An RCN Internet service outage in Manhattan Monday was caused by a power problem, not a fiber cut, as originally reported by the company on its Twitter page, a company spokeswoman told us Tuesday. While the company didn't have specific numbers for how many customers were affected by the outage, she told us it was reported around 7 p.m. Monday and technicians restored the Internet service "shortly after."
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) announced the launch of the New NY Broadband Program’s Consolidated Funding Application (CFA) Portal, which is now accepting applications for the request for proposals issued Jan. 8, said a Tuesday news release from the governor's office. The $500 million program will provide funding for high-speed Internet access to unserved and underserved areas across the state, the release said. Funding recipients will be chosen through a reverse-auction methodology, which awards projects to bidders seeking the lowest amount of state investment, the release said. Phase 1 of the RFP's grant guidelines and application questions was made available on the New York State Broadband Program Office’s website on Jan. 8. Applications may now be submitted through the New York State CFA Portal, and are due by 4:30 p.m. April 15, the release said. “Access to high-speed internet is essential for engaging in the 21st century economy, but the broadband gap is leaving far too many New Yorkers behind,” Cuomo said. “Through this unprecedented investment, we will be expanding reliable internet access in underserved areas, helping businesses become more competitive, and making broadband available in every comer of New York. I encourage all eligible applicants to apply and take advantage of this new opportunity.”
Google Fiber is disappointed AT&T has gone to court in an effort to block Louisville, Kentucky's, efforts to increase broadband and video competition (see 1602260043), Google said on its Google Fiber Blog Friday. "One Touch Make Ready" policies reduce cost, disruption and delay by allowing the work needed to prepare a utility pole for new fiber to be attached in as little as a single visit -- which means more safety for drivers and the neighborhood, the blog said. The work would be done by a team of contractors the pole owner itself has approved, instead of having multiple crews from multiple companies working on the same pole over weeks or months, Google said. In response to the lawsuit, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer was quoted as saying, "We will vigorously defend the lawsuit filed today by AT&T. Gigabit fiber is too important to our city's future." "Mayor Fischer, we couldn’t agree with you more, and stand with you," Google said in its post.
Deaf residents and the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) filed a lawsuit last week in Arizona federal court seeking direct access to 911 services through text, said a post on the NAD website. The lawsuit seeks to make 911 services in Arizona accessible to individuals with a disability, including individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing. Few 911 centers around the country comply with federal law requiring them to be accessible to individuals with a disability, NAD said. "911 is a critical life-saving program that should be accessible to everyone without exception," said CEO Howard Rosenblum in the post. "With nearly everyone using text, there is no excuse for 911 not to be directly accessible by text.”
AT&T reached a tentative agreement with the Communications Workers of America in Mobility contract negotiations in CWA District 6 (AT&T's Southwest region), AT&T said in a Sunday news release. They agreed Friday to a 48-hour contract extension, it said. The agreement, which will be submitted to the union's membership for a ratification vote this week, was reached prior to expiration of the extended contract Sunday, AT&T said. It covers more than 9,400 Mobility employees in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas, it said.
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.
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.
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 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.
Issues involving text-to-911 and wireless location accuracy for 911 call routing should be referred to the FCC Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council or the Office of Engineering and Technology for consideration, said the Boulder Regional Emergency Telephone Service Authority in a filing in docket 11-153. BRETSA is concerned that as wireless services migrate to LTE-IMS, vital text-to-911 capabilities will be lost, it said. SMS text messaging over cellular-mobile service (CMS) control channels currently allow CMS subscribers to communicate by text message well beyond the area where CMS coverage is sufficient for subscribers to make voice calls, it said. BRETSA worried that even as text-to-911 is being deployed, substantial public safety benefits of the service will be eliminated as a result of the evolution of CMS technology and systems. These issues require technical information and analysis, knowledge of the capabilities of CMS provider systems, and cost-benefit analyses that aren't generally available to public safety agencies and public safety answering points, the filing said. BRETSA asked the Public Safety Bureau to refer these concerns.