U.S. Cellular disputed findings of an investigation of Mobility Fund-II coverage released last year (see 1912040027). “We have identified substantial inconsistencies in the FCC staff data collection process,” the carrier said. It focused on results from Vermont. “Some drive test data points are located in areas outside of U.S. Cellular’s MF-II Coverage map” and “results contain duplicate data test points, affecting the percentage of successful tests.” Testing was done from a vehicle “ignoring MF-II requirement that tests be conducted outdoors.” A company official spoke with aides to Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks, among other staff, said a filing posted Friday in docket 19-367.
Nokia completed a series of over-the-air 5G new radio trials using C-band spectrum in Dallas, the company said Friday. “The drive tests, which achieved stable peak throughput speeds of over 1 Gbps, confirmed that Nokia’s solution is ready for commercial deployment ahead of the U.S. C-band spectrum auction in December,” it said.
Apple is closing nearly a dozen stores temporarily in response to rising cases of COVID-19. The closures involve 11 stores in Arizona, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina, Bloomberg reported Friday. Apple has been reopening stores gradually since last month after shutting them temporarily due to the pandemic (see 2005180043). It didn’t respond to our questions. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 23,138 new COVID cases in the U.S. Friday with 733 new deaths.
States should stop local governments from giving special tax and other privileges to municipal networks without extending the same to private networks, Wichita State University Institute for the Study of Economic Growth Executive Director Theodore Bolema wrote Thursday in a Free State Foundation paper. Bolema said a Michigan bill (HB-5673) by Rep. Donna Lasinski (D) to expand local government taxing authority for muni networks would tilt the playing field. But the article supports a “monopolist industry” effort to put down a grassroots initiative “to develop the internet access they desperately need and industry refuses to provide,” responded Kitsch’s Mike Watza, a telecom attorney for Michigan local governments. The bill “allows local folks to organize through their local township offices, to assess a particular area ... for the purpose of financing the development and provision of” affordable broadband, he emailed Thursday. Michigan Broadband Cooperative President Ben Fineman emailed, "The assertion that townships (who are the only government entities affected by HB 5673) want to compete with incumbent providers is laughable." Only townships that have significant populations without broadband access would tap the mechanism, he said. "Rural townships running on a few part time staff are certainly not looking for more work, but they are looking for tools to address what has become the number one concern for many rural residents." Fineman doesn't expect a quick hearing on HB-5673 because state legislators' political priority now is the pandemic, he said. Lasinski didn’t comment.
The California Senate Appropriations Committee cleared Thursday SB-1130 to raise the minimum speed standard to 25 Mbps symmetrical (see 2005270037), per unofficial results released by the committee. Under current law, California Advanced Services Fund support may only go to areas where no facilities-based provider offers 10/1 Mbps. A recent amendment reduced an earlier version’s proposed requirement that subsidized projects deliver 100 Mbps symmetrical, changing that to at least 25/3 Mbps. Numbers could still change since it’s “not a finished product,” said Rural County Representatives of California Legislative Advocate Tracy Rhine. The committee held SB-1058 that would require ISPs file emergency operations plans for disasters and emergencies and SB-1069 for telecoms to report location and status of infrastructure and performance of emergency alert messages.
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission authorized funding for a 90-day pilot by Hamilton Relay of real-time texting technology for low-income people who need assistance communicating. Commissioners voted 4-0 Thursday to use funding from the state telecom relay service fund, the agency said. The pilot will include 50 participants and help the PUC decide if wireline RTT devices should be included in the TRS telecom device distribution program, it said. Hamilton will notify the commission 20 days before starting the pilot and confirm its proposed $167,575 cost then, a PUC spokesperson said.
Louisiana legislators are trying again on a bill to spur rural broadband by electric cooperatives. Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) vetoed a bill last week that he argued would restrict broadband access in violation of the Telecom Act. Mississippi Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley advised against SB-406’s restrictions, in a Zoom videoconference a few weeks ago with the Louisiana governor’s broadband commission and state Sen. Beth Mizell (R), the NARUC president told us Tuesday. The Louisiana House referred electric co-op bill SB-10 to the Commerce Committee Monday, after the Senate voted 34-0 Sunday to pass the measure by Mizell. Commerce will take the bill up next week, Committee Assistant Christie Russell said Tuesday. The bill would allow co-ops to provide broadband through an affiliate, while requiring the co-ops to provide nondiscriminatory access to other operators to locate equipment on their electric delivery systems. The legislature passed Mizell’s similar SB-406 last month after amending it against co-ops’ wishes to include limiting co-op service to unserved areas in their territories. SB-10 is expected get a House Commerce Committee vote Monday and be on the floor Wednesday, Mizell emailed Wednesday. “We are running short on time and I am looking at possible options to a quicker passage over there.” The governor supports SB-10 as currently drafted, so the senator “requested all colleagues to leave it untouched by any new amendments,” she said. The bill would ask internet providers and co-ops to next year report any deployment impediments, which “would allow for legislation for next session to address any concerns they bring up,” Mizell said. Commerce Committee Chairman Paula Davis (R) and House Speaker Clay Schexnayder (R) didn’t comment now.
State broadband offices are eyeing COVID-19 relief funding, Colorado and Tennessee officials said Wednesday on a Fiber Broadband Association webinar. Money could come from Tennessee’s Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (Cares) Act allocation, and Gov. Bill Lee (R) is evaluating state needs, said Department of Economic and Community Development Broadband Director Crystal Ivey. Tennessee may use for broadband part of its allocation of funding that U.S. Housing and Urban Development received from the act, she said. The Institute of Museum and Library Services also received money and is distributing it among states, with Tennessee libraries applying for grants to pay for hot spots and videoconferencing equipment, Ivey said. Colorado is evaluating using funding from the Cares Act’s Educational Stabilization Fund, said Colorado Broadband Office Director-Federal Broadband Engagement Teresa Ferguson. Colorado may apply for some of the $1.5 billion received by the Economic Development Administration that may be used for broadband deployment, she added. The broadband office is “looking at outreach, public engagement and data collection platforms” to reassess how best to spend resources, Ferguson said. It needs more federal funding and better maps, she said. “The states can't print money. The feds can.”
The Colorado General Assembly passed a telehealth bill (SB-212) to expand Medicaid reimbursement (see 2006090049). The Senate voted 35-0 Saturday to concur with the House, which passed an amended bill 64-1 Friday. It goes next to Gov. Jared Polis (D). Polis hasn't reviewed the bill, a spokesperson said Monday.
California privacy advocate Alastair Mactaggart laughs at claims he would “sabotage” the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) with the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), he testified at an Assembly Privacy Committee hearing livestreamed Friday. Mactaggart sponsored the CPRA, a ballot initiative expected to appear in November (see 2006040046), and in 2018, he sponsored a ballot initiative that never went to vote because he struck a deal that led to the legislature quickly passing the CCPA. Privacy groups gave the CPRA a lukewarm reception because it includes some exemptions sought by businesses (see 2005080037). “If the criticism is that I talked to Google and Facebook and Experian, well, guilty as charged,” Mactaggart said at the hearing. He also spoke with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse and American Civil Liberties Union and other privacy advocates, he said. Mactaggart met with the California Chamber of Commerce and made some requested changes, testified CalChamber Policy Advocate Shoeb Mohammed. The chamber has no formal position on the initiative, but Mohammed warned the initiative could increase compliance costs. CompTIA Senior Director-State Government Affairs Laura Curtis said, “The ballot initiative adds complexity to an already complex law before businesses and consumers even have an opportunity to become familiar with the CCPA.” Consumer Reports likes that the ballot initiative would make it harder for the legislature to weaken the privacy law, said Policy Analyst Maureen Mahoney. The CPRA needs 685,533 verified signatures to qualify for the November ballot; it has 420,744 verified so far of 931,000 submitted, said a slide presented by Mactaggart at the hearing. The real estate developer sued California Secretary of State Alex Padilla (D) Monday for failing to immediately notify county officials to start the verification process. “We believe the Secretary of State did not fulfill their ministerial duty to notify counties that they had to submit their random sample results by June 25,” the statutory deadline to qualify measures for November, emailed a spokesperson for Mactaggart’s group, Californians for Consumer Privacy. Padilla notified counties May 14, giving them until June 26, said the complaint at the California Superior Court in Sacramento. Mactaggart sought immediate judicial relief. It “remains to be seen how the Court may interpret the term ‘immediately’ and whether it will agree to (or even has the power to) order the Secretary of State to require county registrars to complete the certification process sooner than statutorily allowed,” McGuireWoods attorneys blogged Wednesday. Padilla didn’t comment now.