LTD Broadband “misrepresented the facts” in its waiver request for eligible telecom carrier designation as a winning Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction bidder, the California Public Utilities Commission told the FCC in a letter posted Wednesday in docket 19-126. The CPUC said LTD didn’t file its ETC application April 26, instead June 3 after close of business. The PUC said the docket number cited in LTD’s petition didn’t exist and its ETC application “to date has not been assigned a docket number because the filing still has not been processed.” Attorney Kristopher Twomey said he sent "an original and four copies of the application to the CPUC by U.S. mail" on April 26 but "did not know that the CPUC was not accepting applications sent via U.S. mail" then, according to a supplement to LTD's petition filed Wednesday. Twomey acknowledged in the filing that the April 26 date and the docket number were incorrect, and neither LTD CEO Corey Hauer nor his attorney "had any basis to know that these statements were inaccurate."
The New York Public Service Commission suspended implementing the state’s broadband affordability law that was enjoined last week by U.S. District Court in Central Islip, New York (see 2106110064). Interim Chair John Howard issued a one-commissioner order Monday to pause case 21-M-0290 “pending further developments or court orders.” The stay applies to a May 20 order granting temporary exemptions to some small ISPs and a May 28 notice that sought comments by Friday on the law’s applicability to DSL services with lower than 25 Mbps downloads.
Puerto Rico Telephone and Liberty Communications of Puerto Rico will receive $127.1 million in Bringing Puerto Rico Together Fund Stage 2 funding over 10 years to provide fixed voice and broadband services, said an FCC Wireline Bureau public notice Monday. Liberty was the winning applicant in 43 of Puerto Rico’s 78 municipios, covering more than 914,000 locations, and PRTC in the other 35 municipios, covering more than 308,000 locations.
NTIA unveiled a broadband map Thursday. It shows broadband needs by county, minority-serving institutions, areas designated as high poverty and tribal lands. It “paints a sobering view” of broadband challenges, said Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. FCC acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel told reporters NTIA’s efforts are “significant” because more information is available and the commission is “making a big push” to create accurate maps. The new maps “struck me as curious,” Commissioner Brendan Carr told reporters Thursday. “We don’t need additional inaccurate maps,” Carr said, and it “underscores the need” for the FCC to complete its mapping process. “We’re glad the NTIA is out with this version of a map, but it’s not a substitute for the more accurate ‘fabric’ approach” that USTelecom backs, said CEO Jonathan Spalter in a statement: “The FCC’s map is the only project that will be so granular as to allow us to close the nation’s digital divide.”
Autonomous vehicle company Pony.ai began daily testing of fully driverless vehicles on public roads in Fremont and Milpitas, California, it said Wednesday. The company received a permit from the state's Department of Motor Vehicles for six driverless vehicles that have operational coverage over 100 square kilometers. Pony.ai worked with Fremont to provide meal kit delivery to vulnerable communities during the COVID-19 pandemic, it said. It's also testing fully driverless vehicles in Guangzhou, China.
Broadband maps "are not what they should be," said FCC acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel during a Historically Black Colleges and Universities Caucus virtual panel Wednesday. It's "vital" the FCC start developing maps with more precise data, Rosenworcel said, adding that universities have an opportunity to participate: "There's no one better equipped to start telling us if in fact there's service in a place or not" (see 2102260046). Total connectivity should be a "national goal," Rosenworcel told the congressional caucus, citing affordability as a "huge crisis" in the digital divide. The emergency broadband benefit program is a "really terrific tool we have now to get more students connected," Rosenworcel said. "The most important thing is that we get the word out," about EBB and other COVID-19-related broadband programs, she said, and the commission partnered with the Department of Education to send email notices to Pell Grant recipients about their EBB eligibility.
A Pennsylvania bill to order an inventory of state-owned broadband assets cleared the House Consumer Affairs Committee. Lawmakers voted 23-2 Tuesday for the Senate-passed measure (SB-442).
The California Privacy Protection Agency is “eager to get started,” Chair Jennifer Urban said at the first meeting of the agency created by the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA). “The CPPA will be an independent agency." Meeting virtually Monday, the board discussed hiring an executive director and other positions, and heard presentations on the Open Meeting and Administrative Procedure acts (see meeting materials). The state law requires the CPPA to complete a rulemaking to develop final regulations for enforcement by July 1, 2022. The other four board members are listed in the personals section of the March 19 issue. More than half of California voters supported CPRA in November's election (see 2011040033).
The FCC rechartered its Precision Agriculture Task Force for another two years, with an expected start date no later than Dec. 4, said a Wireline Bureau public notice Friday. Membership nominations are due July 12. Existing task force and working group members aren't required to reapply. The group next meets July 8 (see 2106080028).
A Rhode Island net neutrality bill is headed to the full Senate. The Commerce Committee voted 6-1 for SB-342 with technical changes at a hybrid hearing Thursday. Similar measures passed the Senate in 2018 and 2019, stalling in the House (see 2104290077). The Senate could vote as soon as Tuesday, SB-342 sponsor Sen. Louis DiPalma (D) told us. DiPalma expects it to get “overwhelming support as it has in the past.” He's “cautiously optimistic” about passing the bill in the House, which has a different speaker from the previous years when the bill died; the session ends June 30. DiPalma would welcome a federal law that supersedes this: Even if the FCC reverses its past net neutrality decision, it’s important to write the policy into law.