The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities approved $40 million in broadband grants through a new pilot program. The New Jersey broadband infrastructure deployment equity pilot program will support "critical broadband expansion efforts across the state," the agency said Wednesday. Awardees included Brightspeed, Verizon, the city of Vineland, Salem County and the borough of Penns Grove. “This historic investment to ‘connect the unconnected’ answers the call we have heard throughout the state,” said board President Christine Guhl-Sadovy. The competitive grant program was funded by the Department of Treasury's Capital Projects Fund.
The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection awarded $9.9 million in additional ConneCTed Communities Grant Program support, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) announced Tuesday. Frontier and Comcast received the new funding to deploy broadband to 3,802 homes and businesses throughout the state.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) announced the state's final round of the ConnectAll Deployment Program this week, seeking proposals by May 5 for projects deploying fiber optic, cable, hybrid fiber-coaxial, licensed fixed wireless broadband service, and "federally designated alternative technologies such as unlicensed fixed wireless and low earth orbit satellite services." ConnectAll will make the $644 million in federal grants available for public comment after submitting them to NTIA for final approval by July 25, said a news release. Pending NTIA approval, the selected projects will likely begin this year and be completed within four years.
North Carolina awarded Brightspeed $31.2 million to deploy fiber to more than 18,000 homes throughout the state as part of its Completing Access to Broadband program Wednesday. Brightspeed said it will match the new funding with a $13 million investment. The new funding is "essential to help us provide the services families and businesses need to thrive," said Brightspeed Vice President Pamela Sherwood. The ISP also announced completion of a fiber deployment project to nearly 200,000 homes and businesses across Ohio.
A bill amending utility pole attachment rules passed the Indiana House of Representatives on Monday with a 444-93 vote. The bill, SB-502, would set a 60-day shot clock for attaching entities to execute contracts if the attachment request is for at least 300 poles. It would also establish a "rapid response mediation process" for any pole attachment disputes. The Senate, which also passed the bill in February, received an amended version Tuesday.
Hawaii legislators voted Monday to request that the state comptroller cooperate with the state public library system, Office of Planning and Sustainable Development, and Hawaii Broadband and Digital Equity Office to increase resident participation in the state legislative process. The resolution, SCR-53, would shift the responsibility of coordination from the Legislative Reference Bureau to the comptroller. The offices would be tasked with identifying rural and underserved communities "with a need for better telecommunication access."
Montana lawmakers voted last week to eliminate the state's USF. The Senate voted 48-0 to also repeal the Public Service Commission's rate regulation authority and the prohibition on cross-subsidization, forbearance of rate regulation, and discounts for schools, libraries and health care providers. The bill, HB-45, was introduced by Rep. Katie Zolnikov (R). If enacted, it would also prohibit the PSC from regulating IP-enabled services.
The Nebraska Public Service Commission wants comments by May 6 on "appropriate modifications" to the Nebraska USF, said an order Tuesday in docket NUSF-139. The PSC will meet May 14 at 10 a.m. CT to consider the changes, which include transitioning the NUSF to "competitive carriers who have deployed broadband and offer services at speeds of at least 100/20 Mbps to rural subscriber locations." It also wants comments on whether the commission should use a "carrier agnostic cost model" to determine relative costs for high-cost support.
A bipartisan group of 51 attorneys general warned nine carriers Wednesday that they were responsible for transmitting high-volume robocall campaigns. All Access Telecom, Lingo, NGL Communications, Range, RSCom, Telcast Network, Voxox, Commio and Global Net Holdings received letters from the multistate anti-robocall litigation task force warning them of legal action if they fail to stop transmitting the unlawful call traffic. The letters also said the task force shared its findings with the FCC Enforcement Bureau. The robocalls included government and financial impostors, credit card interest rate reductions, Medicare scams, political impersonations, cable discount scams and utility disconnect scams.
A proposed California Public Utilities Commission decision would require AT&T to pay The Utility Reform Network (TURN) $259,173 following the carrier's failed efforts to end its carrier of last resort (COLR) and eligible telecom carrier obligations (see 2502050049). The decision, written by Administrative Law Judge Thomas Glegola, may be considered at the CPUC's May 15 meeting. It noted that AT&T failed to meet its legal obligations or burden of proof to support its request "multiple times during the proceeding." AT&T's request was "effectively an overhaul of the Commission’s COLR rules" and "would have had significant and possibly detrimental impacts on disadvantaged communities throughout California." The proposed decision also noted that TURN's involvement in the proceeding "resulted in a unique contribution to the record about the availability and viability of alternatives to AT&T, which was a central issue and finding of the commission's final decision dismissing the application."