Deeplinks
The California Senate Energy, Utilities, and Communications Committee will soon be the first to consider new and terrible amendments to Assemblymember Quirk-Silva’s A.B. 2749—which is backed by AT&T and other telecommunications interests. The legislation would prohibit the state from implementing affordable broadband rules for broadband companies receiving state subsidies as part of the new California infrastructure law, S.B. 156. This is despite the fact that California taxpayers—not the industry—are paying to build these networks.
An affordability requirement is crucial because this will be the only broadband access point for these Californians, and it’s likely they will be subject to monopolistic pricing practices. A University of California-Berkeley study found that rural Californians facing a Frontier monopoly were paying rates more than four times higher than in areas with competitive markets. Under an AT&T monopoly, they paid rates more than three time higher. On average, Americans living in areas with only one or two ISPs pay prices five times higher than those in areas with competition in the market. Given what we’ve already seen in these areas across the state, we can guess these are similar to prices that Californians will face if A.B. 2749 becomes law.
California: Tell Your Lawmakers we need Affordable Broadband
The bill would also undermine the federal f
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