General Communications (GCI) proposed revised LTE performance commitments to go along with the Alaska Plan that it and others are urging the FCC to adopt for wireless and rate-of-return wireline carrier broadband USF support in the state. While some aspects remain preliminary and subject to refinement, the proposals reflect "a commitment to move all fiber-backhaul areas, and the substantial majority of microwave-backhaul population, to LTE within ten years," GCI said in a filing Wednesday in docket 10-90. "Moreover, GCI will be implementing LTE-over-satellite to approximately half of the population served by satellite backhaul, and will be moving at least 3,000 POPs from satellite backhaul to microwave." GCI is targeting 2 Mbps downlink speeds and 800 kbps uplink speeds for the vast majority of LTE-served POPs. It urged the FCC to adopt the Alaska Plan rules and approve carrier performance plans in the same order "if at all possible." The filing also answered FCC staff questions about GCI's methodology for determining which Alaska census blocks are "served" by AT&T or Verizon LTE systems and which wouldn't be eligible for future support. Alaska Communications, the state's price-cap telco, recently objected to the Alaska Telephone Association's wireless USF proposal, saying it would provide $1 billion over 10 years to competitors, much of it a "windfall" underwriting "GCI's unregulated middle-mile monopoly" (see 1604190012).

States tend to fund broadband deployment more than they do adoption, said a state broadband report released Wednesday. The Rural Telecommunications Congress, a nonprofit headed by Drew Clark, commissioned broadband economists at the Strategic Networks Group to write the report. About 52 percent of states have an office dedicated to broadband, and 28 percent have a budget to fund broadband initiatives, the report said. (The study included only 48 states because Rhode Island and New Jersey declined to participate.) While California has $330 million and New York has $500 million for broadband, the average funding for the 11 other funded states was $597,000 annually, the report found. States with broadband funding said they most often support “planning and support” activities (82 percent) and infrastructure (45 percent), the report said. SNG President Michael Curri said “investment activities seem to be heavily weighted towards the ‘supply’ of broadband and include mapping, infrastructure planning, and grants, surpassing economic development activities that impact economic advancement including raising awareness, training, and driving end-user utilization.” The report ranked New Mexico the highest on its broadband efforts, followed by Maine, Ohio, New York and Vermont. The worst-ranked five states were Indiana (44), Louisiana (45), Montana (46), Missouri (47) and Texas (48), it said. The ranking was based on five dimensions, SNG said. On availability, SNG said the top three states were New Mexico, Maine and Hawaii, with Montana in last place. On adoption, the top three states were New Hampshire, Hawaii and Oregon, with Alabama in last place. On how well states drove “meaningful use” of broadband by businesses and households, SNG found Ohio performed the best, Vermont and West Virginia were tied for second, and Tennessee did the worst. On growth investment, New York came in first, with Nevada and North Carolina tied for second, SNG said. SNG also considered regulatory environment, but didn’t rank the states within this specific metric.

Pennsylvania will open government data to the public in machine-readable format, under an executive order issued this week by Gov. Tom Wolf (D). The executive order directs the Office of Administration to establish a central repository for open data published by state agencies, and help agencies identify, secure and release data sets. It requires agencies to protect sensitive information. “One of our most valuable and underutilized resources in state government is data,” he said in a news release Tuesday. “Our goal is to make data available in order to engage citizens, create economic opportunities for businesses and entrepreneurs, and develop innovative policy solutions that improve program delivery and streamline operations.” The open data portal is expected to launch this summer, the governor’s office said. “Making government data easily accessible benefits the public in many ways,” said Erik Arneson, executive director of the Office of Open Records. “Experience has shown that a good state-level open data portal will lead to cost savings for the government, opportunities for businesses, and more information for citizens.” Philadelphia and a western Pennsylvania group -- including Pittsburgh, Allegheny County and the University of Pittsburgh -- had open data initiatives before the state executive order. At the federal level, Democratic and Republican members of Congress last week unveiled legislation to require the government to share data by default (see 1604140027).

The Louisiana Senate unanimously passed a telehealth bill to remove the requirement that physicians be located within the state. The state Senate voted 34-0 Monday to pass SB-328 and send it to the House, one day after the Alaska Legislature passed Medicaid legislation that similarly removed in-state restrictions for telehealth (see 1604180054). Alaska and Louisiana were the last two states to have an in-state requirement. The Louisiana bill “ensures technology-neutral modalities for telemedicine, and it removes the onerous residency restriction,” Teladoc Vice President-Government Affairs Claudia Tucker said in an interview. The bill defines telehealth broadly to not exclude any current or future technologies to deliver telemedicine, she said. SB-328 now moves to the House, which is expected to consider a similar bill, HB-570, Wednesday. The Louisiana Legislature adjourns June 6, but the telehealth legislation could be passed before then, Tucker said. “They are moving at warp speed,” she said. “I’ve never seen a bill move out of committee as quickly as I saw [SB-328] get out of the Senate committee.” One obstacle to passage could be the State Board of Medical Examiners, which objected to removing the in-state requirement. Teladoc is pushing for telehealth legislation to enhance access in other states, Tucker said. The Missouri Legislature has a final floor vote this week on telehealth legislation, and the Michigan Senate has a floor vote this week, she said. Economic concerns are driving movement on state telehealth bills this year, Tucker said. “Healthcare costs are spiraling out of control ... and will continue to do so at an unsustainable rate.” And people want the greater access to care that is provided by telemedicine, she said.

Mobile backhaul company Siklu is in talks with several communities about municipal broadband projects in which it can install millimeter wave radios to wirelessly extend the reach of fiber, Director-Business Development Boris Maysel said in an interview. “There is a huge demand in municipal broadband,” Maysel said. “There is a deep understanding that broadband is the railways or airports of the 21st century, so they need to invest in broadband in order to retain businesses and attract new businesses.” Siklu’s model is to partner with a city and a private ISP responsible for operating the muni network, he said. Earlier this month, the company announced a muni broadband project in Santa Cruz, California, where it will connect radios to existing fiber from independent ISP Cruzio to provide 1 Gbps speeds wirelessly (see 1604050021). Siklu chose Santa Cruz after searching for a city with a service provider where it could “showcase” millimeter wave technology on top of an existing fiber network, Maysel said. Siklu plans to roll out its radios over the next 10 weeks to 17 locations in Santa Cruz, he said. The locations include public housing, community centers and business locations, and the wireless network will cover most of downtown, he said. It's Siklu’s first public-private partnership on muni broadband, and the company plans to unveil projects in additional communities soon, he said. Siklu uses millimeter wave technology to provide multi-gigabit speeds over wireless, which costs less than connecting fiber to each premise in the last mile. Millimeter wave takes advantage of large capacities at super-high frequencies. For example, from 57 to 64 GHz, there is 7 gigahertz of unlicensed spectrum, “which is more than all the unlicensed bands put together in lower frequencies,” Maysel said. The technology is free of interference due to the narrowness of the antennas, he said. The FCC is looking at ways to release more spectrum in the millimeter wave bands (see 1604130062).

New York state officials urged the FCC to ensure a Connect America Fund auction keeps broadband subsidies allocated to the states where they were declined by price-cap telcos. They said they are concerned the $28.4 million in CAF Phase II funds for New York could be redistributed to other states. "These funds are critical for the deployment of broadband services in the New York communities affected by Verizon's 2015 decision to decline Phase II model-based funding," said Howard Zemsky, CEO of Empire State Development (ESD), and Audrey Zibelman, chairwoman of the state Public Service Commission, in a letter posted Thursday in docket 10-90. The ESD is managing a state broadband program that will include an auction to distribute up to $500 million in funds to provide broadband service of at least 100 Mbps to unserved and underserved communities. The letter asked the FCC to "reconsider a nationwide auction plan and instead directly allocate CAF Phase II funds to those states that are prepared to disburse broadband funding directly." If not, the New York representatives said, the federal commission should at least provide bidding credits to carriers receiving state funds to deploy broadband to unserved and underserved areas, and to set an auction floor for each census block covered by CAF II.

News organizations opposed two Louisiana state bills that would restrict newsgathering by drone. State Senate bills 124 and 141 would make it criminal trespass to fly drones over private property without first obtaining the owner’s permission. In a letter to state Sen. Daniel Claitor (R), the news organizations said that "it will be daunting, if not impossible, for journalists to obtain the 'express permission' from a wide range of 'immovable property' owners, as the bill requires, especially during breaking news events.” The letter was signed by The Associated Press, the Radio Television Digital News Association, the Society of Professional Journalists and several other media organizations.

The Utility Reform Network (TURN) lined up several big consumer and labor groups against a California bill authorizing telcos to end legacy copper service in 2020. The TURN coalition against AB-2395 includes AARP California, Center for Accessible Technology, Communications Workers of America, National Consumer Law Center, National Hispanic Media Coalition and Public Citizen. A hearing is set for 1:30 p.m. PDT Wednesday on the bill, which would allow telcos in the state to transition to IP-based services in four years, if they first educate consumers about the transition (see 1603300054). TURN said the bill would authorize AT&T to strand many Californian customers who still rely on the copper network, including people in rural areas, low-income households, seniors and people with disabilities (see 1603290055). “Rather than modernizing phone service, this bill would take us back to the dark days when consumers were totally at the mercy of AT&T,” said TURN Executive Director Mark Toney Monday. “It will eliminate the most basic consumer protections, regardless of the enormous impact abandoning copper could have on emergency services and vital communications.” In a news conference Monday, AB-2395 sponsor Assembly Member Evan Low (D) called the bill a move toward the future: “California telecommunications law established in the 1950’s needs to be modernized so our state can continue to be the world’s innovation leader as well as the pioneer in addressing climate change. This legislation establishes a state policy for a clearly communicated, planned and orderly transition from the last vestiges of the outdated, and carbon unfriendly plain-old-telephone-service (POTS) network to modern, fiber-optic networks and services.” Local supporters include CALinnovates, the Congress of California Seniors, Sacramento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the San Jose Police Officers Association. The latter group’s vice president, James Gonzalez, responded directly to TURN’s claim the bill would make 911 less reliable for emergency calls, saying 75 percent of 911 calls “come from mobile phones, so we have to adapt to what consumers are using.”

Verizon will partner with Boston to replace its copper network with fiber, Verizon and Mayor Martin Walsh (D) said in a news release Tuesday. Under the partnership, Verizon will invest $300 million over six years. The project is to start this year in Dorchester, West Roxbury and the Dudley Square neighborhood of Roxbury, followed by Hyde Park, Mattapan, and other areas of Roxbury and Jamaica Plain, Verizon said. The city and Verizon will take votes from locals to prioritize neighborhoods for the buildout, Verizon said. The city agreed to an expedited permitting process, it said. The partnership is also expected to enhance wireless services in Boston because it allows Verizon to attach wireless equipment to city street lights and utility poles. The city also will begin a cable TV licensing process so Verizon can offer Fios TV service in Boston, Verizon said. "Boston is moving faster than our current infrastructure can support, and a modern fiber-optic communications platform will make us a next-level city,” Walsh said. “It is a priority to ensure that every resident has expanded access to broadband and increasing competition is critical to reaching that goal.”

Uber agreed to pay $10 million in a settlement with San Francisco and Los Angeles. It will have to pay another $15 million in two years if it hasn’t complied with all terms of the agreement. California Superior Court Judge Mary Wiss Thursday approved the settlement, resolving the enforcement action that began in December 2014. Uber agreed not to use possibly misleading phrases like “safest ride on the road” or describe its background checks as “the gold standard,” in advertising, the company said. “We’re glad to put this case behind us and excited to redouble our efforts serving riders and drivers across the state,” Uber said. San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón said the settlement “sends a clear message to all businesses, and to startups in particular, that in the quest to quickly obtain market share, laws designed to protect consumers cannot be ignored.” Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey said she's pleased Uber agreed to comply with state consumer laws: “The ridesharing company has pledged to communicate honestly about its driver background checks and airport fees, important steps to protecting the residents of California.”