Local governments opposed a New York state wireless siting bill that’s returning to the legislature after failing in previous sessions. Crown Castle supported the bill that’s meant to streamline 5G deployment by preempting local authority in the right of way. However, a New York wireless industry lawyer raised doubts that the measure has any better chance of passing in 2023 than it did in several previous years.
Mississippi’s broadband office is “extremely busy” putting a challenge together in time for the Jan. 13 deadline to correct the FCC’s national broadband map, said Broadband Expansion and Accessibility of Mississippi Director Sally Doty on a Broadband.Money webinar Friday. Another month would help, said Doty, saying the winter holidays made the current compressed time frame even more difficult and noting Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., wrote a letter seeking more time. NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson said last month that NTIA was evaluating states’ concerns with the map challenge deadline (see 2212200060).
Lumen’s CenturyLink won't avoid public hearings in a Minnesota service quality probe. At a partially virtual meeting Thursday, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission voted 5-0 to refer the matter to an administrative law judge for a contested case proceeding on whether the telco is meeting requirements of Minnesota Statutes Chapter 237 and Minnesota Rules Chapter 7810. Lumen Assistant General Counsel Jason Topp said he didn’t think hearings were needed in the more than 2-year-old proceeding. “It's time to bring this to a head, move forward and develop a record.”
A state appeals court upheld a 2021 California Public Utilities Commission decision to adopt imputation of net positive retail broadband internet access service revenue of 10 small LECs and their ISP affiliates when calculating California High Cost Fund A (CHCF-A) support. The CPUC adopted the order April 15, 2021, and denied the LECs’ rehearing request Aug. 19 that year. The telcos sought court review of the two decisions in September 2021. In a Dec. 20 unpublished opinion, the 5th District California Court of Appeals rejected the 10 RLECs’ argument that broadband imputation isn't authorized by state law, exceeds the CPUC's authority, is preempted by federal law and is an unconstitutional taking. On the federal preemption issue, the CPUC is right that broadband imputation doesn't directly "impose economic or public utility type regulation on the ISP affiliates,” Justice Donald Franson wrote (case F083339). “It does not directly impose any requirement on their rates and practices, prohibit discrimination, impose tariffing requirements, impose accounting requirements, restrict entry or exist from the ISP business, impose interconnection obligation, or require unbundling or network access.” The CPUC "correctly found that broadband imputation does not impose price controls on ISP affiliates and does not impose any additional regulations affecting their operations." The court disagrees with telcos' argument that broadband imputation's indirect effects result in economic or utility-style regulation of ISPs, Franson added. On the constitutional claim, Franson wrote, “A subsidy is not private property and, therefore, the reduction of the subsidy does not constitute the taking of private property of the telephone companies or the ISP affiliates.” Justices Bert Levy and Kathleen Meehan concurred.
Revised Colorado Privacy Act (CPA) draft rules make some proposed requirements easier and others harder for data controllers, business privacy attorneys wrote last week. The Colorado attorney general’s office is seeking comments by Jan. 18 on revised draft rules released Wednesday. “Some changes will be heralded by privacy advocates, while others will make implementation easier for businesses,” said McDermott Will attorneys.
The telecom industry bashed a California examination of AT&T and Frontier Communications wireline networks, in comments received Wednesday by the California Public Utilities Commission. The CPUC reports, which found copper service-quality problems, certainly shouldn’t be used as a reason to apply metrics to the entire industry including VoIP and wireless, said many companies in docket R.22-03-016. Consumer and worker advocates disagreed, urging the CPUC to tighten and expand its service-quality oversight over communications.
A Connecticut telecom regulator admonished an industry working group on pole attachments before voting with colleagues to adopt an order meant to reduce the state’s backlog of double poles (docket 21-07-29). At a virtual meeting Wednesday, the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) voted 3-0 for the plan to require a single-visit transfer (SVT) pilot program and tighten timelines for dealing with double poles (see 2212070065). PURA Chairman Marissa Paslick Gillett wished the order went further but said she has “cautious optimism that this will move the ball forward.”
The Wyoming Public Service Commission will keep a state surcharge for telecom relay services at four cents per access line, commissioners agreed 3-0 at a partially virtual Tuesday meeting. The commission adopted an order in docket 90000-172-XO-21 that will take effect Jan. 1. “We are on track to continue to draw down the cash reserve balance and hit the target … of 10 times the average monthly expenditures by the end of next year,” said TRS program consultant Lori Ceilinski. Revenue increased this year due to an increase in access lines, “which has been a little bit surprising to us” because they had been steadily declining for many years, she said. Expenditures that dropped during the COVID-19 pandemic “are coming back up,” she said.
NTIA hears states’ concerns about an imminent deadline to challenge inaccuracies in the FCC’s national broadband map, NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson said Tuesday. Challenges are due Jan. 13 to the first-draft map that will be used to determine broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) support allocations beyond the minimum $100 million each state will receive. “We will be keenly interested in the coming days to hear … from states about their needs, and we’ll be evaluating it,” said Davidson on a virtual call announcing nearly $9 million planning funds for California, including about $5 million for BEAD and $4 million for digital equity.
California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) rules could take effect in April or later, said California Privacy Protection Agency Executive Director Ashkan Soltani at the agency board’s virtual meeting Friday. The law itself takes effect Jan. 1. Board member Alastair Mactaggart raised concerns about the process’ estimated length. "It's urgent that we get this stuff out to the community as soon as possible,” he said.