The Utility Reform Network urged Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) to veto a broadband bill to update the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) grant review process. The legislature last month passed AB-2749, which would set a 180-day shot clock for the California Public Utilities Commission to decide CASF applications. TURN Executive Director Mark Toney told us he sent a letter Wednesday seeking Newsom's veto and a coalition of opponents including TURN plans to send a separate veto request later this week. Groups including American Civil Liberties Union, Public Knowledge, Center for Accessible Technology and the Institute for Local Self-Reliance joined an earlier coalition letter asking legislators not to pass the bill. Toney is verifying that they all will join the veto letter but hasn’t heard any group has changed its position, he said. USTelecom earlier urged Newsom to sign AB-2749; previous bill opponents Electronic Frontier Foundation and Rural County Representatives of California became neutral on the bill before it passed (see 2208290020). AB-2749 “is unnecessary, adopts a broken ‘shot clock’ detrimental to underserved communities, and undermines a recent CPUC decision,” Toney wrote in the TURN letter: The shot clock “could lead to either rushed or incomplete reviews of applications.” When the CPUC made program rules, the agency rejected AT&T’s call for a shot clock, Toney told us: Giving the carrier a “second bite at the apple” would be a “real abomination of the process.” Newsom has until Sept. 30 to sign, the TURN official said. AT&T didn’t comment.
National industry groups plan monthly webinars for states about the NTIA’s broadband equity, access and development (BEAD) program starting next week, the Fiber Broadband Association said Wednesday. The hosting associations are ACA Connects, the Competitive Carriers Association, CTIA, FBA, Incompas, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative, NCTA, NTCA, USTelecom and the Wireless Infrastructure Association. The first 30-minute webinar is on supply chain and will be Sept. 14 at 1 p.m. “Our primary goal is to make it as easy and efficient as possible to navigate through the BEAD program’s requirements and potential deployment challenges,” the associations said.
Industry largely backed the FCC’s Further NPRM on curbing access stimulation, in comments posted Wednesday in docket 18-155 (see 2207140055). The item proposes clarifying rules adopted in 2019 to include IP-enabled services (IPES) providers.
The broadband industry will shift attention to passing a national privacy law, after dropping a lawsuit against Maine, said telecom and cable associations Tuesday. Plaintiffs USTelecom, NCTA, CTIA and ACA Connects decided not to continue a nearly 2-year-old challenge of the state’s ISP privacy law. Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey (D) said the state law’s survival is important for protecting consumers. The case’s end should encourage more states to act, said consumer privacy advocates in interviews.
The $54.2 billion Chips and Science Act, signed into law in August (see 2208090062) will be significant for how industry will look down the road, experts said Tuesday during a USTelecom webinar. The act includes $1.5 billion to spur open radio access networks. Experts also said they don’t expect big future moves from the FCC on ORAN, after a 2021 notice of inquiry.
USTelecom urged Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) to sign a broadband bill to streamline the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) grant review process. The legislature last week passed AB-2749, which would set a 180-day shot clock for the California Public Utilities Commission to decide CASF applications (see 2208260050). Newsom should “sign the bill as soon as possible to ensure there is no delay in getting Californians access to broadband,” a USTelecom spokesperson said Monday. The Electronic Frontier Foundation withdrew its opposition and is now neutral on AB-2749 after it was amended earlier this month, EFF Legislative Associate Chao Jun Liu emailed Monday. EFF earlier raised concerns including that the shot clock could limit competition.
Industry continued to disagree whether the FCC should revisit its cost allocation framework for utility pole replacements or attachments, in reply comments posted Monday in docket 17-84 (see 2206280066). Central to the debate was whether pole owners directly benefit from pole replacements and how much information owners should be required to disclose to requesting attachers.
California bills to require wireless eligibility for California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) grants and to fund the 988 mental health line passed the legislature Thursday and will go to Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) for signature. As California legislators head into their final week, several communications bills on broadband, social media and free inmate calls await floor votes (see 2208120039).
Maine intends to move for summary judgment on all remaining counts in telecom groups’ challenge of the state’s ISP privacy law, Attorney General Aaron Frey (D) said Wednesday at the U.S. District Court of Maine. Frey asked the court to set a prefiling conference no sooner than Sept. 19 in case 1:20-cv-00055. ACA Connects, CTIA, NCTA and USTelecom challenged the Maine law.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau redesignated USTelecom as the registered consortium for the industry-led robocall traceback group, said an order Monday in docket 20-22 (see 2206060058). USTelecom is "honored that the FCC recognizes our important role in this work," said Vice President-Policy and Advocacy Josh Bercu.