CenturyLink will be fined $115,000 for "a severe backlog" of underground facilities locate requests from excavators around the state, the Arizona Corporation Commission said Wednesday. It said under state law, a utility has two working days after receiving an excavator's inquiry to mark facilities with stakes or paint. It said that as of May, the backlog was 32,000 but that as of this week CenturyLink reported the backlog to be two and that it hasn't received any complaints about CenturyLink since July 8, when it received a briefing on the matter. It said CenturyLink agreed to the fine and to reporting on outstanding locate tickets monthly for the next years. "We value our relationship with the excavator community, the Arizona Corporations Commission, and Arizona consumers," CenturyLink emailed. "Recently, efforts to improve the quality and timeliness of our underground facility location work were met with some challenges and, as a result, took multiple steps to correct the issue, and are happy to report that we have eliminated the backlog of locate requests and are now responding in a timely manner. To bring down the backlog, we worked with our vendor, but also trained and assigned a large number of our own technicians. We will be working with the Commission over the next 12 months to ensure this does not happen again."
Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello signed small-cells legislation (PC-1976) meant to streamline 5G wireless infrastructure deployment by pre-empting local government in the right of way (see 1907010026). CTIA commended Rep. Victor Pares Otero, NPP, “for his leadership on the passage of PC 1976,” which will ensure the territory's residents “will benefit from next-generation wireless technology and from the economic investments being made to deploy 5G in the U.S.” Signing the measure was one of Rossello's final acts before his resignation Friday evening.
Cisco Systems will pay $6 million for allegedly failing for years to secure known flaws in its security surveillance software, under a settlement with 19 state attorneys general. The AGs claim Cisco discovered the security flaw in 2009 but failed to correct it until 2013, after a multistate investigation was opened. The software was sold to New York, other states and the federal government, New York AG Letitia James said Thursday: “The now-discontinued software contained flaws that would permit unauthorized access to the system, with the potential to control and otherwise manipulate security cameras and the recorded footage.” Other jurisdictions involved in the probe: California, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia and the District of Columbia.
The FCC's boosting some standards for what type of broadband is eligible for Lifeline government subsidies caused some stakeholder confusion in the hours after its Thursday release. Some state telecom and industry representatives were puzzled why the otherwise routine-looking staff action came as a CTIA et alia petition is pending (see 1906280012). The Wireline Bureau public notice also came one day after NARUC members approved a resolution asking the FCC to not make such changes (see 1907240043). The PN noted it's delivering on what a 2016 order envisioned. NARUC voted to ask the agency to "freeze the broadband minimum service standards for Lifeline at the December 2018 levels -- 2 GB per month/household at $9.25 -- until the FCC concludes its 2021 Lifeline Study and determines an appropriate standard based on usage data available at that time." The PN announced "newly calculated minimum service standards for fixed and mobile broadband" to be effective Dec. 1. The fixed broadband minimum will be 20 Mbps downstream and 3 Mbps up; with some exceptions, and data of at least 1024 GB monthly. Mobile broadband will rise to 8.75 GB a month "pursuant to the calculations set out in the 2016 Order" as speed "remains 3G mobile technology." The 2020 budget rises based on inflation to $2.39 billion. Stakeholders couldn't be certain whether the PN is solely standard procedure under the Lifeline order, or whether it signals anything about how the agency might react to the petition from CTIA and others and to the NARUC request. Comments are due July 31 on the petition by CTIA, the National Consumer Law Center, National Hispanic Media Coalition, OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates and United Church of Christ, Office of Communications. Two state regulators who sponsored NARUC's resolution weren't fazed, thinking this action doesn't prejudge what the FCC might do on their request. "Knowing the review process at the FCC," U.S. Virgin Islands Public Service Commissioner Johann Clendenin emailed he's "fairly certain this was an independent action." It's "probably something that they probably had ready to go" at the FCC, said Nebraska Public Service Commissioner Crystal Rhoades Friday. "We’re going to continue to talk to them, try to get them to change their minds." The FCC replied that this is a standard procedure, under current rules, and didn't comment on prospects for the pending requests.
A bipartisan group of eight attorneys general including from Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida met with Attorney General William Barr Thursday about tech industry competition, aides confirmed. The coalition discussed “real concerns consumers across the country have with big tech companies stifling competition on the internet,” it said in a joint statement: “It was a productive meeting, and we’re considering a range of possible anti-trust actions against such companies.” Aides didn’t say which other states participated. California AG Xavier Becerra didn’t attend, an aide said. DOJ and offices for other state AGs didn’t comment.
Thirty-one percent of U.S. households, mainly rural, lack a 25 Mbps download connection, reported NPD Thursday. That impedes adoption of advanced technologies dependent on high speeds, it said. “Consumers with single-digit megabits per second of download speed will struggle to benefit from activities that require these speeds, such as streaming video solutions or connecting to a remote network to telecommute,” said Eddie Hold, president, NPD-Connected Intelligence. State-level data “masks the underlying reality that in the most rural markets in America, less than 20 percent of households have a broadband connection,” Hold said. Rural consumers with access show similarities to the U.S. overall, and there's demand for connected devices, said the analyst: “Streaming media players, larger TVs, and smart home devices see significant ownership levels in rural markets when there is broadband, and at times even in areas that have slower connections.” Some 43 percent of rural households own a streaming media player vs. 45 percent nationwide, said NPD, “regardless of whether or not they have access to broadband.” Many of the households still buy DVDs due to a “less-than-satisfactory streaming connection,” but when broadband is delivered, streaming is preferred, Hold said: 5G rollout "will have a significant impact in rural America, disrupting the limited broadband carrier market and delivering broadband to many households that have not previously had access."
Right-of-way fees charged by localities don't affect broadband deployment, with a correlation between communities that charge fees for ROW use and high levels of deployment, localities and their organizations said in an FCC docket 05-311 posting Wednesday. That shows cable operators' obligations to local governments aren't such a burden that they affect deployment of cable or other services, they said. Included were third-party analyses of cable operator profitability in 2013-15 and a Columbia Telecommunications report. Signers included Atlanta; Boston; Dallas; Washington, D.C.; Fairfax County, Virginia; and Montgomery County, Maryland.
New York City Council Member Justin Brannan (D) planned to introduce legislation Tuesday that would ban wireless carriers and others from selling mobile location data. Telcos make millions from selling location data without knowledge or consent, he tweeted. “It's time to put an end to Big Brother Big Business. And if the federal gov won't do it, NYC will.” Lawmakers and watchdogs criticized the practice of selling location data (see 1904180056).
An NCTA representative used a NARUC panel on wireless 5G and cable's 10 Gbps plan (see 1901070048) to poke some fun at carriers' 5G, saying his industry could do better in marketing broadband like 1 Gbps. After moderator and Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable Commissioner Karen Charles Peterson introduced Monday's panel (see listing for 2:45 p.m.) as on 5G v. 10G, NCTA Vice President-External and State Affairs Rick Cimerman gently corrected it to 5G and 10G. The cable rep said in Indianapolis that the two standards complement, rather than compete, with each other. "It's been 5G mania, maybe we should hear a little bit about the next iteration for us," he said: For 10G, the "G stands for something." While 5G can deliver data at 1 Gbps, it's not meant to connote 5 Gbps. "The marketing geniuses at CTIA and the wireless industry" are emphasizing 5G, while cable has "not helped people properly understand that we are now a gigabit nation," Cimerman said. CTIA research shows demand for smartphones/mobile devices and data usage is surging, noted that group's Ben Aron, director-state regulatory affairs. Answering a commissioner's question about whether 5G will boost prices, Aron noted the price consumers pay per voice minute is going down like a hockey stick numerical-graph figure. "The same could be said for data, it's cheaper today than previously," he said. "The capital expenditure has been pretty consistent" by carriers yearly in recent times, so for 5G, he continued, "folding in this network deployment isn’t really that shocking to the system." On pole attachments, which Cimerman noted NCTA that day filed data with to the FCC (see 1907220055), Peterson said providers need to attach equipment to poles for 5G. CTIA has "seen the interest in poles, certainly on the wireless side, an uptick," Aron said in general about telecom providers seeking such access.
As they extend broadband to hard-to-serve areas, ISPs are aiming to upgrade speeds, working in public-private partnerships and getting pole space from electric cooperatives and others. Some providers are doing this using multiple technologies, including fiber and licensed and unlicensed spectrum, they told a NARUC panel in Indianapolis Monday. The various efforts are having an effect, after some providers had an uneven track record of extending online services, said moderator and NARUC board member Chris Nelson. There used to be "big blotches, big pieces" of geography without broadband, said Nelson, who's also South Dakota Public Utilities Commission vice chairman. Now, "small puzzle pieces" or "niches" are getting smaller, he said. He's seeing "unique business models" fill these holes. Not one technology can do it all, said Pine Telephone General Manager Jerry Whisenhunt: "We do a little bit of it all," Cable operator and phone provider Midco uses methods like fiber and wireless spectrum, noted Director-Government Relations Andrew Curley in an interview. He said it reaches about 90 percent of its footprint with download speeds of 1 Gbps and is targeting 100 percent "soon." Both companies have gotten FCC Connect America Fund money for broadband, their representatives said. Whisenhunt told the panel Pine Telephone entered the ISP business when "the internet providers didn’t come." Comcast Vice President-Regulatory Affairs, Northeast Division Stacey Parker outlined what the company looks for in broadband grant programs. She said "public private partnerships really can work." She cited the company's state subsidies including in Massachusetts, which has rural areas, to which Parker said attendee NARUC Telecom Committee Chair and Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable Commissioner Karen Charles Peterson could attest. Parker said the operator wants tech-neutral programs not limited to eligible telecom carriers, "no regulatory [reach] on the broadband service" and to own the network.