Small LECs and a rural California country hit by outages supported a draft order on rural call completion issues under consideration by the California Public Utilities Commission. Cable companies urged the CPUC to do nothing and close the proceeding. Commissioner Catherine Sandoval wrote the proposed decision (PD) in docket I1405012, which may be considered at the Dec. 15 commissioners' meeting. In comments Monday, Mendocino County said evidence of service problems presented at a July hearing and seen since by rural customers "justify the PD making even stronger requirements for the Commission to adopt as they show a long-term pattern of service issues that lead to loss of dial-tone and 9-1-1 access." But the current PD is "an important step in the right direction" and a second phase of the proceeding will provide more time to address other issues, the county said. Calaveras Telecom and other rural LECs mostly supported the PD, saying it would address rural call completion issues raised by the small LECs. But they bristled at a proposal requiring carriers of last resort to report within 120 minutes of an outage of 300,000 user minutes that lasts at least 30 minutes -- a plan that Sandoval asked the FCC to consider (see 1612050050). The small RLECs urged the CPUC to reject the requirement, or at least modify time frames. For example, it’s not reasonable to require small carriers serving rural areas to quickly report outages that happen outside business hours, they said. The CPUC should qualify that, in that circumstance, carriers may report the outage 120 minutes after the start of the next business day, the small LECs said. Cox Communications and the California Cable & Telecommunications Association said the agency need not adopt new reporting requirements or keep the proceeding open to address other outage reporting issues. "The PD correctly finds that rural call completions issues have abated and in light of this finding, the PD should be modified to close this proceeding,” the cable companies commented.
Fiber broadband ISPs are eyeing fixed wireless to reduce costs and speed deployments in dense urban areas where fiber exists, industry speakers said on a New America panel Tuesday. A Verizon representative said the company plans to use fixed wireless to support cities that already have Fios, and an Alphabet executive said subsidiary Google Fiber sees wireless as a way to quickly reach customers and get revenue. Panelists said spectrum sharing may be the quickest way to upgrade networks and promote wireless innovation.
North Carolina’s ban on municipal broadband expansion could be at risk after GOP Gov. Pat McCrory conceded the race to the state’s Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper. After seeking a recount in the contentious Nov. 8 election, McCrory announced the concession Monday in a YouTube video. Muni broadband advocates have said Cooper would be more likely than McCrory to change the 2011 state law that was challenged by the FCC but upheld by the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals (see 1611090024). The law bans cities from expanding government-run broadband outside their municipal boundaries. During the gubernatorial race, the small town of Pinetops reached out to Cooper after learning it might lose fiber broadband service due to the court decision (see 1609270035). While changing the law also will require support by the GOP-controlled state legislature, two Republican state legislators in October pledged to sponsor community broadband legislation when the General Assembly reconvenes Jan. 11. McCrory "had very little respect for local autonomy, frequently pushing to overrule it from Raleigh," Institute for Local Self-Reliance Community Broadband Networks Initiative Director Christopher Mitchell emailed Monday. "I think Cooper will be more interested in returning some authority to local governments rather than micro-managing from afar in matters of Internet access." Community broadband advocates will still have to win against big telephone and cable companies that are likely to defend the law, he said.
President-elect Donald Trump should welcome a cybersecurity report ordered by President Barack Obama, said one of the report’s authors Monday. The Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity released recommendations to the White House on actions the private and public sectors can take over the next decade to improve cyber defenses and raise awareness (see 1612020050). Trump hasn't been briefed on the report, but it was nonpartisan and written for any new president, the commission’s Executive Director Kiersten Todt said at a New America event. To achieve the report’s aims, Todt and state officials urged the new administration to embrace collaboration among federal, state and local governments.
The FCC Task Force on Optimal PSAP Architecture adopted final reports of three working groups Friday at TFOPA's ninth meeting. The reports covered cybersecurity, readiness and funding for next-generation 911. “This will strengthen PSAPs [public safety answering points] deeply,” said Public Safety Bureau Chief David Simpson, praising TFOPA’s accomplishments since it launched in early 2015. Simpson urged a faster transition to NG-911 and said next year will be critical for NG-911 as several additional states and jurisdictions build upon the successes of early adopters.
Connecticut law might preclude the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority from developing rules enabling cities and towns to use utility poles for fiber networks, a Frontier Communications attorney told PURA Thursday in oral argument. Connecticut has a “municipal gain” statute by which it reserves a space on each pole for municipal use for any purpose. This summer, the Connecticut Office of Consumer Counsel petitioned the regulator to clarify rules on pole access, attachments, maintenance and make-ready costs so localities can use the municipal gain space for fiber (see 1608030013). At oral argument, Frontier counsel Daniel Venora said the OCC request is premature and PURA must first decide whether the municipal gain statute even gives municipalities the right to build competitive telecom networks. One commissioner asked whether the term “municipal gain” implied municipalities may use the space; Venora said no. The statute “doesn’t grant municipal powers,” the Frontier attorney said. Consumer Counsel Elin Katz responded that the statute allows a municipality to use the space “for any purpose.” While 20 states have laws specifically prohibiting municipal fiber, Connecticut doesn't, Katz emailed afterward. “Our petition is about how municipalities can access the gain, not a referendum on municipal networks, which is what the opponents seems to want it to be about. The questions that need to be resolved … are what is the proper process for munis to access the gain, how is the gain supposed to be delineated or reserved for their use, and how should efforts by certain pole owners to impede use of the gain for municipal networks be resolved.”
A California probe into telecom market competition could foreshadow an increased state oversight role next year when the FCC changes political parties, officials said. Supporting a 5-0 decision Thursday by the California Public Utilities Commission, CPUC Commissioner Mike Florio said the state must aggressively oversee telecom due to the possibility of a weakened federal commission under a President Donald Trump. The CPUC ordered a staff report on competition, requiring communications providers to report data on voice and broadband subscribers and business data services. The commission flagged competitive bottlenecks in the telecom market and teed up a rulemaking on access to poles.
FCC staff gave some states relief from a Friday Lifeline deadline to align state rules with the updated federal low-income program, as expected (see 1611300060). In an order Thursday, the commission granted in part and denied in part 10 waiver requests, including a USTelecom petition covering multiple states and individual requests by California, Wisconsin, Washington and Oregon. The Wireline Bureau order in docket 11-42 didn’t grant waivers for every state USTelecom requested.
Rhode Island wants to lead the nation on 5G wireless, Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) said Wednesday as she announced a request for information on how to build 5G and other next-generation infrastructure. “We are sending a signal that Rhode Island is open for business as a lab state for innovation -- the ideal place to test new technologies like 5G wireless,” she said in a news release. The Department of Administration's Division of Purchases posted the RFI on behalf of the Public Utilities Commission. The state wants "to work with all stakeholders to accelerate, and lower the cost of deployment and operation of next generation broadband networks," the request said. "This RFI is primarily directed at making the Rhode Island the first state to have 5G networks accessible everywhere while assuring the State and its communities have the Civic Internet of Things and the fiber networks … that they will need to thrive. The State plans to collaborate closely with municipalities to realize these goals.” The state said it has fiber infrastructure already, but it “faces a significant challenge with extending the fiber backbone to all eligible end users.” Submissions for the request (RFI #7551177) are due Dec. 27. Brookings Institution Fellow Blair Levin is an adviser to the state and said the RFI shows the Nutmeg State is “getting ahead of the curve by looking at the multiple issues holistically.” While the federal government “has laid a lot of foundation stones for 5G, the rubber will meet the road for deployment at the state and local level,” he emailed Wednesday. “Rhode Island has the potential to create a playbook that others can use to lower the cost and time of deployment.” In the governor’s news release, AT&T New England President Patricia Jacobs praised the initiative. "Wireless infrastructure deployment is critical to economic growth and public safety in Rhode Island," Jacobs said.
The next administration must have broadband in its planned infrastructure package, Senate Broadband Caucus members from both sides of the aisle urged Wednesday. At an event hosted by Next Century Cities, the School, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition and US Ignite, the senators said broadband is a necessity for Americans and a cause that can unite Democrats and Republicans. Outgoing NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling and others gave advice to President-elect Donald Trump for any new broadband funding, and former FCC official Blair Levin predicted a "big bang" of industry consolidation on the horizon. Trump has said the spending could be $1 trillion (see 1610240045).