CPUC Stymies Broadband: LTD Chief
LTD Broadband CEO Corey Hauer condemned the California Public Utilities Commission for allegedly “trying to prevent broadband” and “railroad” it out of the state. On a Broadband.money webinar Friday, Hauer said he was “super disappointed” the CPUC voted 5-0 Thursday…
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to deny LTD the application approval it needed to get about $187.5 million in Rural Digital Opportunities Fund (RDOF) support over 10 years (see 2112160064). Hauer also slammed the agency for granting California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) subsidies Thursday in areas that partially overlap with RDOF awards. Every RDOF winner has experienced an “intentional 18-month delay” to get eligible telecom certification in California, so it’s “ironic” that the CPUC dismissed their opposition to the CASF grants due to the RDOF winners not yet having ETC certificates, said Hauer. The CPUC unanimously granted both the denial and contested CASF grants in one vote clearing its consent agenda, leading Hauer “to believe they didn't read a lot of the things that they voted on.” California is “the only state in the country that … isn’t running a serious attempt to get RDOF funding going,” he said. The commission didn’t comment Friday. Hauer dismissed “chatter around how expensive it is to put in fiber.” Compared to urban areas, rural areas have a “different cost structure” and “cadence of construction” because there are no water, sewer or buried electric lines, he said: “The beauty of the rural areas is our lower cost structure sort of makes up for the lack of density.”