California Public Utilities Commission

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), in ongoing efforts to ensure reliable and affordable telecommunication services, approved Verizon Communications’ acquisition of TracFone Wireless with consumer protection conditions to ensure the acquisition will be in the public interest. The CPUC's Decision finds that in order for Verizon and TracFone to meet the burden of proving their acquisition is in the public interest, they must adopt a number of specific measures to protect consumers-including California Lifeline customers-from price increases and service disruptions.

This proposal that would approve Verizon Communications’ acquisition of TracFone Wireless with consumer protection conditions to ensure the proposed acquisition will be in the public interest.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) released a ruling and staff report on "Equity and Transparency of Fees, Taxes and Surcharges Assessed on Customers of Telecommunications Services in California." The report found that the total number of communications subscribers in the state has increased substantially over the past decade. Yet, over the same period, the surcharges have yielded diminishing revenues.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC)  approved the merger of Sprint Communications Company and T-Mobile, with extensive conditions to mitigate the potential adverse impacts on competition and to ensure that T-Mobile delivers on its promises to consumers, including requirements for faster speeds, broader coverage, job creation, and offerings for low-income customers. The Decision orders the merged company to implement the following to benefit consumers:

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) approved $12,689,849.72 in grant funding to build high-speed broadband Internet infrastructure and access to unserved Californians. The awards, under the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) broadband infrastructure grant program administered by the CPUC, will serve households in Lassen, Modoc, Kern, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties, and include affordable subscription options. Collectively, the grants—primarily for fiberoptic infrastructure investments—will provide high-speed Internet service to 542 unserved households.

Based on consumer connection and broadband deployment data collected by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), as of Dec 31, 2017, the CA statewide adoption rate is 87.3% at speeds exceeding 200 kilobits per second (Kbps) in at least one direction, or 80.2% at California Advanced Servies Fund (CASF) served speeds of 6 megabits per second (Mbps) down and 1 Mbps up. Even with internet usage and adoption rates increasing at home, our analysis finds that gaps still exist for some households based on certain demographic characteristics. This analysis finds that