State telecom regulation is needed to reach rural areas, two Democrats running for utility commissions in red states said in interviews ahead of Nov. 8 elections. Facing one such challenge, South Dakota Public Utilities Commission Chair Chris Nelson (R) told us his state has made “tremendous progress” rolling out broadband in recent years. Alabama, New Mexico and some Colorado voters will have ballot questions on broadband next month.
Adam Bender
Adam Bender, Senior Editor, is the state and local telecommunications reporter for Communications Daily, where he also has covered Congress and the Federal Communications Commission. He has won awards for his Warren Communications News reporting from the Society of Professional Journalists, Specialized Information Publishers Association and the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. Bender studied print journalism at American University and is the author of dystopian science-fiction novels. You can follow Bender at WatchAdam.blog and @WatchAdam on Twitter.
Keep the existing challenge process for the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) broadband infrastructure grant account, telecom companies commented last week at the California Public Utilities Commission. The CPUC received comments Thursday in docket R.20-08-021, before a possible Nov. 3 vote on a proposed decision to adjust rules for the broadband support program (see 2210030069). Proposed challenge process changes would “result in legal and technical error,” said the California Cable and Telecommunications Association. "Comparing a challenger’s existing service plans with the plans proposed in an application is inapt and practically impossible," including because the proposed plan might not materialize, said CCTA. Requiring challengers to provide billing statements for all customers in the challenge area raises privacy concerns and would make it tougher to submit timely challenges, and requiring them "to commit to serving all locations 'in perpetuity' is vague and holds similarly situated carriers to different standards," it said. The proposed challenge process “remains deeply flawed, and should be reconsidered to avoid enabling inefficient overbuilding projects just because existing providers cannot reasonably navigate the rigid and expedited challenge procedure,” said Frontier Communications: It's too fast and includes "tangential" requirements to the task of ensuring adequate infrastructure. Proposed changes would put "unreasonable and unjustified burdens on potential challengers that are likely to invite overbuilding projects and encourage a misuse of limited CASF resources simply because challengers cannot efficiently navigate the onerous challenge process or because the Commission rejects valid challenges based on policy issues or tangential information that does not relate to whether an area is already adequately served,” said CalTel and other small telcos. The Utility Reform Network, Center for Accessible Technology and the CPUC’s Public Advocates Office mostly supported the draft rules. They "implement statutory requirements and are tailored to encourage providers to use the public funds to serve communities that have historically been left behind, including low-income and Environmental and Social Justice communities,” said TURN.
California will shift to a connections-based state USF contribution method and adopt one-touch, make-ready (OTMR) rules for pole attachments, utility commissioners decided at a livestreamed meeting Thursday. Also, the California Public Utilities Commission denied -- at least for now -- eligible telecom carrier designation for Starlink, needed for federal Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) support.
New Hampshire one-touch, make-ready draft rules met a roadblock in the Joint Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (JLCAR) Thursday. The panel refused to clear the Department of Energy’s pole-attachments plan, after the Office of Legislative Services (OLS) raised several concerns including that it contains too much ambiguity by not defining terms like just, reasonable and nondiscriminatory. The department read a 2021 state law as directing it to adopt “nearly verbatim” the FCC’s one-touch rules, said David Wiesner, the department’s legal director, at the JLCAR’s webcast meeting. “We believe it’s important to do that in order to effect the legislative intent to facilitate broadband expansion in the state by making it easier for new attaching entities to install fiber, cable and other facilities on existing utility poles.” The FCC rules are “well understood by the regulated community … most of whom are sophisticated telecommunications carriers,” added Wiesner. Raising concern with OLS’ copious comments, JLCAR Chair Sen. John Reagan (R) said he preferred that “we object to this and give them a month to hash out these language differences.” The state energy department must respond to the panel’s objection by resolving the OLS comments and refiling its proposal with that office and the committee, Wiesner told us after the meeting. “I expect that we should be able to do that and have the revised version of the rules considered for approval at the next regular JLCAR meeting” on Nov. 17. The California Public Utilities Commission adopted a one-touch proposal Thursday (see 2210200073).
California utilities would get three months to implement one-touch, make-ready (OTMR) under a revised proposed decision (PD) by the California Public Utilities Commission (docket R.17-06-028). CPUC members plan to vote Thursday on adopting OTMR for pole attachments (see 2210070061). Tuesday’s revised PD would adopt the cable industry’s suggestion to give three months for implementation rather than electric utilities’ proposal to give one year. With so much state and federal broadband funding available, the CPUC “is more inclined to order that compliance with the new OTMR requirements occur sooner rather than later so that broadband services are made more readily available in California’s neediest regions,” it said. The CPUC would disagree with its Safety and Enforcement Division that there isn't data to support a proposed finding that OTMR will promote utility safety. “The FCC adopted its access timeframes in 2011 and OTMR rules in 2018 after an extended process with the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee that addressed safety,” said the revised PD. “The OTMR requirements adopted by the Commission are consistent with the FCC rules which have not been shown to have compromised safety.” No California pilot is necessary, it said. The CPUC won’t increase penalties for unauthorized pole attachments yet, the revised PD said. Pacific Gas and Electric sought to increase the $500 fee to $2,500; Southern California Edison wanted to increase it to $2,000. The CPUC isn't ready “to decide if the increased penalty amounts would provide the necessary deterrent effect, that the increased penalty amount would not place too onerous a burden on the attachers who would be penalized, or that there isn’t an alternative mechanism that would be more effective,” said the revised draft: The CPUC “will consider this issue later in this proceeding or in a subsequent proceeding to further develop the record.” Carriers must assess state USF surcharges through a new connections-based method starting April 1, said a Wednesday revised draft of another CPUC proposal up for vote Thursday (see 2210050038). The initial PD in docket R.21-03-002 proposed shifting methods Jan. 1, but industry raised concerns last month (see 2209230031). Among other edits, the CPUC deleted a line saying the commission “is limited in its ability to expand the billing base to include broadband.” It clarified that private branch exchanges and Centrex lines are “access lines” to be counted for contribution purposes. The CPUC would disagree with AT&T that the state public utility code’s Section 285 prevents it from applying the new contribution method to VoIP carriers.
The California Public Utilities Commission risks litigation if it exerts too much authority over VoIP, warned industry in comments received by the agency Monday. Commissioners voted 5-0 Aug. 26 to open a rulemaking (docket R.22-08-008) on changes to licensing requirements and other obligations for internet-based voice (see 2208250029 and 2208190030). Consumer advocates and small businesses supported state VoIP requirements.
Maryland is weighing options after a state court struck down the state’s digital ad tax law, the state attorney general’s office said Monday. “Our office is reviewing the decision to determine next steps,” a spokesperson emailed. Anne Arundel Circuit Court Judge Alison Asti ruled from the bench at a Monday motions hearing in the lawsuit by Comcast against Maryland’s comptroller (case C-02-CV-21-000509). The ruling pleased Comcast, a spokesperson said. A federal court earlier said the Tax Injunction Act precluded it from reviewing the tax, but that court continues to review the state’s prohibition on passing on the tax’s costs to consumers (see 2209070026).
Double poles are a decreasing problem in Connecticut, phone and electric companies assured the state Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) in comments received Wednesday. Companies urged PURA to start with a pilot before going full scale with a single-visit transfer (SVT) pole attachment process.
New Jersey’s Assembly Consumer Affairs Committee voted 5-0 for a bill (A-1884) to require telecom, cable TV and ISPs to allow customers to end contracts when a physician refers them to a long-term care facility. “It seems fair,” said Chair Paul Moriarty (D) at a livestreamed hearing Thursday. He said the bill might later be amended to require canceling customers to provide doctor’s notes. The panel also unanimously supported A-3769 to require music and video websites to disclose their correct contact information. The bill by Assemblyman Raj Mukherji (D) aims to thwart intellectual property theft, Moriarty said. The chairman wants to invite telcos to a possible December hearing on a caller ID bill, which was discussed but not voted upon Thursday, he said. Multiple committee members indicated support for A-1034, which would require telemarketers to transmit their name and telephone number.
California plans to deploy the first fiber in the state’s middle-mile network Thursday, said Mark Monroe, deputy director-California Technology Department (CDT) Broadband Middle-Mile Initiative, Wednesday at a virtual California Broadband Council meeting. The state transportation department will install fiber along California State Route 67, which was one of the 18 pilot projects announced in November (see 2111170072). Thursday’s event “marks our flag in the ground that we are moving forward with this big project,” said state Chief Information Officer Liana Bailey-Crimmins, the council’s chair. Monroe applauded the state for putting fiber in the ground about a year after California enacted its $6 billion broadband law. It “bodes well” for the state meeting federal deadlines, said the CDT official. California’s application to NTIA for broadband equity, access and deployment funding, submitted Aug. 12, moved to formal review Sept. 1 after “several rounds of updates based on NTIA feedback,” CPUC Communications Division Director Rob Osborn told the council. The CPUC started drafting a scope of work for the required five-year action plan and is analyzing the FCC’s broadband fabric for serviceable locations, said Osborn: The CPUC plans to provide feedback on the fabric through the bulk challenge process.