About a month after 43 Colorado municipalities voted to opt out of the state's broadband law (see 1511040055), the state Office of Information Technology (OIT) launched a portal to give residents and industry a place to find broadband news. A map lets users enter their address and see the options for ISPs in their area and the site allows them to do speed tests. Brian Shepherd, OIT broadband program manager, said the portal is a "one-stop shop" for those in the state who are involved with expanding broadband to more people. “One of OIT’s key goals for our broadband strategy is to coordinate amongst the local and regional jurisdictions within the state, so the website provides a chance for those folks to really see what each other [are] doing, provide a chance to find contacts around the state, and really hopefully focus on collaboration and getting people together,” Shepherd says in a welcome video.
Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller (R)wants a ruling, or to know whether the FCC plans to rule, on TracFone's pending emergency petition for declaratory ruling about 911 fees, said a filing in docket 11-42 sent Monday. The request comes from two cases in federal district court where eligible telecom carriers are alleging that Indiana's statewide 911 fee is pre-empted by the Telecom Act as applied to transactions with Lifeline customers, the filing said. TracFone's petition seeks a declaration that states can't impose charges on Lifeline customers or providers.
NARUC supports the objectives of the Connect America Fund and its Remote Areas Fund and urged the FCC to move as quickly as possible to implement the competitive bidding process for the CAF Phase II and RAF, said an ex parte notice posted Wednesday in docket 10-90 on a meeting with FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai and an aide. During its November annual meeting, the NARUC board adopted a resolution (see 1511100058) asking the FCC to move forward on funding to help ensure the timely availability of broadband facilities to remote areas of the nation, including tribal regions. Separately, the group lobbied Wireline Bureau Chief Matthew DelNero to suggest some clarifying language for a draft order on a USTelecom forbearance petition, which is due for a Dec. 17 vote (see 1511250047).
Change to Win is accusing T-Mobile of false advertising and "engaging in deceptive and unfair practices toward consumers," said complaints the organization was planning to file with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Change to Win -- a labor federation with 5.5 million members -- is behind the "Calling Out T-Mobile" effort, which is working with a group of consumer, civil rights and labor organizations to push for reforms, the project’s website says. The complaint said T-Mobile’s no-contract advertising can mislead consumers and that the company’s “inadequate and opaque debt resolution and debt collection processes” exacerbate “misleading advertising” by placing into collections consumers who had no knowledge of inadequately disclosed termination fees. T-Mobile didn't officially comment, but CEO John Legere responded Tuesday to tweets about the accusations. USA Today reported that the New York Attorney General's Office opened an investigation into the complaints, which Legere said on Twitter are misleading. The New York AG didn't comment Tuesday.
Sprint said it will offer free broadband to Illinois public schools. In a Tuesday news release, Sprint said the service will use Wi-Fi hot spots to connect more than 1,600 Illinois students at home. Last year, Sprint pledged to provide wireless broadband connectivity for 50,000 low-income K-12 students across the U.S. as part of a White House initiative, ConnectED. In Illinois, about 54 percent of the students live in low-income households and qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, Sprint said.
Forty-two California government entities joined a lawsuit filed by a whistleblower against AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon. Filed in Sacramento County Superior Court under the California False Claims Act, the case alleges the wireless companies overcharged government customers by more than $100 million, said a news release from Constantine Cannon, which represents the intervenors and whistleblower. The action was unsealed by the court Monday. The case alleges the wireless companies ignored two cost-saving requirements included in the master contracts under which California state and local government customers bought wireless services, the release said. It said the contracts required the carriers to determine and report to the government customers which rate plan selections would result in the lowest cost -- called "rate plan optimization" -- and to provide wireless services at "the lowest available cost."
In 2014, more than 87 million households -- or three-quarters of all households nationally -- had a broadband subscription, said a report from the Brookings Institution released Monday. The report used 2013 and 2014 American Community Survey data to track broadband adoption rates, while using other census and Internet speed data to show what factors affect metropolitan adoption rates. Only 46.8 percent of households with annual incomes under $20,000 had a broadband subscription in 2014, compared with 88.8 percent of households earning $50,000 or more, Brookings said. While 54.1 percent of those with less than a high school diploma had a broadband subscription, 91.5 percent with a bachelor’s degree or higher did. Low adoption rates also appear among older age groups -- 64.5 percent of individuals 65 years and older -- while those not in the labor force -- 69.7 percent -- subscribe to broadband at lower rates than the national average. Broadband adoption also varies across different U.S. markets, including the country’s 100 largest metropolitan areas, the report said. Although these areas tend to have higher adoption rates (77.8 percent) than the country as a whole (75.1 percent), rates can still differ by up to 30 percentage points or more in some cases, it said. Tech centers like San Jose (88.2 percent), Seattle (84.8 percent), and Boston (82.7 percent), for instance, exceed the shares in Lakeland, Florida (64.1 percent), Greensboro, North Carolina (64 percent), and McAllen, Texas (58.1 percent), the report said.
The proposed assignment of the license for KYES-TV Anchorage from Fireweed Communications to Gray Television has the potential for significant negative effects on competition in the Anchorage designated market area, said Alaska Attorney General Craig Richards (R) in a reply comment to the FCC in file No. BALCDT-20151009ADJ. There's no question this assignment would be denied under the FCC's duopoly rule prohibiting common ownership of two TV stations in a single market, Richards said: "Competition is fragile in the Alaska broadcast market. With limited players, a small population and geographic challenges, we strive to keep all the competition available whenever possible."
Cox Communications started deploying gigabit Internet service to residential customers in Northern Virginia -- the first gigabit service in the Washington metropolitan area, said a news release from Cox Thursday. The company has already launched its gigabit service in 10 states and will have gigabit speeds in all of its markets by the end of 2016, it said. The service will cost $99.99 per month when combined with Cox's bundles, it said.
FCC efforts to overhaul Lifeline USF mechanisms could run into trouble in Puerto Rico, said a filing by Connected Nation's chief policy counsel on a meeting the chairman of the Telecommunications Regulatory Board of Puerto Rico, two advisers and the counsel had with FCC officials. Lifeline modernization is important for Puerto Rico, which has a broadband adoption rate of 48 percent that is "far lower than any state," the filing said. Only five metropolitan areas in the U.S. have home broadband adoption rates below 50 percent, and three of those are in Puerto Rico, the filing said: "We emphasized strongly that proposed limitations on the eligibility of low-income consumers use to qualify for the program would be devastating for Puerto Rico and create enormous 'qualification gaps,' due to the fact that federal nutrition assistance, school lunch, and other federal assistance programs operate differently in Puerto Rico. The Commission’s effort to modernize Lifeline will not succeed if it does not succeed in Puerto Rico," said the filing, posted Thursday in docket 10-90.