Comcast, Mediacom and Verizon extended broadband to 5,859 Delaware homes and businesses in mainly rural areas in the past 12 months, with American Rescue Plan Act funding, Gov. John Carney (D) said Thursday. The state expects to reach another 372 locations in the next few months, said Carney’s office: When complete, Delaware will have spent $33 million of ARPA money. Competitors last year raised concerns with Delaware limiting eligibility for ARPA funding to big ISPs with existing cable franchises (see 2204090003). Meanwhile in Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) announced $203 million awarded in the first round of the state’s Realizing Opportunity with Broadband Infrastructure Networks grant program. With money from the U.S. Treasury's Capital Projects Fund, the grants will connect 70,000 unserved homes and businesses to fiber, Whitmer said. The state awarded 18 projects from nine applicants, which put up $202 million in total matching funds.

The Massachusetts Broadband Institute opened a $145 million gap networks grant program using federal funding from the U.S. Treasury’s Capital Projects Fund, MBI said Thursday. The grant program aims to connect unserved and underserved areas across the state, “with a particular focus on communities with substantial low-income households and disadvantaged populations,” it said. Round one applications are due Dec. 11, with awards expected in January or February, MBI said. Round two applications are due April 17, with awards expected in May or June. Eligible organizations include private entities, local governments, electric cooperatives and utilities and public-private partnerships.

Colorado seeks comment on volume two of its draft initial proposal for NTIA’s broadband, equity, access and deployment program, the state broadband office said Thursday. Comments on the draft are due by Nov. 27. Colorado was allocated $826.5 million from BEAD.

A Lumen pact with Oregon Public Utility Commission staff on a successor price plan met resistance Tuesday. The “opposition centers on accountability,” said the Oregon Citizens’ Utility Board (CUB) in docket UM 1908. “As much as we appreciate the level of detail and effort that went into crafting this Stipulation, CUB does not believe its terms and conditions are sufficient to result in a Price Plan that is in the public interest.” The agreement doesn’t “adequately hold Lumen accountable in achieving results, i.e. reliable service, which at this point is long overdue,” added CUB. Lumen landline customer Priscilla Weaver objected, too. Staff and Lumen ask the PUC to “eviscerate its own” orders that it “found were necessary to protect the rural area near Jacksonville in the event of emergencies,” Weaver wrote. Lumen and Oregon PUC staff filed the stipulation Oct. 10.

New York state awarded $55 million to 47 counties and New York City to upgrade emergency communications systems and public safety answering points (PSAPs), Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said Wednesday. The state will fund projects through its statewide interoperable communications grant (SICG) program, including $45 million in SICG-Formula grants and $10 million in PSAP grants, Hochul’s office said. New York City received the biggest SICG-Formula award at $6.6 million, followed by Monroe ($1.4 million), Erie ($1.2 million), Albany ($1.2 million) and Onondaga ($1.1 million) counties.

California gave $400 million to Lumen to deploy open-access fiber by 2027 as part of the state's planned middle-mile network, the carrier said Wednesday. The California Department of Technology (CDT) broadband award is “great” for Californians and Lumen stakeholders alike, said CEO Kate Johnson. California’s $6 billion broadband bill in 2021 charged CDT with building a 10,000-mile middle-mile network. CDT now has about 83% of the network under contract for construction and leases, Mark Monroe, Middle-Mile Broadband Initiative deputy director, said at a California Broadband Council meeting Wednesday. The CDT official responded to concerns, such as by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, that the state may no longer reach all areas that were promised. “Every segment throughout California is important," stressed Monroe. A phased approach to construction created confusion that segments had been reprioritized, he said. But work on a corridor running through Oakland never stopped, with preconstruction work expected to be completed next year and construction to immediately follow, he said. Monroe apologized for the temporary disappearance from CDT’s map of planned segments in Los Angeles’ Gateway Cities region, including Compton. Blaming a geographic information system glitch, Monroe said CDT republished the map less than 24 hours after realizing its error. “These areas remain a priority,” with preconstruction work expected to finish by December 2024. CDT will try to be more transparent about map changes that can occur when the department decides to use parallel routes “to provide quicker service through leasing,” added Monroe. Also, he noted that Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has committed to adding middle-mile funding in the state budget. Meanwhile, the California Public Utilities Commission saw more interest for its new federal funding account for last-mile projects than the CPUC has ever seen for one of its grant programs, Commissioner Darcie Houck told the council. In the first cycle that closed Sept. 29, the agency received 483 grant requests for $4.6 billion. A 28-day challenge process began Monday; applicants will get 28 days to respond to objections. Houck said the CPUC may adopt rules for the $750 million broadband loan loss reserve program at its Nov. 2 meeting. It received comments on a proposed decision earlier this month (see 2310190042). The agency aims to take applications in Q1 2024 and make awards in Q2, she said. Also, the commissioner said to expect proposed revisions to the California Advanced Services Fund public housing program by year-end.

Proposed changes to Nebraska's USF program saw disagreements during Nebraska Public Service Commission hearing testimony Tuesday over benchmark speeds for targeting support and what data to use to define unserved and underserved areas. State USF Fund Director Cullen Robbins said the USF Fund recommends maintaining the speed threshold at 25/3 Mbps for targeting support. He said changing that threshold would potentially divert unserved support to areas that might qualify as underserved. Robbins said the fund also recommends changing the structure of payments for the high-cost program. Today it pays on a reimbursement basis, but that has resulted in issues of the fund rising to high levels and legislators wanting to access that money for other purposes. Robbins said a structured payout process, with some funding being paid during the course of a project, might work better. Andy Pollock of Rembolt Ludtke, representing the Rural Nebraska Broadband Alliance, urged transitioning by July 1, 2025, away from USF support for infrastructure that cannot provide 100 Mbps symmetrical speeds. He said there's no reason to continue supporting obsolete infrastructure providing lower speeds. Charter Communications Vice President-Regulatory Affairs Tim Goodwin said that rather than 100 Mbps symmetrical, 100/20 Mbps or 25/3 Mbps would be better benchmarks because those speeds align with other state program standards. Making 100 Mbps symmetrical the benchmark for unserved or underserved would be out of line with numerous state and federal programs, he said. Many cable operators offer 1 Gbps downstream speeds but not 100 Mbps upstream, so with a 100 Mbps symmetrical standard, "you just declared almost all of Lincoln and most of Omaha unserved," he said. Consortia Consulting Director Dan Davis, representing a group of rural LECs, said that a transition to 100 Mbps symmetrical to establish served status would be sound policy, but that 2025 was too soon and a graduated approach should be taken through 2028. Multiple speakers testified in support of using FCC broadband data collection data for determining high-cost support distributions for 2024 and forward. BDC data, “as imperfect as it is,” is still better than the Form 477 alternative, said Charter's Goodwin. However, said Davis, BDC data "is demonstrably inaccurate," overcounting the number of broadband serviceable locations. He said once the data is more accurate, the LECs would support using it for future USF distributions.

The Vermont Public Service Department will close a survey on telecom facility siting Nov. 5, the PSD said Monday. The department will use the survey to write a legislative report on “how to make the process easier to participate in for municipalities and individuals, how to encourage municipal participation, and recommend any necessary updates to” Section 248 of the state’s public service law.

The Regulatory Commission of Alaska will rule by March 5 on a Dish Wireless application for eligible telecom carrier (ETC) designation, Chairman Keith Kurber ordered Monday in docket U-23-049. Dish is seeking to provide Lifeline service in areas where underlying provider AT&T has service. The RCA previously sought comments by Nov. 6 (see 2310060050).

Utah’s consumer advocate opposed relieving Lumen’s CenturyLink of carrier of last resort (COLR) obligations for new customers (see 2306230006). The Utah Public Service Commission received testimony Thursday in docket 23-049-01. “Until there is proper protection for customers without competitive choice, CenturyLink’s petition cannot be found to be in the public interest,” said Alyson Anderson, Utah Office of Consumer Services utility analyst. Anderson agrees with the carrier that “many customers have chosen competing services that are comparable in terms and price,” but she said she’s “concerned there may be pockets of customers or even individual customers within a ‘competitive’ wire center that do not have access to the competitive options available to the wire center as a whole.” Anderson said the PSC should consider requiring plans for maintaining existing telecom infrastructure and service quality. Other commenters also raised concerns. Some areas likely have effective competition, but Utah’s Division of Public Utilities “needs more information to identify areas where an exemption is warranted and areas where the public interest may still require a COLR obligation,” said Ronald Slusher, utility technical consultant. “Mere wire center market share data is not detailed enough to determine where effective competition exists in CenturyLink’s service areas.” The Utah PSC should retain CenturyLink COLR obligations “for much of its service area,” said JSI Director-Economics and Policy Douglas Meredith, a consultant testifying for the Utah Rural Telecom Association. In any area where the commission grants relinquishment, it should require another carrier to have COLR obligations, he said. CenturyLink hasn’t shown effective competition everywhere, said Meredith: It cites fixed wireless and satellite providers but gives “no evidence showing that these services are offered at comparable prices, terms, quality, and conditions as its voice services.”