The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission voted 3-0 to seek comment on a proposed settlement to resolve an Enforcement Bureau informal investigation of Lumen’s CenturyLink. At a livestreamed Thursday meeting, commissioners unanimously supported the proposed order on a pact between the bureau and the company in docket M-2022-3028754. The bureau opened the probe in response to information from state Rep. Perry Stambaugh (R) and Sens. Judy Ward (R) and John DiSanto (R), “who had received various email complaints relating to service outages and alleged unreliable service by CenturyLink customers,” said a July 18 joint petition to approve the settlement. Hurricane Ida flooding damaged CenturyLink facilities in August 2021, it said. Under the proposed settlement, CenturyLink agreed to pay $45,000 and to complete remedial measures including a quality assurance program and required public service announcements to educate the public on how to report damaged facilities. Comments will be due 25 days after the order's publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin, said the PUC.
Washington, D.C.’s, 911 center did little in response to recommendations in an October audit that found the Office of Unified Communications (OUC) failed in many months to meet national standards for getting timely help to callers, said a follow-up report Friday. Of 31 recommendations, OUC completed one, made “minimal progress” on 24, and “no observed progress” on two, said the Office of D.C. Auditor (ODCA): OUC still faces issues identified in the original audit, “including call-taking confusion, glitches in dispatch operations, and insufficient management follow-up on after-action reviews.”
Chairperson Rebecca Cameron Valcq condemned political attacks against the Wisconsin Public Service Commission and Gov. Tony Evers (D) after a state auditor raised concerns with how the state handled broadband grants funded by federal dollars. Wisconsin Republicans said Wednesday that an alleged failure “to adequately and accurately track the millions of dollars they allocated for broadband service” shows Evers’ "ineptitude as a leader of our state.” Valcq responded in a Thursday statement, “It’s unfortunate that some would choose to take political potshots in this election season when we should be working together to get everyone connected with this very successful and transparent program.” Evers didn’t comment. The Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureau said in a Sept. 1 report the agency “should improve its administration of broadband expansion grant programs, including by establishing comprehensive written program policies and improving how it reviews and awards grants, reimburses telecommunication providers, and oversees the programs.” The PSC awarded $5.4 million and later reimbursed $4.9 million to telecom providers using Cares Act funding, but the agency didn’t establish written program policies for administering funds and "almost all of the documents that providers submitted in support of their reimbursement requests did not indicate the amounts they had actually paid to construct the projects,” said the auditor: The PSC also didn’t write program rules for $99.9 million awarded under the American Rescue Plan Act “and did not consistently adhere to its grant application instructions when deciding which projects to fund.” Valcq said Thursday that after reviewing 400 documents, “the audit did not find any errors, unallowable expenses, or items purchased outside of the performance period.” It “recognized the robust internal controls our programs have in place to assess and prevent any misuse of funds,” she said. “All the projects that received reimbursement funding were completed as expected and agreed to.” In an Aug. 25 letter attached to the report, Valcq disagreed that reimbursement requests submitted by grant recipients didn’t show actual costs. “All reimbursed amounts were properly supported, per the grant agreement and federal guidance.” The PSC will better document its monitoring activities and establish written policies and report by Nov. 15 to the Joint Legislative Audit Committee on efforts to address audit recommendations, she said.
California’s public advocate raised concerns about communications resiliency plans submitted by big wireline and cable companies to the California Public Utilities Commission. AT&T, Comcast and Cox resiliency reports omitted important details regarding compliance with the CPUC’s 72-hour backup power requirement, the agency’s independent Public Advocates Office (PAO) said in protest filings filed Wednesday at the CPUC. Require the three providers to file supplemental information, including on storage locations of mobile generators, to compliance letters that were due last month, it said.
The Utility Reform Network urged Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) to veto a broadband bill to update the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) grant review process. The legislature last month passed AB-2749, which would set a 180-day shot clock for the California Public Utilities Commission to decide CASF applications. TURN Executive Director Mark Toney told us he sent a letter Wednesday seeking Newsom's veto and a coalition of opponents including TURN plans to send a separate veto request later this week. Groups including American Civil Liberties Union, Public Knowledge, Center for Accessible Technology and the Institute for Local Self-Reliance joined an earlier coalition letter asking legislators not to pass the bill. Toney is verifying that they all will join the veto letter but hasn’t heard any group has changed its position, he said. USTelecom earlier urged Newsom to sign AB-2749; previous bill opponents Electronic Frontier Foundation and Rural County Representatives of California became neutral on the bill before it passed (see 2208290020). AB-2749 “is unnecessary, adopts a broken ‘shot clock’ detrimental to underserved communities, and undermines a recent CPUC decision,” Toney wrote in the TURN letter: The shot clock “could lead to either rushed or incomplete reviews of applications.” When the CPUC made program rules, the agency rejected AT&T’s call for a shot clock, Toney told us: Giving the carrier a “second bite at the apple” would be a “real abomination of the process.” Newsom has until Sept. 30 to sign, the TURN official said. AT&T didn’t comment.
The broadband industry will shift attention to passing a national privacy law, after dropping a lawsuit against Maine, said telecom and cable associations Tuesday. Plaintiffs USTelecom, NCTA, CTIA and ACA Connects decided not to continue a nearly 2-year-old challenge of the state’s ISP privacy law. Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey (D) said the state law’s survival is important for protecting consumers. The case’s end should encourage more states to act, said consumer privacy advocates in interviews.
DENVER -- Give states enough time with maps to plan broadband spending under the federal infrastructure act, said Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser (D) at the NATOA conference Wednesday. Weiser also supported removing barriers to muni broadband and accessing the right of way.
DENVER -- Over-the-top streaming is a rising concern for local governments, said NATOA General Counsel Nancy Werner in an interview at the association’s annual conference. Local governments could be losing cable franchise revenue as customers cut the cord for the OTT services that don’t pay local fees, said a panel Wednesday.
DENVER -- Colorado will try to end a state restriction on municipal broadband at the next legislative session, Colorado Broadband Office Executive Director Brandy Reitter said at the NATOA conference Tuesday. In panels on the broadband, equity access and deployment (BEAD) program and other federal infrastructure money, FCC and NTIA officials urged local governments to engage in state and federal broadband efforts.
AT&T is considering appeal options after a federal court dismissed its wireless infrastructure lawsuit against Los Altos, California, an AT&T spokesperson said Friday. The U.S District Court in San Jose dismissed a similar complaint by Verizon in the same decision Monday. The carriers challenged the city rejecting applications to install small-cell wireless facilities under a 2019 local law, but the city issued a new law this year without the challenged provisions, said Judge Edward Davila: That moots AT&T’s and Verizon’s claims that Los Altos’ law is an effective prohibition violating the Telecom Act. The city is unlikely to reenact challenged parts of the old law and is “entitled to a presumption of good faith,” Davila said. Verizon didn’t comment Friday.