Hawaiian Telcom agreed with Black Diamond Capital Management to back the investment firm's petition to the state's Public Utilities Commission to increase its ownership of the telco's stock to as much as 31.5 percent from 23 percent, the telecom firm said in a Thursday news release. It said that as part of the deal, which includes the investment firm's getting a representative on the telco's board (see 1602260042), Black Diamond agreed to standstill and support commitments for a three-year term.

AT&T filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Louisville, Kentucky, Thursday to slow Google Fiber's attempt to deploy its gigabit service in that city, the court document said. Louisville recently voted to allow the deployment of Google Fiber and streamline the pole attachment process. The Louisville/Jefferson County Metro government's ordinance is invalid, AT&T said, because it's pre-empted by FCC pole attachment regulations. AT&T also argued that under Kentucky law, only the state Public Service Commission has jurisdiction to regulate pole attachments.

Members of FirstNet’s technical team observed the annual Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California, and its hundreds of thousands of spectators as a prime case study for the Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System Authority (LA-RICS) NTIA Broadband Technology Opportunities Program project, FirstNet said in a blog post. Application interoperability was a key challenge during the demonstration, it said Thursday. Los Angeles County Sheriff's commanders and staff were pleased with the network's overall performance, and came to rely on the demonstration's handheld devices for mission critical use as the event progressed, the post said. It's the latest in a series on FirstNet’s role in and observations from the five “early builder” public safety LTE network projects. Those projects, totaling five, include four NTIA BTOP grantees -- in New Jersey; Adams County, Colorado; New Mexico; and LA-RICS -- as well as Harris County, Texas, which has other funding sources.

The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) has unique geographic considerations and a high number of historic sites that need to be considered in deploying FirstNet, the network said in a blog post. The territory and FirstNet held a smaller initial consultation meeting than originally planned, and on Guam, because of lingering effects of a typhoon in August last year, it said. That discussion focused on the public safety benefits of a dedicated and hardened broadband network for the territory, it said Wednesday. CNMI is served by an underwater fiber-optic communications cable, which was cut in early July due to a storm surge, leaving the entire territory with only a few satellite phones and a damaged microwave radio system to communicate with Guam and beyond, the post said. The break has since been repaired, it said. CNMI officials shared examples of when commercial data networks became congested and failed public safety -- including during Typhoon Champi in October 2015 -- and how a mass texting capability would have helped, FirstNet said.

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority started a capital improvement project to install radio cable along 100 miles of tunnel walls throughout the underground system, Metro said in a news release Wednesday. The project will result in improved radio coverage for Metro and the Washington, D.C., region's first responders, as well as wireless technology coverage within the tunnels, it said. Engineering and production tests are underway in a 6,000-foot-tunnel segment between the Glenmont and Forest Glen stations in Maryland, to develop project design specifications, it said. Metro will install dual radio and cellular cables on the walls in 100 miles of tunnel, it said: The system will be easier to maintain than the current radio system as critical equipment is moved to where it will be accessible at all times without track outages. The underground portion of the work will be funded through Metro’s capital improvement program and is estimated to cost $120 million, it said.

Implementation of a low-income broadband program and continued low-price offerings to existing and new customers are among conditions the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities imposed on Charter Communications as the BPU approved the company’s purchase of Time Warner Cable Wednesday (see 1602240068). Charter must also continue to offer TWC’s Maxx Broadband with speeds up to 300 Mbps for three years, the BPU said. The company is being asked to invest a minimum of $750,000 in customer service improvements and to continue offering TWC’s $14.99 broadband service to existing customers for three years and new Charter customers for a period two years, the conditions said. Charter will also have to offer a low-income broadband program within 15 months that provides service at $14.99 a month, including a modem, at speeds of 30 Mbps download/4 Mbps upload for households with children eligible for the National School Lunch Program or seniors 65 or older eligible for Supplemental Security Income, the BPU said. Charter will also be required to continue its practice of no data caps and providing Open Internet Protection per FCC requirements for three years; take on the liability of TWC for pending 2003 rate appeals pending before the FCC; and notify and provide an explanation to the BPU if the company experiences employee loss of greater than 15 percent in New Jersey, the board said. “The Board is satisfied that its approval of this merger will afford customers with improved customer service and access to increased broadband speeds,” said President Richard Mroz, BPU, in a release about the decision. “We are happy that as a result of the merger the company will establish a low-income broadband program for households with school-age children and seniors, while also protecting current Time Warner Cable employees and maintaining its local office.” Charter said it was grateful to the BPU for its approval of the transaction, in a news release Wednesday. "The New Jersey BPU approval is another important step towards closing our transactions. We are very pleased with the confidence in our company and our commitments to our future customers demonstrated by the actions taken today,” said Adam Falk, senior vice president-state government affairs. Garden State approval follows New York Public Service Commission approval in January of Charter's purchases of TWC and Bright House Networks (see 1601270028) and leaves California and Hawaii yet to give regulatory approval. The California Public Utilities Commission's decision is expected by May 12 (see 1602120055). The New York City Office of the Mayor also sent a letter that is in docket 15-149 to the FCC urging the commission to require Charter to invest in its network enough to maintain a state-of-the-art system so the deals can benefit the public interest.

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities signed off on Charter Communications' purchase of Time Warner Cable, Charter said in a news release Wednesday. Garden State approval follows New York Public Service Commission approval in January of Charter's purchases of TWC and Bright House Networks (see 1601270028) and leaves California and Hawaii yet to give regulatory approval. The California Public Utilities Commission's decision is expected by May 12 (see 1602120055). The FCC's unofficial 180-day shot clock for reviewing the purchases stood at 151 days on Wednesday.

Increased broadband access is needed for the Smart Cities initiative to succeed in helping in such areas as reducing traffic congestion, fighting crime and making local governments more accessible, NTIA said in a blog post. Expanding broadband access and adoption has been a key goal of NTIA, the post said, but while progress in connecting communities has been good, much work remains. As part of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, NTIA invested $4 billion to help upgrade or expand broadband in unserved and underserved communities and to promote digital literacy and broadband adoption, the post said. Those broadband grantees deployed more than 115,000 new or upgraded network miles, connected nearly 26,000 community anchor institutions such as schools and hospitals, and installed or upgraded more than 47,000 personal computers in public access centers, it said. The grant program is nearly complete, but NTIA is still working with communities to overcome broadband challenges, through its BroadbandUSA initiative, Broadband Funding Guide and an Introduction to Effective Public-Private Partnerships, plus other tools that NTIA will release this year, the post said.

The FCC shouldn't take away states' roles in the Lifeline eligible telecom carrier designation process because that could increase waste, fraud and abuse, said the California and Pennsylvania public utilities commissions in FCC filings in docket 10-90 and 11-42. The FCC should also retain the rule that only ETCs are able to obtain Lifeline universal service support reimbursements, the Pennsylvania letter said. The PPUC believes Section 254(e) of the Telecom Act makes it clear that a common carrier must fulfill the condition of being designated as an ETC before it is eligible to receive federal universal service support, it said. "Section 214 is an express acknowledgement that the ETC designation process is within the purview of the states." The CPUC agreed, adding that the FCC should continue to strengthen the ETC designation process.

Partly in response to a Communications Workers of America petition on hazardous conditions across Pennsylvania (see 1510220054), the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission is holding hearings to look into Verizon’s “neglect of telephone infrastructure,” a CWA news release said Tuesday. The PUC said last week that the case was assigned to Administrative Law Judge Joel Cheskis, who will preside over hearings examining Verizon's maintenance practices and quality of service. CWA documented instances of poles designated for removal that were broken or unstable; portions of old poles suspended in the air; terminals and other equipment not attached to poles; cables hanging perilously close to the ground; plastic coverings and splice boxes placed over damaged cable and other equipment that pose a risk of insect and animal infestation; and other similar conditions. CWA commended the PUC for its decision to hold hearings. CWA represents nearly 5,000 Verizon workers in the state. Verizon didn’t immediately comment.