Boosting broadband access and digital equity will be local government priorities in the year ahead, especially with federal infrastructure money expected to come to states, NATOA President Brian Roberts and General Counsel Nancy Werner said in an interview during the association’s annual conference. Our survey found general member support for meeting virtually.
Comcast wants to chat with local government associations about why only cable operators pay franchise fees, said Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Klayton Fennell Wednesday at NATOA’s virtual annual conference. Localities haven't had impacts from two recent court decisions on public, educational and government (PEG) channels, NATOA officials said in an interview. FCC staffers updated NATOA on local-federal engagement efforts.
Delay in getting a fifth member on the FCC is preventing the commission from acting on some key issues for local governments, said NATOA annual conference panelists Tuesday. Localities may need to explore new ways to maintain franchise fee revenue as more people cut pay TV for over-the-top services like Netflix, said others.
T-Mobile and Dish Network executives clashed at a California Public Utilities Commission hearing Monday (see 2109200065) on how long T-Mobile agreed to keep its CDMA network, in the Boost Mobile divestiture agreement brokered with DOJ. The partly virtual hearing on the CPUC’s August order saying the carrier may have misled the agency (see 2108160021) started at 10 a.m. PDT and went overtime, with the lights at the state commission’s headquarters automatically turning off before it ended after 6 p.m. PDT.
California Public Utilities Commission judges pressed T-Mobile at a Monday hearing on the reasonableness of a promise to give Dish Network six months’ notice before shutting down Sprint’s CDMA network. The virtual hearing was on the CPUC’s August order saying the carrier may have misled the agency (see 2108160021). T-Mobile Technology President Neville Ray testified he and the company didn't mean to conceal anything: "It was never our intent or my intent to mislead the commission in any way or form as to how this transaction and subsequent divestiture would unfold."
Some states are responding to a possible federal phaseout in Lifeline support for voice-only services, but many have no plans to replace lost support, state commission officials said. The FCC plans to phase out $5.25 in voice support Dec. 1 except in census blocks with only one Lifeline voice provider. Some industry and community groups applauded states stepping in but said it’s up to the FCC to ensure no one is disconnected from voice service. “In the absence of federal support, state Lifeline subsidy programs fill a critical gap for those in need,” said Next Century Cities (NCC) Policy Counsel-State and Local Initiatives Corian Zacher.
Inmate calling service providers could shift costs to video calling if the California Public Utilities Commission caps only voice rates, said public advocates Wednesday at a CPUC prehearing conference. After last month capping voice intrastate ICS rates at 7 cents a minute on an interim basis (see 2108190046), the commission is preparing for a phase two that might include rates for text and video services, despite some ICS providers disagreeing they're under the agency’s jurisdiction. Some providers sought a several-month delay so the effectiveness of new interim rates can be analyzed.
Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judges Danielle Forrest and Mary Schroeder asked about FCC preemptive authority after reclassifying broadband as a Communications Act Title I service, at oral argument Tuesday on ISP associations challenging a lower court denying preliminary injunction against California’s 2018 net neutrality law (case 21-15430). Judge Clifford Wallace asked why the 9th Circuit should bother with a preliminary appeal.
Bills to extend and enlarge the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) will go to Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), after the Assembly voted 60-7 Thursday to concur with Senate amendments to AB-14. The legislature cleared Senate companion SB-4 earlier that day despite industry resistance (see 2109090049). Newsom declined to comment Friday. His office was involved with the bills and he's expected to sign before an Oct. 10 deadline. The bills, contingent upon each other's enactment, would include extending the CASF by 10 years and raising the surcharge cap to $150 million yearly from $66 million. “Both houses have approved a historic investment to close the digital divide,” Assembly sponsor Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D) said Thursday. “Broadband for All is one step closer to becoming a reality,” said sponsoring Sen. Lena Gonzalez (D). SB-4 and AB-14 “get the money correct, but fall short on critical upgrades to a state that is more dependent than ever on broadband infrastructure,” emailed Mike Montgomery, executive director of CALinnovates, an advocacy group with partners including AT&T and Uber. “What is really needed is to focus spend on delivering services to underserved communities in need, coupled with wraparound education to encourage uptake in these communities.” Consumer Reports Senior Policy Counsel Jonathan Schwantes applauded lawmakers Friday “for taking action to help bridge the digital divide.” Also Thursday, the Assembly concurred with Senate amendments to AB-74 to require various California LifeLine enrollment and recertification processes. The Senate concurred with Assembly changes to SB-28 to increase CPUC authority to check if state video franchisees are deploying enough broadband and to SB-341 on telecom outage reporting (see 2109080071).
Industry groups that sued Florida for its social media law said Friday they're mulling next steps in Texas, where Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed a similar law Thursday. “We’re exploring our options,” emailed a NetChoice spokesperson. The group had said a lawsuit was possible; see our report here. The Computer and Communications Industry Association “is exploring all legal options to ensure industry has the necessary tools to protect Internet users from malicious actors online,” its spokesperson wrote. The Internet Association, which didn’t sue Florida but filed a brief supporting CCIA and NetChoice’s challenge, declined to comment. Thursday, NetChoice, CCIA and IA condemned the law as unconstitutional. Texas Democrats and industry tried to stop the bill to prohibit larger platforms from blocking, deplatforming or otherwise discriminating against users based on viewpoint or location (see 2109030048). The law is about protecting free speech, Abbott said. Social websites “are a place for healthy public debate where information should be able to flow freely,” he said, “but there is a dangerous movement by social media companies to silence conservative viewpoints and ideas." TechNet’s Texas Executive Director Servando Esparza countered Friday that the law “recklessly forces companies to leave objectionable content in the public eye or otherwise face huge liability risks, and it limits how email service providers protect users form an influx of spam emails.”