The California Public Utilities Commission last week approved $225 million in its 10th round of grants, totaling more than $1 billion, for last-mile broadband infrastructure projects. The last-mile federal funding account grant program expands broadband to underserved and unserved communities throughout the state. "These grants fund projects that vary from fiber to wireless network infrastructure," said CPUC Commissioner Darcie Houck: "In order to maximize our investments we have to use all the innovative technologies at our disposal." The latest round of funding will serve 163,000 residents across 14 counties.
The California Public Utilities Commission should "take official notice" of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' opinion in the ISP coalition's challenge of New York's Affordable Broadband Act, California's Public Advocates Office said in a motion filed Friday in docket R2406012. The U.S. Supreme Court last week denied the ISPs' petition to review the appellate court ruling in favor of the law (see 2412160039). The office said the opinion is "directly relevant" to the CPUC's proceeding on its carrier of last resort rules, which the PUC is considering lifting (see 2412100065).
The Government Wireless Technology & Communications Association (GWTCA) and state groups asked the FCC to delay a requirement that current 4.9 GHz licensees provide it with granular licensing data not later than June 9, or face cancellation of their licenses. Proponents of the delay were optimistic on Monday that the FCC would approve the stay.
Comments are due Jan. 3, replies Jan. 10 on the proposed sale by California-based Varcomm Holdings of Halsey, Oregon, local exchange carrier Roome Telecommunications to Oregon’s Alyrica Networks, said a public notice Friday. Alyrica serves 10,541 residential and business subscribers in the Philomath, Oregon, area. After the transfer, Roome would continue to exist under the same name and provide rural LEC service in the same area, the PN said. The proposed deal will be “seamless and virtually transparent to consumers of Roome” and won’t involve changes to the rates, terms and conditions of Roome’s services, Alyrica told the bureau.
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.
The U.S. Supreme Court Monday denied to review a petition from telecom groups challenging a New York law requiring that ISPs offer a certain plan for eligible low-income households (see 2404260051). The Affordable Broadband Act requires $15 monthly plans providing 25/3 Mbps speeds. Some saw the decision to uphold the 2nd Circuit's ruling in favor of the law as unsurprising given the legal battle over the FCC's reclassification of broadband as a Title II telecom service (see 2410010024).
The FCC Wireless Bureau approved on Thursday a request from GeoLinks that it surrender some local multipoint distribution service (LMDS) licenses in return for others from the commission’s inventory. GeoLinks proposes using federal funding to serve some 47,000 locations across Arizona, California and Nevada that now lack high-speed broadband access. The bureau sought comment on the request in May (see 2405170028). “The proposed modifications will enable GeoLinks to rationalize its LMDS spectrum holdings by providing access to more contiguous spectrum, which will allow GeoLinks to improve its network performance and lower its equipment and deployment costs,” the bureau said: “This will benefit rural consumers who would be able to access robust and affordable broadband service more quickly.” The modifications could also “increase the utility of the LMDS band overall, by returning spectrum to the Commission for future reassignment that could create synergies with existing LMDS licenses” in the FCC inventory, the order said.
Federal prosecutors allege former Comtech Chairman-CEO Ken Peterman sold or tried to sell tens of thousands of shares of company stock earlier this year based on insider information. DOJ said Wednesday a federal grand jury indicted Peterman on one count each of insider trading, securities fraud and wire fraud. Peterman, 67, of Encintas, California, is charged with making the transactions March 12 upon learning about a forthcoming negative earnings report and that he would lose his job, while neither of those pieces of information was public.
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions. New cases since the last update are marked with a *.
The California Public Utilities Commission should proceed with its proposal to lift its carrier of last resort (COLR) obligations, carriers said in reply comments posted this week in docket R.24-06-012 (see 2410020037). Several commenters backed AT&T's proposal for identifying areas throughout the state where lifting the commission's COLR rules is justified. For example, COLR obligations aren't necessary in competitive markets, said Frontier. The carrier urged the commission to prioritize COLR relief in urban and suburban areas to "avoid ongoing competitive disparities" between incumbent local exchange carriers (ILEC) and rivals. Frontier was among the commenters that backed AT&T's proposal. Consolidated Communications agreed, adding the PUC should reject calls to expand the proceeding and examine the merits of the COLR rules. A coalition of TDS carriers also backed AT&T's proposal. The first phase of the proceeding should consider areas that are well-served before addressing "not yet well-served" areas in the second phase, they said. Should the commission include broadband within the scope of its rulemaking, the carriers will seek a separate, third phase. The commission should request additional comments on issues that "have not been adequately addressed yet are critical to understand in order to revise and update the COLR rules," said The Utility Reform Network, Communications Workers of America and the Center for Accessible Technology in joint comments. The groups urged the PUC to clarify that rules updates don't allow the withdrawal of a COLR solely based on a community's U.S. Census Bureau designation as an urban area. "The mere fact that a community is designated as an 'urban area' within the Census Bureau data should not justify the diminution or elimination of a COLR obligation," they said.