CPUC Member Knocks ISP Low-Cost Programs, as Agency Weighs Broadband Adoption
California Public Utilities Commission members pondered their power to increase broadband adoption, at an en banc livestreamed Wednesday from San Francisco. The CPUC should take an active role, including by funding open networks and issuing more aggressive speed guidelines, said Preston Rhea, engineering director of local ISP Monkeybrains. AT&T and Comcast officials described an informational role for the agency to spur adoption as they promoted their own low-costs programs. Commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves cited flaws in programs like AT&T Access and Comcast Internet Essentials.
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Such products lack transparency and eligibility requirements differ by provider, complained Guzman Aceves. “These programs are a Band-Aid,” she said. “We have no jurisdiction to make you do anything. You can’t even tell us ... how many people participate.” She supports discussing “systemic reforms,” including open-access fiber. Incumbents took “a very uncompetitive stance” when they protested supporting ISPs like Monkeybrains, she said. “Competition ... is the solution here.”
The commission must find ways to make communications service affordable, since one in five Californians lives in poverty, said Commissioner Cliff Rechtschaffen. He noted an open proceeding on affordability of utilities including telecom (docket R.18-07-006). AT&T, cable and smaller providers discouraged the CPUC last year from studying broadband in its utility affordability rulemaking. Rechtschaffen wouldn't carve out the telecom industry (see 1911120059).
Too many lack broadband, especially in rural areas, noted President Marybel Batjer. Ensuring universal service is “no easy task.” Commissioner Genevieve Shiroma asked if the commission should write a strategic plan to determine where to prioritize efforts over the next three to five years.
The CPUC has a “tremendous opportunity to provide direction to the whole state,” said Rhea. It should revamp the California Advanced Service Fund to provide public open fiber networks, especially in areas with insufficient competition, he said. A 2017 law directed CASF funding to projects providing at least 10 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload speeds in areas that don’t have at least 6/1 Mbps. Rhea said California should seek 100 Mbps symmetrical. If California were to take public control of Pacific Gas and Electric, as proposed by a state senator last month, it could cheaply spread fiber across the utility’s infrastructure, he said.
Present more information about companies’ low-income programs on the CPUC website, suggested Comcast Senior Director-Government Affairs John Gutierrez, noting the agency already gives adoption grants under CASF. The commission should facilitate more outreach, said AT&T Assistant Vice President-Regulatory Affairs Fassil Fenikile.
Price is secondary to lack of interest as barriers to broadband adoption, the AT&T official said. Rhea disagreed. Many people who tell researchers they aren't interested in broadband would, if pressed, go on to explain it’s because they don’t think they can afford it, the Monkeybrains official argued.
Network resiliency is an “extremely timely” topic after more than half a million Californians lost communications services in last year’s public safety power shutoffs, Rechtschaffen noted. "That has to be different this year." A resiliency panel was scheduled to have been held later that afternoon.