Tellus Venture Associates

Tellus Venture Associates Business development, planning and management consulting for community broadband systems and digital

Agriculture is increasingly dependent on bespoke agricultural technology applications and products, particularly in regi...
12/29/2020

Agriculture is increasingly dependent on bespoke agricultural technology applications and products, particularly in regions like the Salinas Valley where high value crops are grown. I’m often asked about where to find or how to get connectivity in the fields. The top line answer is: via wireless systems. If wireline connectivity is available, that’s wonderful, but it’s also rate. So with due regard for the inevitable exceptions and hybrid technologies, there are five types of wireless providers to consider when speccing ag tech deployments....

Agriculture is increasingly dependent on bespoke agricultural technology applications and products, particularly in regions like the Salinas Valley where high value crops are grown. I’m often asked…

California’s primary broadband infrastructure subsidy program – the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) – ends 2020...
12/23/2020

California’s primary broadband infrastructure subsidy program – the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) – ends 2020 with a dwindling account balance and many unanswered questions about how that money will be spent. Last week, the California Public Utilities Commission approved a $7.6 million grant to Race Communications for a fiber to the premise (FTTP) project in Williams, in Colusa County, and a $3.7 million grant to the Plumas Sierra electric cooperative for a project, also FTTP, in Lassen and Sierra counties....

California’s primary broadband infrastructure subsidy program – the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) – ends 2020 with a dwindling account balance and many unanswered questions about h…

In August, governor Gavin Newsom said all Californians should have, at the minimum, 100 Mbps broadband service. He didn’...
12/22/2020

In August, governor Gavin Newsom said all Californians should have, at the minimum, 100 Mbps broadband service. He didn’t say how that would happen, though. The job was delegated to the California Broadband Council, a talking shop dominated by state government information technology managers. The final draft (not the final-final version) was published last week. It’s long on high sounding words about the universal need for broadband service and the wonderfulness of the benefits it brings, but endorses a much slower standard than the governor called for and has little to say about how to achieve even that much....

In August, governor Gavin Newsom said all Californians should have, at the minimum, 100 Mbps broadband service. He didn’t say how that would happen, though. The job was delegated to the Calif…

People are economically rational about municipally owned and operated broadband systems. Emotions – hatred of incumbents...
12/17/2020

People are economically rational about municipally owned and operated broadband systems. Emotions – hatred of incumbents or warm, fuzzy collectivist feelings – do not motivate consumers to switch ISPs or vote for tax-backed bonds to pay for a publicly provided gigabit. That’s my conclusion yet again, after reading yet another professionally executed muni broadband feasibility study, this one by Columbia Telecommunications Corporation for Multnomah County in Oregon (h/t to Fred Pilot at the…...

People are economically rational about municipally owned and operated broadband systems. Emotions – hatred of incumbents or warm, fuzzy collectivist feelings – do not motivate consumers to switch I…

Almost final rules for topping up federal broadband subsidies with money from the California Advanced Services Fund (CAS...
12/14/2020

Almost final rules for topping up federal broadband subsidies with money from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) were published on Friday. The draft decision, authored by CPUC commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves, tracks with the most recent “kicker” program proposal floated by California Public Utilities Commission staff. The big question remains: will it have any practical effect? The Federal Communications Commission’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auction is over....

Almost final rules for topping up federal broadband subsidies with money from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) were published on Friday. The draft decision, authored by CPUC commissione…

The fight over California’s broadband future resumed in Sacramento on Monday, with the battle line unchanged from August...
12/10/2020

The fight over California’s broadband future resumed in Sacramento on Monday, with the battle line unchanged from August’s stalemate. As expected, senator Lena Gonzalez (D - Los Angeles) introduced senate bill 4, which sunsets the current, anaemic California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) program, and replaces it with a more robust broadband bond program aimed at local agencies. It reflects the compromise between Gonzalez, her fellow senators and the governor’s office in…...

The fight over California’s broadband future resumed in Sacramento on Monday, with the battle line unchanged from August’s stalemate. As expected, senator Lena Gonzalez (D – Los A…

Broadband providers won subsidies for nearly all of the eligible California homes and businesses in the Federal Communic...
12/08/2020

Broadband providers won subsidies for nearly all of the eligible California homes and businesses in the Federal Communications Commission’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auction, which concluded last month. But those subsidies total only a third of the theoretical dollars on offer. That’s pretty much what happened in the rest of the U.S., too. Most of California’s winning bidders in the reverse auction were wireless Internet service providers (WISPs), and most claimed to be capable of delivering what the FCC calls “gigabit” service: 1,000 Mbps download/500 Mbps upload speeds....

Broadband providers won subsidies for nearly all of the eligible California homes and businesses in the Federal Communications Commission’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auction, which conc…

One question I often get is can local or state governments require mobile carriers to share cell sites, particularly sma...
11/25/2020

One question I often get is can local or state governments require mobile carriers to share cell sites, particularly small ones that can be attached to something like a street light pole? No. There are technical issues with carriers sharing big, macro site towers, but those are generally solvable if the tower is big enough, and cities can sometimes pressure or cajole carriers to work together....

One question I often get is can local or state governments require mobile carriers to share cell sites, particularly small ones that can be attached to something like a street light pole? No. There…

T-Mobile will pay a $200 million fine to clear Sprint’s bad conduct off of the Federal Communication Commission’s books,...
11/24/2020

T-Mobile will pay a $200 million fine to clear Sprint’s bad conduct off of the Federal Communication Commission’s books, but the deal doesn’t include repayment of state subsidies that the company took for low income “lifeline” customers who weren’t actually using the service. T-Mobile assumed responsibility for Sprint’s lifeline service – Assurance Mobile – when it took over Sprint earlier this year....

T-Mobile will pay a $200 million fine to clear Sprint’s bad conduct off of the Federal Communication Commission’s books, but the deal doesn’t include repayment of state subsidies …

Not every project proposed for a broadband infrastructure grant from the California Advanced Services Fund that could ha...
11/23/2020

Not every project proposed for a broadband infrastructure grant from the California Advanced Services Fund that could have been waved through and approved administratively was. Nine grant requests from Charter Communications received a “ministerial” blessing, but a proposal from Digital Path was bucked to the five CPUC commissioners for a decision. Digital Path wants $415,000 from CASF for fixed wireless facilities to cover 279 homes, mostly in Sutter County, with a few in Placer County....

Not every project proposed for a broadband infrastructure grant from the California Advanced Services Fund that could have been waved through and approved administratively was. Nine grant requests …

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