10-012, where some parties sought broader CASF changes (see 2004170009): Unresolved matters “will likely be transferred to a new proceeding.”