Adam Bender

A state broadband bill passed the Wisconsin legislature, disappointing the wireless industry. The Senate and Assembly each passed SB-325 Tuesday, despite wireless industry concerns about the bill limiting future funding to fiber-only projects (see 2309290046). It will go to Gov. Tony Evers (D) for approval. “Fixed wireless is the fastest growing form of broadband in the [U.S.] so allowing wireless broadband solutions to compete for state broadband funds will only benefit consumers and accelerate the expansion of connectivity,” a Wireless Infrastructure Association spokesperson said Wednesday. The bill is a departure from the Wisconsin Public Service Commission's historically tech-neutral approach to broadband grants, said Wireless ISP Association State Advocacy Manager Steve Schwerbel. "The Wisconsin Legislature has taken an unfortunate and disappointing step away from this success, passing legislation designed to put its thumb on the scale in favor of certain technologies over others. This will push the PSC to ignore quicker-to-deploy, more cost-effective projects that offer the same speed and reliability to customers who need broadband access today." Also, Wisconsin senators voted 30-2 Tuesday for SB-371, which would create a grant program at the Department of Military Affairs for ILECs to reimburse next-generation 911 costs. It will go to the Assembly.

T-Mobile faced tough questions Tuesday from a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel on the carrier’s argument that states must align with the FCC’s revenue-based USF contribution mechanism. The court heard T-Mobile and subsidiaries’ challenge to a U.S. District Court for Northern California March 31 decision not to block the California Public Utilities Commission’s April 1 change to a connections-based method.

Veto of a bill meant to bolster digital equity in California’s video franchise law disappointed Assemblymember Chris Holden (D), the AB-41 sponsor said in a statement Wednesday. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) quashed that and a separate bill adding wireless eligibility for broadband grants earlier this week (see 2310110067). “California can be an innovator in creating digital equity,” and Holden will continue the work with colleagues and Newsom, he said. Broadband must be affordable and reliable in rural and urban areas, he added.

Defining project areas “is not for the faint of heart,” Washington State Broadband Office Director Mark Vasconi said. The office met virtually Thursday to start considering various ways to define them for NTIA’s broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program. “We have not made any decisions around what the form of project areas are going to look like,” said Vasconi. The state faces a “compressed time frame,” he noted. BEAD “has been characterized as a marathon, but I will tell you it’s a marathon with … timed sprints in the process.” The office probably will release a draft of volume two of Washington’s initial proposal in early November and seek comments for 30 days, he said. NTIA Federal Program Officer Tracey Blackburn said project areas are one aspect of BEAD planning that’s critical to get right. “This is a really hard one,” she said. “There are many different ways to think about doing this and there's no one right answer.”

California Assemblymember Jim Patterson (R) will try again next session on a vetoed bill that would have expanded eligibility for federal broadband grants administered by the California Public Utilities Commission, a Patterson spokesperson told us Wednesday. Wireless industry groups lamented Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Sunday veto of AB-1065, though they applauded the Democrat for signing AB-965, a bill meant to streamline the broadband permitting process.

The North Dakota Public Service Commission voted 3-0 Wednesday to deny LTD Broadband’s application to be designated an eligible telecom carrier (docket PU-21-168). It’s another setback for the company that sought FCC reversal of its denied Rural Digital Opportunity Fund long-form application (see 2302160069). LTD didn’t comment. Meanwhile, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission plans to decide at its Nov. 16 meeting whether to resume proceedings on revoking LTD Broadband’s eligible telecom carrier (ETC) designation and whether to grant Minnesota Telecom Association and the Minnesota Rural Electric Association’s motion to suspend LTD’s ETC designation in the meantime, a spokesperson said Wednesday. The PUC planned to decide last month but pulled the item due to a commissioner’s personal reasons (see 2309190068).

"Nothing in telecommunications regulation is ever easy,” said Regulatory Commission of Alaska Commissioner Robert Pickett Wednesday as he and four colleagues agreed to hit reboot on a proceeding to implement the state’s 2019 telecom deregulation law, SB-83. Commissioners agreed to close docket R-19-002 and open a yet-to-be-numbered fresh docket. The RCA had filed rules in 2021 but the Department of Law disapproved them and sought major changes, Pickett said. Commissioners agreed Wednesday to ask the department for permission to seek comment for 45 days on that disapproval memo. Pickett said legislation will probably be needed in the long run since the department’s memo puts the commission in a difficult position: "It will force us into a bit of sham regulation in certain areas."

Illinois is interested in funding “blended” broadband projects that bring service to both unserved and underserved areas, said the state’s broadband office director, Matt Schmit, on a Broadband.Money webinar Friday. Illinois is required to connect unserved areas lacking service with at least 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload speeds -- and must mind how far it can stretch federal dollars -- but the state hopes to upgrade many underserved places that have less than 100/20 Mbps, he said. Internet service providing 25 Mbps downloads and 3 Mbps uploads, the speeds used for the federal definition of unserved, is “wildly insufficient” in 2023, Schmit said. States will likely start sending NTIA final proposals for the broadband, equity, access and deployment program in spring 2025, predicted Schmit: Illinois aims to file its final BEAD plan in April that year.

Extended 911 hold times and insufficient staffing continue to plague the District of Columbia’s Office of Unified Communications (OUC), said D.C. Council members at a virtual hearing Thursday. The Judiciary and Public Safety Committee sharply questioned OUC Director Heather McGaffin on recent problems and the agency’s compliance with recent emergency legislation meant to enhance accountability and transparency. The committee also considered a bill to expand upon and make permanent the emergency measure.

A Pennsylvania House committee advanced a bipartisan bill on “ghost poles” Tuesday amid a push to increase telecom accountability by six Republicans from rural districts. The bills respond to constituents’ many complaints about Frontier Communications, state legislators said in interviews last week.