Kudos to PUC Counsel Joe Witmer who recently received the Inaugural Ray Baum Memorial Leadership Award at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners Winter Policy Summit in Washington, D.C. The award honors longtime utility regulatory force Ray Baum who served as a Commissioner at the Oregon Public Utility Commission, and as a staffer on […]

In the wake of a shake-up at the top of Republican leadership in the House with Speaker Mike Turzai recently announcing that he will not seek re-election comes news this week that Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati will move on to the next phase after his current term expires this year. Scarnati has served […]

At its Public Meeting yesterday, the PA PUC unanimously approved the petition of Armstrong Telecommunications Inc. to become an eligible telecommunications carrier (ETC) and utilize Connect America Fund proceeds to deliver broadband to 1,949 locations in Crawford, Erie, and Mercer counties. A Commission press release on the matter noted that it has now granted three […]

Yesterday, the FCC approved the $20.4 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (Commissioners Rosenworcel and Starks dissenting in part), with an accompanying news release saying that the first phase of the fund will begin later this year and devote $16 billion to census blocks unserved with fixed broadband at the 25/3 Mbps speed. A release from […]

The nation’s largest broadband associations (NCTA – The Internet & Television Association, NTCA – The Rural Broadband Association, USTelecom, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, WTA – Advocates for Rural Broadband, and the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association), are locking arms and asking the FCC to revise the letters of credit provisions in the new […]

The House Consumer Affairs Committee has scheduled a voting meeting for Tuesday, January 14, 2020 to consider House Bill 1400, legislation dealing with 5G deployment in Pennsylvania. In its current form, the bill provides for the uniform regulatory treatment of small cell facility deployment at the municipal level. A Multichannel News article on the 5G […]

Another effort to combat robocalling this week in the form of Sprint’s announcement that it is instituting a free call blocking service for its customers called Call Screener Basic. An enhanced version will be available for $2.99 per month. Stay tuned to see how well it stays ahead of the scammers.

On Tuesday, the FCC issued a news release announcing a streamlined consumer enrollment process for telcos to use when enrolling consumers in the Lifeline program. The application programming interface (API) connects the companies’ systems to the National Eligibility Verifier and reduces paperwork currently required from potential subscribers.

More grenade pins pulled this week in the war of words over 5G deployment, as T-Mobile announced on Tuesday that it has “lit up” its nationwide 5G network which covers more than 200 million people across the country. In a FierceWireless article, company spokesman Neville Ray offered that Verizon’s 5G effort is “sparse, expensive, and […]