The California Public Utilities Commission again delayed votes on an AT&T enforcement item and another proposal to make a foster youth program permanent. Both were scheduled for Thursday’s meeting, but staff postponed them until the April 18 meeting, said a CPUC hold list Tuesday. CPUC President Alice Reynolds previously asked to address the AT&T item at a Feb. 15 meeting (see 2402150067). It would deny the carrier’s corrective action plan explaining how it will correct failures and improve service after failing to meet the state’s out-of-service repair interval standard in 2021. In addition, the CPUC originally planned a Feb. 15 vote on the foster youth proposal but twice postponed it. Earlier this month, the agency received a dire warning from the foster youth pilot program’s administrator, iFoster (see 2403110042), which said the current draft would create a program “destined to fail.”
The California Public Utilities Commission scrapped its procedural schedule for AT&T’s petition seeking statewide relief from carrier of last resort (COLR) obligations. The commission will release a new schedule after April 30, which is the due date for possible replacement COLRs to notify the CPUC that they want to replace AT&T in particular areas, Administrative Law Judge Thomas Glegola ruled Tuesday in docket A.23-03-003. An evidentiary hearing was slated for April 23-25 under the previous, now-discarded schedule. AT&T urged the commission not to waste time seeking replacement COLRs last month (see 2402210038).
The California Public Utilities Commission received warnings Friday about how the CPUC plans to make a foster-youth pilot a permanent part of the California LifeLine program. IFoster, the pilot’s administrator, said the current draft is “unconscionable” and would create a program “destined to fail.” The CPUC "is about to take a successful Digital Equity program and destroy it while also making ineligible foster youth as they age out of foster care, the very time they need a communications device most to obtain housing, food, and apply for jobs,” the nonprofit iFoster commented in R.20-02-008. Moreover, it said the revised proposal “will result in 12,000 foster youth losing what has been to date a life-saving resource that they describe as a lifeline, a bright spot in their lives, and a necessity for their vital communications.” It's wrong for the CPUC to try to conform the program to the state's “ill-fitting regular LifeLine program,” which “routinely rejects foster youth.” Also, using the traditional LifeLine model would mean removing the mandate for providing a device for foster youth and "no requirements for high speed or unlimited data or hotspot capability,” said iFoster. Neither T-Mobile nor affiliate Assurance Wireless will participate in the proposed permanent program, T-Mobile commented. The revised proposal "still does not address how -- or whether -- current Pilot Program participants will receive service" after the pilot expires July 31, T-Mobile cautioned. Cox supported making the program a permanent part of California LifeLine. But the CPUC shouldn't assign the program its own minimum service standards or specific support amounts, the cable company said. The CPUC had planned to vote Feb. 15 on an earlier proposal but twice postponed the item. The commission now plans voting on the revised proposal at its March 21 meeting (see 2402290056 and 2403050016).
The California Public Utilities Commission voted 4-0 at its open meeting Thursday to adopt changes to the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) broadband public housing account and tribal technical assistance program (docket R.20-08-021). CPUC Commissioner Matthew Baker, appointed Feb. 16, recused himself from the vote because he was previously director of the CPUC’s independent Public Advocates Office, which participated in the proceeding. The order, as revised March 4, includes clarifying that public housing broadband grant recipients should provide free service without government subsidies, among other things (see 2401290059). "To meet our goal to close the digital divide and provide equal opportunity to all Californians, we need to make sure that we can allocate funds in an efficient manner that can meet the needs of our diverse communities,” said Commissioner Darcie Houck, who was assigned to lead the docket. "This decision has been in the works for a long time and is a product of extensive engagement with a diverse group of stakeholders and community groups.” It’s important that public housing receives free broadband service, said President Alice Reynolds as she supported the order.
The California Public Utilities Commission delayed a vote on making permanent a state LifeLine foster youth pilot that was planned for Thursday. CPUC staff delayed the item in docket R.20-02-008 to the March 21 meeting, said a Monday hold list. The delay isn’t surprising since the commission last week sought comments by this Friday on a revised proposed decision (see 2402290056). The commission still plans on considering an order Thursday modifying California Advanced Services Fund broadband public housing account and tribal technical assistance program rules (see 2401290059).
The California Public Utilities Commission sought comment by March 8 on a revised proposed decision to establish a permanent California LifeLine foster youth program. Replies are due March 13, Administrative Law Judge Stephanie Wang said in an email ruling Thursday. The CPUC postponed voting on the item at its Feb. 15 meeting (see 2402150067). Among other changes, the revised proposal clarifies that non-minors in extended foster care could participate in the program until they turn 21. Responding to concerns that no service provider may participate in the program after the current pilot expires, the CPUC said it would encourage but not require providers to offer free devices and chargers. “We will also remove requirements for service providers to configure devices,” it said. It also won’t require providers to provide special plans in certain circumstances.
Spreading high-speed internet will remain a key focus for the California Public Utilities Commission in the years ahead, CPUC President Alice Reynolds told Communications Daily during a wide-ranging Q&A. Reynolds addresses broadband funding, affordability issues, state USF and the FCC’s net neutrality rulemaking in written answers to our questions, lightly edited for length and clarity.
AT&T’s nationwide wireless outage last week shows why California regulators shouldn’t relieve the company of carrier of last resort (COLR) obligations, Communications Workers of America said. COLR requires AT&T to make landlines available to anyone who requests them across the state. The hourslong wireless outage (see 2402220058) showed that landlines remain important, CWA District 9 Vice President Frank Arce said Thursday. As such, the California Public Utilities Commission should reject “AT&T’s attempt to cut service to our most vulnerable residents,” he said. An AT&T spokesperson responded Friday, “We are not canceling landline service in California, and none of our California customers will lose access to voice service or 911 service.” The carrier said it's focused on upgrading customers to fiber and wireless technologies that consumers increasingly demand. “No customer will be disconnected, and we’re working with the remaining consumers who use traditional landline service to upgrade to newer technologies.” AT&T is pushing for quick CPUC action on its COLR relief petition (see 2402210038). The carrier disclosed in a Thursday ex parte notice that it plans to meet virtually Tuesday with aides to Commissioner Karen Douglas.
A Verizon settlement with California consumer advocates last week resolves just one part of a fight over the carrier’s difficulties migrating Tracfone customers still using non-Verizon networks in California, each of the parties said Friday. The Center for Accessible Technology (CforAT) posted a settlement Thursday with Verizon’s Tracfone and The Utility Reform Network (TURN) in docket A.20-11-001 at the California Public Utilities Commission, as expected (see 2402160019).
Don’t put AT&T’s petition for carrier of last resort (COLR) relief on ice, the company urged the California Public Utilities Commission in an ex-parte filing released Tuesday. AT&T officials met virtually Feb. 14 with aides to CPUC Commissioners John Reynolds and Darcie Houck, the carrier said in docket A.23-03-003. AT&T cited a CPUC email to parties indicating that the agency would postpone many deadlines in the proceeding to give more time to discover if any companies are interested in replacing AT&T as the COLR. AT&T argued that doing so “would be a waste of time and resources.” It “would be an about-face from the earlier decisions to allow the development of the evidentiary record and the process for notifying potential replacement COLRs to proceed in parallel,” the carrier said. Plus, there's no legal requirement for the commission to identify a replacement COLR or hold an auction to find one, it said. Even if the rules “were read to require a reverse auction, the Commission has express authority under Public Utilities Code [Section] 1708 to waive the requirement, which would be appropriate given that an auction would be futile.” Because the CPUC “has no established process to conduct an auction, it would have to develop the rules for an auction from scratch,” AT&T added. Plus, it’s “highly unlikely that any carriers would participate,” said the carrier. “With the increase in competition and the sharp decline in support from the High Cost Fund B over the past decade, it is even more unlikely that a carrier would be interested in becoming a COLR today.”