The New York Public Service Commission should reject utilities’ claims that wireless companies face no barriers attaching equipment to poles, the Wireless Infrastructure Association said in PSC docket 16-M-0330. WIA earlier this month supported a CTIA petition to apply existing pole attachment requirements to wireless providers so the industry can quickly deploy small cells and distributed antenna systems (DAS) that are critical to 5G services (see 1608020029). In replies Monday, WIA said utilities “fail to recognize that their costs for wireless attachments are not the only economic barrier to broadband deployment. Many municipalities have also sought fees to access public rights of way that were never imposed on the utilities in deploying their own plant and infrastructure and which are improper relative to the limited municipal authority reserved by federal and State law.” But New York utilities said jointly the wireless industry testimony failed to convince them there’s a problem. The utilities said “it is clear that CTIA and the other wireless telecommunications providers have not met the burden for the relief sought in this proceeding.” They said wireless commenters still haven’t “provided demonstrable evidence that would support a new generic Commission proceeding concerning wireless attachments.” Doing nothing isn't an option, CTIA said. “If the Joint Utilities’ unabashed invitation to do nothing were accepted by the Commission, New York would find itself in a place where the utilities’ self-interest reigned supreme over the public interest, denying New Yorkers the benefits of advanced mobile broadband deployment.”
Frontier Communications will face more hearings in California over its troublesome transition after acquiring Verizon’s wireline business there and two other states (see 1607080045). The California Public Utilities Commission scheduled three public hearings on call completion issues, including 911 and access, CPUC Administrative Law Judge Robert Mason said in a ruling Tuesday. The hearings will be Tuesday in Guerneville, Sept. 9 in Middletown and Sept. 20 in Santa Cruz.
Verizon could need to increase capital expenditures if states act against the company due to investigations of copper service quality and fiber upgrade policies, said 556 Ventures analyst William Ho. Verizon has highlighted how much it already spends building and maintaining its network in ongoing investigations in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland. Also, in a District of Columbia Public Service Commission rulemaking that followed a two-year probe, the telco warned about the potential cost of proposed copper abandonment rules (see 1607260027). The worst-case scenario for the telco “may be that regulatory judgments or edicts require fiber technology,” Ho emailed Friday. “If they weren't planned for, there may be increases in subsequent years’ capex projections.” To keep spending stable, Verizon could shuffle money from other areas, he said. The company might need to reconsider how its business plan balances repairing older copper and installing new fiber, he said. Ideally for Verizon, fiber would be the norm for telecom networks, the analyst said. “Copper as we have in today's world is less efficient and costlier than fiber in terms of future proofing and operations/maintenance.” In the next three to four years, Verizon could use 5G fixed wireless to spread and keep up its network at less cost, he said. “It makes sense in some places as the cost to serve and operational costs like truck rolls and copper maintenance may be nullified.” Verizon wouldn't comment. Replies are due Monday in the D.C. PSC copper abandonment rulemaking, and the state probes are in various stages of comments. The Maryland PSC will determine next steps in its Verizon inquiry after it gets a response from the Communications Workers of America to Verizon’s July testimony about a practice in which it moves customers with major copper problems to fiber (see 1607140027), a commission spokeswoman said. The PSC sent a letter last week asking CWA to respond to the Verizon testimony by Sept. 6. Separately, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities staff is reviewing comments from a public hearing last week in which the state's Division of Rate Counsel backed state action and Verizon claimed it had invested $100 million over the past two years in “proactive preventative maintenance” of its network (see 1608050043). Meanwhile, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission asked for CWA testimony by Sept. 29 and Verizon testimony Dec. 1, ahead of hearings scheduled the week of Feb. 6 (see 1607180020), according to the proceeding schedule. In New York, Verizon told the state commission last week it's spent hundreds of millions more dollars than it makes on its network there (see 1608010047).
Minnesota unveiled $500,000 in grant funding for its Internet Broadband Expansion for Students program. The Minnesota Department of Education sought applications by Sept. 9 from public school districts, charter schools and education districts for projects to expand broadband access for students. Applicants may apply for a Broadband Expansion Off-Campus Learning Grant, and -- if eligible to receive general education transportation sparsity revenue under Minnesota statute -- also may apply for a School Bus Internet Access grant, the Office of Broadband Development said in an email newsletter Friday. The maximum grant per applicant is $50,000.
A bureau of the California State Library should consider the appropriate regulatory structure for telecom oversight by a revamped California Public Utilities Commission, said proposed legislation that surfaced Wednesday. Assemblymember Mike Gatto (D) filed an amendment stripping original language of a bill on damages from the California energy crisis in 2000, and inserting in its place another piece of the CPUC reform package worked out between Democratic legislators and Gov. Jerry Brown (D). The amended AB-2903 would require the California Research Bureau by Jan. 1, 2018, “to conduct a study of telecommunications service governance to determine what regulatory structure would provide the appropriate regulatory oversight of telecommunications services and to assess the overarching goals of the various programs carried out by the commission, including a discussion of whether the commission, as a whole, is strategically aligned towards a clearly articulated public goal. The bill would require the study to review specified matters and to take into account the history of telecommunications service regulation in the state and changes in technology to make recommendations for guiding principles that clearly define California’s goals for the regulation of the telecommunications industry.” Other provisions include a requirement that CPUC appoint an ethics ombudsman and a prohibition on public utility executives becoming CPUC commissioners within two years of utility employment. At a hearing Wednesday, the Assembly Appropriations Committee voted 12-5 to pass SB-1017, another part of the CPUC reform package. The bill aims to increase public access to utility-supplied documents at CPUC. At the hearing, AT&T, CTIA and other industry officials raised concerns about the measure in its current form, saying the bill could result in disclosure of confidential and sensitive information. The bill’s sponsor, state Senator Jerry Hill (D), committed to addressing confidentiality concerns in amendments now in the works. “We’ll be there,” he said. The committee placed two other parts -- SB-215 and SB-512 -- in the committee’s “suspense file,” a category reserved for bills deemed to be costly, for a vote expected later in the month. The three bills already cleared the Senate and the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee (see 1606300027). The committee also placed on suspense the Senate-passed SB-745, which makes various changes to grant programs provided by the California Advanced Services Fund, including a requirement that CPUC prioritize unserved housing developments.
The California Public Utilities Commission said it complied with a court order to immediately retrieve Form 477 and other data in the possession of third parties and to instruct all commission employees not to violate the preliminary injunction of U.S. District Court in San Francisco. Judge Vince Chhabria rebuked the CPUC last week for violating the temporary ban on disclosing the data, which includes information about phone and broadband deployment that AT&T, Comcast, CTIA, Verizon and other industry plaintiffs say is confidential (see 1608050015). CPUC retrieved the contested data Monday from Lee Selwyn, president of Economics and Technology Inc., it said in a status report (in Pacer) filed Monday.
Google delayed fiber builds in multiple California cities while it explores alternative technologies, said a staff report by the city of Palo Alto. It could be six months or more before Google resumes its fiber network build in the Bay Area, the report said: “Google indicated that they are exploring more innovative ways of deployment that overcome some of the challenges they are facing in their current builds. It is the City’s understanding that the cities of Mountain View, San Jose, Santa Clara and Sunnyvale are also being delayed.” A Google representative notified the Palo Alto staff about the delay July 18, the report said. “The fiber ball is entirely in Google’s court,” emailed a San Jose spokesman. “We’ve taken care of all the environmental, permitting, and land use procedural issues needed for them to move ahead whenever they’re ready to.” He said the city and Google Fiber have had “a strong, productive working relationship” over the past two years, and the city remains optimistic Google will move forward with its plans to extend fiber into San Jose, “even if their original schedule gets modified so they can take advantage of technology advances that might be potentially less disruptive.” The delay follows Google Fiber’s acquisition of Webpass, a California CLEC specializing in point-to-point wireless broadband that could be combined with fiber to spread high-speed Internet to more homes (see 1606230046). Google Fiber last month opened shop in Charlotte (see 1607120030), and in June said it’s eyeing Dallas for further expansion (see 1606140047). Google continues "to work with city leaders to explore the possibility of bringing Google Fiber to the South Bay area," a company spokeswoman said. "This means deploying the latest technologies in alignment with our product roadmap, while understanding local considerations and challenges, which takes time."
An Iowa Utilities Board member wrestled with VoIP classification questions during oral argument live-streamed Tuesday from IUB headquarters in Des Moines. As the board mulled a proposed rule in docket RMU-2015-0002 to add VoIP to its list of deregulated services, member Nick Wagner asked what jurisdiction IUB has over VoIP. The board has jurisdiction over voice, but not broadband, and yet VoIP is a voice service that relies on broadband, he said. “How do we go in and pick one specific component?” Industry officials from AT&T, CenturyLink and other telcos said the regulator should see interconnected VoIP as an information service and therefore refrain from regulating it. "Regulations today treat the industry like we're still dealing with that old black rotary phone,” said CenturyLink State Regulatory Affairs Director Wayne Johnson. But AARP Iowa State Director of Advocacy Anthony Carroll said advocates for seniors and other consumers aren’t trying to fight the future by seeking regulation of interconnected VoIP, but want to keep protections consumers have today with traditional landlines. Iowa Consumer Advocate Mark Schuling said the problem with the industry’s classification argument is that the FCC has never definitively resolved whether interconnected VoIP is a telecom or information service. Acknowledging the lack of clarity from the federal regulator, Wagner said, “It would be very helpful if they would.” At the end of the meeting, IUB Chairwoman Geri Huser directed parties to file additional comments on the board’s questions by Sept. 1. The VoIP classification question is also central to a court case in U.S. District Court in Minnesota, where Charter Communications challenged the state Public Utilities Commission assertion of jurisdiction over interconnected VoIP (see 1605060027).
FairPoint Communications need report service quality only in locations with no voice competition, the phone company told the Vermont Public Service Board. In testimony Thursday in docket 8701, FairPoint Vermont State President Beth Fastiggi said competition increased significantly since service-quality rules were set. "In the context of adoption of the metrics, service quality regulation was a proxy for competition, giving the [ILEC] an incentive to provide quality service to its customers in the absence of customer choice,” she said. “Those days are long past us now." FairPoint "has -- like all ILECs nationwide -- seen its telephone lines in service decrease dramatically as a result of changing technology and competition, including cable voice service, other broadband provided [VoIP] service, and wireless voice service,” she said. Over the past seven years in Vermont, FairPoint access lines fell 53 percent to about 136,100, she said. Meanwhile, the cost of providing rural voice service is much higher than revenue received for the service, she said. Fastiggi proposed the board annually review competition at specific locations, using buildings by E-911 address within 300 feet of any plant capable of providing wireline voice service, including cable and fiber. Fastiggi also urged the board to double the amount of time given to FairPoint to address service issues. The current metric requires the telco to make repairs in 24 hours, a goal that the carrier hasn’t met for two of the past four quarters. The 24-hour metric "is not a meaningful or realistic measure of customer satisfaction, and yet for many years both FairPoint and its predecessor [Verizon] have struggled to meet it with any consistency," Fastiggi said. "With respect to reported troubles, customers, in our experience, want us there when we say we will be there -- they want us to schedule appointments with them within a reasonable time period and then keep our appointments." FairPoint bases appointment times on its current load, prioritizing homeland security issues, customers with medical needs and wholesale customers, she said. She proposed changing the measure to “Cleared in 48” hours, as used in Maine. That metric “would keep an express, objective period of time in place while at least providing the company with some additional flexibility in scheduling repairs," she said, "and a more meaningful opportunity to meet the regulatory commitment consistently while also completing all other work.”
A judge rebuked the California Public Utilities Commission for violating a preliminary injunction banning disclosure of FCC Form 477 and other data to third parties (see 1607200016). The form includes information about phone and broadband deployment that AT&T, Comcast, CTIA, Verizon and other industry plaintiffs say is confidential. In an order (in Pacer), U.S. District Court in San Francisco agreed with ISPs that CPUC’s Office of Ratepayer Advocates violated the injunction when it disclosed the data to Lee Selwyn, president of Economics and Technology Inc. "It's difficult to understand how anyone at the CPUC could have failed to realize it was inappropriate for Dr. Selwyn, who is not a direct employee, to retain the data after the injunction was issued,” U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria wrote. “It's even more difficult to understand why the CPUC's lawyers, upon learning that Dr. Selwyn continued to possess the data, did not immediately take steps to correct the problem. In the event of similar conduct going forward, the Court will consider holding the responsible parties in contempt, and will entertain any appropriate motion for sanctions." Chhabria directed the CPUC to immediately retrieve any of the data in the possession of Selwyn or any other person or entity not a direct employee of CPUC, and to instruct all commission employees not to violate the injunction. The case now moves on to the larger question of whether CPUC should be permanently banned from disclosing the data to third parties. NARUC recently joined the case, arguing such a ban could disrupt the authority of state commissions across the country and a decision favoring the ISPs would likely be appealed (see 1607290037). The CPUC didn’t comment Friday.