The California Senate voted 27-8 Monday to clear an Assembly-passed version of SB-962, which would require smartphones sold in the state after July 1, 2015, to be pre-equipped with a kill switch that could be activated if the device is lost or stolen. Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, has 12 days to consider the bill. A Brown spokesman declined to comment. The state Senate passed SB-962 in May, but the version the Assembly passed last week included additional amendments (CD Aug 8 p15). Democratic state Sen. Mark Leno, SB-962’s author, praised the Senate vote, saying in a news release that “our goal is to swiftly take the wind out of the sails of thieves who have made the theft of smartphones one of the most prevalent street crimes in California’s biggest cities.” San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón, another major backer of the bill, said in a statement that the bill could result in smartphones nationwide having kill switches because of voluntary agreements from smartphone manufacturers.

Frontier Communications said it reached an agreement with Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen and the Office of Consumer Counsel (OCC) on conditions for the telco’s proposed purchase of AT&T’s wireline assets, U-verse video and satellite operations in Connecticut, which it said would “guarantee customer and community benefits resulting” from the deal. Frontier agreed not to increase the basic primary residential rates for affected assets for at least 36 months following the deal’s closing and agreed to offer its basic broadband and stand-alone basic broadband services in Connecticut at or below its current prices, it said Tuesday. The telco agreed to invest $63 million between 2015 and 2017 on broadband improvements in Connecticut. Frontier also agreed to accelerate its inspection of AT&T facilities it’s acquiring as part of the deal and committed to continued outreach to Connecticut veterans at targeted job fairs and through the federal Department of Veterans Affairs to improve adoption of the VA’s myHealtheVet and home Telehealth programs. Frontier will also collaborate with the state attorney general’s office and the OCC on ways to reach low-income veterans to provide subsidized broadband service (http://1.usa.gov/1oIWcRa). The Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority still needs to approve the deal, which federal regulators have already cleared.

NARUC Telecom Committee Chairman Chris Nelson praised the FCC decision Thursday to seek recommendations from the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service on how the commission should modify the universal service contribution methodology. NARUC had asked the FCC to refer the methodology issue to the joint board “because these are exactly the kinds of decisions Congress had in mind when it created the Joint Board in the first place,” he said in a statement. “The Joint Board process ensures that the agency will receive expert recommendations from the States officials closest to the consumers affected by changes to the Universal Service program” (http://bit.ly/1r7GjSz). The FCC referred the board to its 2012 Further NPRM on the issue, asking for recommendations on modifications to the contribution system that would affect the statutory principle that there be state as well as federal mechanisms to preserve and advance universal service (CD Aug 8 p12).

CyrusOne said it will house the North Texas Emergency Communications Center (NTECC), a collocated 911-dispatch center for Texas cities Addison, Carrollton, Coppell and Farmers Branch. The cities believe consolidating their 911 dispatch centers will reduce costs and improve service, CyrusOne said Thursday. The company plans to house NTECC in its Carrollton data center, where its call center and related infrastructure will occupy about 12,000 square feet. NTECC, expected to be complete early next year, is the first 911-dispatch center to choose a collocation provider to house its data and dispatch centers, CyrusOne said. “Consolidation will allow us to combine our resources, save costs, and serve our communities more efficiently,” said NTECC board President Gary Greer in a CyrusOne news release. “We won’t have instances where someone needing assistance would have to wait for a unit in their jurisdiction that could actually be further away because they sit right on a city line” (http://bit.ly/1sh8Ut4).

Massachusetts added Level 3 Communications as an authorized vendor for its ITT46 network sales contract, which Level 3 said Wednesday would allow it to offer its network connectivity and communications services directly to multiple state agencies. Level 3 will offer its voice, data and network security services via a connection to state buildings, including data centers in Boston, Springfield and Worcester. Those services will give state institutions support for high-demand applications like storage visualization, Big Data analytics and cloud computing, Level 3 said (http://bit.ly/1mmY2lV).

The Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) said it ruled car service Uber is a “common carrier and a public service company over whom the Commission has jurisdiction.” The PSC rejected Uber’s claim that it’s exempt from PSC oversight because its technology is covered by the Communications Act, noting that while Uber uses telecom technology, that technology is also used to contract with transportation services and to set rates (http://bit.ly/1vbOCTO). The ruling doesn’t affect UberX or Lyft services, the PSC said Wednesday. The PSC’s decision affirms an April ruling by the PSC’s public utility law judge that the PSC can regulate Uber as “non-taxicab, passenger-for-hire service.” The order requires Uber to apply for a motor carrier permit for its UberBlack and UberSUV services within 60 days and directs the PSC to draft new regulations within 90 days that “reflect the evolving nature of transportation services like Uber.” The rules PSC staff must now create to handle Uber-like services must address “new technologies” for dispatching transportation-for-hire services, methods of providing notice of transportation rates, along with insurance, driver qualifications and vehicle safety, the PSC said (http://bit.ly/1AVlf8L). Uber believes the Maryland PSC “is stuck in the days of the horse and buggy,” a spokesman said. “The PSC’s attempt to take choice and competition away from Maryland residents will not stand."

The Mississippi Public Service Commission (PSC) said it reached a $15,000 settlement with Power Home Technologies for claimed violations of the state’s no-call law. The commission said Wednesday the company had failed to register with the PSC as a telephone solicitor and had made unauthorized phone solicitations. In addition to the $15,000 settlement, Power Home Technologies agreed to not make any phone solicitation calls in Mississippi for three years (http://bit.ly/1pCCZzC). The PSC also entered default judgments Tuesday against Your Direct Source and Secure Alliance Corp. of California for violations of the no-call law. The PSC ordered Your Direct Source to pay $80,000 and Secure Alliance to pay $15,000 (http://bit.ly/1sh3Xgl).

AT&T said it will expand its GigaPower gigabit fiber network into Greensboro, North Carolina (http://soc.att.com/1y5lERM). The city was one of the metro areas AT&T had identified in April as a possible target for future GigaPower expansion (CD April 22 p8). The telco said it chose to move forward in Greensboro because of the city’s “business friendly” policies. The expansion into Greensboro “will open tremendous new opportunities for our citizens in many fields,” Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan, a Democrat, said in an AT&T news release Wednesday. The telco said it’s deploying additional network infrastructure in Greensboro to support GigaPower, but will announce specific location availability and pricing later for its U-verse with GigaPower Internet service, which will eventually have a top speed of 1 Gbps. AT&T had said Monday and Tuesday that it would expand GigaPower into Houston and Overland Park, Kansas (CD Aug 6 p12).

Aruba Networks said the Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) district in Maryland is deploying an Aruba Mobility-Defined Network in its 204 schools and 20 other school system facilities to support mobile device use. PGCPS has experienced an influx of mobile device use at its facilities, requiring new network infrastructure that would be able to accommodate additional growth, Aruba said Tuesday. PGCPS is deploying more than 15,000 access points in its facilities as part of the network upgrade, which it hopes will make it possible to formalize bring-your-own-device policies for staff and students, Aruba said (http://bit.ly/1kEaB1h).

CenturyLink said it expanded its gigabit fiber services in 16 cities, including 13 where it didn’t already offer gigabit fiber. Ten of the cities now have residential and business fiber services -- Columbia and Jefferson City, Missouri; Denver; Las Vegas; Minneapolis-St. Paul; Omaha; Orlando; Portland, Oregon; Salt Lake City; and Seattle. CenturyLink was already offering residential fiber in Las Vegas and Omaha, and business fiber in Salt Lake City. The telco said it’s now offering business fiber in six other cities -- Albuquerque; Colorado Springs; Phoenix; Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Spokane, Washington; and Tucson. Pricing for the 1 Gbps service begins at $79.95, while 100 Mbps will cost at least $49.95 and 40 Mbps will cost at least $39.95, CenturyLink said Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1lwx7Ee).