Yesterday, on a 3-1 vote, (Vice Chairman Sweet dissenting), the PA PUC supported a Motion by Chairman Brown Dutrieuille lifting the moratorium on service terminations put in place by the Commission’s Emergency Order of March 13, 2020. The official lift date is November 9, 2020, but comes with conditions including but not limited to, utility […]

Legislation appropriating $5 million for broadband deployment is on the move in the House. Having passed the Senate unanimously in early September, Senate Bill 835 was reported out of the House Consumer Affairs Committee this week and has receive first consideration by the full House. Sponsored by Senator Wayne Langerholc, the bill provides the framework […]

Early in the week, the state Senate unanimously passed Senate Bill 764, legislation which, among other things, prohibits robocalls between 8:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. and Caller ID spoofing. The bill has been referred to the House Consumer Affairs Committee for its consideration.

CenturyLink re-branded this week, and its new Lumen title reflects the company’s “focus on enabling enterprises to navigate the challenges of the fourth industrial revolution, which include digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and autonomous vehicles.” The CenturyLink brand will still be used for residential and small business customers.

Yesterday, Governor Wolf announced that he is directing $15 million worth of CARES Act money towards school internet access. The revenue will be split among a variety of uses including expanding access and adding wi-fi hotspots ($1.4m), a datacasting initiative ($8m), and the purchase of devices such as smart pens ($2m).

The Senate Communications and Technology Committee is scheduled to convene on September 9th to address two bills. Senate Bill 487 prohibits Commonwealth employees from using unsecured internet connections (among other things), and House Bill 2348 appropriates $5 million for the Unserved High-Speed Broadband Funding Program.

Saying that the current pandemic has “thrust improving access to high-speed internet to the top of many priority lists” Senator Kristin Phillips-Hill announced yesterday that she has been reappointed to a second two-year term on the FCC’s Intergovernmental Advisory Committee (IAC). Among other things, the IAC is charged with advising the Commission on the myriad […]

On Monday, PUC Chairman Gladys Brown Dutrielle penned public utilities and interested parties regarding the Commission’s March 13th Emergency Order prohibiting the termination of utility services and asked for comments in light of the changing circumstances since the Order went into effect. The Chairman noted that “maintaining a total moratorium for a time-period that is […]

A couple of self-proclaimed “firsts” in 5G world this week. T-Mobile claimed that it is the first carrier to launch a commercial nationwide standalone 5G network and is expanding coverage by 30 percent, now covering nearly 250 million people across 1.3 million square miles. (See related story in Daily Numbers section). Not to be outdone, […]