Connecticut joined the other New England states and New York in creating a special agency to promote access to broadband, said a news release from Consumer Counsel Elin Swanson Katz. The Connecticut State Broadband Office will be a part of the Office of Consumer Counsel, it said. The broadband office will facilitate the availability of broadband access and increase adoption of ultra-high-speed gigabit capable broadband networks, it said.

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission plans four hearings about whether effective competition for phone services exists, said the PUC in a news release Thursday. The hearings will begin at 4 p.m. and end by 7 p.m. on Aug. 3 in Fort Morgan, Aug. 4 in Denver, Aug. 5 in Colorado Springs and Aug. 6 in Delta. The PUC said it's looking at relaxing regulation and eliminating high-cost funding in 104 wire centers, owned by CenturyLink and subsidiaries. Last year, the PUC did the same for 56 CenturyLink wire centers that were determined to offer multiple providers for basic local phone service, it said.

The California Public Utilities Commission is scheduled to discuss Thursday how it will proceed with the now-dead Comcast purchase of Time Warner Cable and resulting divestitures to Charter Communications, and if it needs to investigate the condition of the state’s aging copper phone networks, said a Tellus Venture Associates blog post by Steve Blum. Blum is president of Tellus, which consults on developing community broadband systems. The commission can wrap up the Comcast deal in three ways: Approve it to establish a precedent for review of future transactions, deny it or allow Comcast to withdraw the application, Blum said. The CPUC previously approved a study of the aging copper networks, but the new agency President Michael Picker wants to scrap that and rely on the telcos to repair and maintain the networks, Blum said. Other commissioners are interested in going through with the study, he said. CPUC didn't comment.

The New York State Public Service Commission added a hearing Aug. 6 in Syracuse to its schedule for a telecom study (see 1506240034), it said in a news release. The commission is seeking public comment on the assessment report and on the questions posed in the original public notice, it said. Comments received in response to the notice will be used to develop recommendations for further regulatory changes, the PSC said. The hearing is at Syracuse City Hall, with an information session at 6 p.m. and the hearing at 7 p.m. There's also a hearing at the Poughkeepsie Town Hall, with information sessions at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. and hearings at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Aug. 11. The final scheduled hearing is in Albany at the Bethlehem Town Hall, with an information session at 6 p.m. and the hearing at 7 p.m. Aug. 13.

The New York State Public Service Commission said residential, business and wireless customers within the existing 631 area code in Suffolk County should be preparing for the introduction next year of the new 934 area code, according to a news release. The new 934 area code will be overlaid over the same geographic area as the 631 area code, said the PSC. Beginning July 16, customers in the 631 area code region requesting new service, an additional line or in some cases moving their service may be assigned a number in the new 934 area code. The ability to place calls within 631 using seven digits will end June 15, said the commission. Beginning June 18, all calls within 631 and 934 area codes must be placed using the 10-digit phone number, it said.

The Agriculture Department approved $74.8 million in telecom loans and $11 million in community connect grants that will increase access for rural Americans in seven states, said a USDA news release Monday. Included in the grants is $6 million for Minnesota's Northeast Service Cooperative to provide broadband service to subscribers on the Fond du Lac Reservation. South Carolina is one of the states that received a loan from the USDA, for $12.38 million to upgrade its wireless network to 4G/LTE.

Emergency call dispatchers across Kansas will soon have access to vital 911 caller information due to an agreement with AT&T, said the company in a news release Monday. The Kansas 911 Coordinating Council awarded a contract to AT&T to provide a next-generation 911 emergency communications system statewide, it said. AT&T will use cloud, wireless and wireline technology to improve the system, it said. The new 911 system is expected to improve emergency response capabilities statewide, allowing individuals in rural areas to receive the same level of service as their big city counterparts in Kansas City and Wichita, it said.

Verizon is offering its new FiOS Quantum Internet speed tier for upload and download speeds, giving residents in New York City and parts of northern New Jersey access to symmetrical 100 Mbps speeds, the company said in a news release Monday. Verizon is the only communications provider to offer a symmetrical speed tier of 100/100 Mbps in the New York metropolitan area, it said. Verizon’s 100/100 Mbps FiOS internet service tier addresses that growing demand and offers another option to subscribers between the company’s 75/75 and 150/150 tiers, the company said.

Zayo took over support responsibilities and network oversight of Colorado intergovernmental broadband provider EAGLE-Net Alliance, the company said in news release Friday. Zayo Treasurer Scott Reardon told us that the agreement "doesn't have anything to do" with the suspension of a $100 million federal grant to expand educational broadband in the state given to EAGLE-Net, after issues with the project and much congressional scrutiny (see 1212100042). Reardon said that Zayo is stepping in as a "natural partner" for EAGLE-Net and is "in discussions about [further] expanding the partnership." EAGLE-Net didn't respond to a request for comment.

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission extended to Aug. 13 the reply deadline on possible revisions to 911 rules in response to recent legislation as well as events that affected 911 network reliability in Colorado, including recent catastrophic fires and floods (see 1505290056), said a notice from the PUC mailed on Thursday.