The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) says it has approved another $74 million in California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) grants to expand affordable high-speed Internet infrastructure to underserved communities across the Golden State.

According to the CPUC’s recent announcement, the funding will support six new Internet access infrastructure projects across Marin, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, and Sonoma counties, bringing reliable, high-speed Internet service to nearly 1,800 previously completely unserved homes and businesses.  

Three providers will be spearheading the six expansion projects:

• Surfnet Communications will receive up to $33.2 million to construct the Santa Barbara Fiber and Central Coast Fiber Broadband projects, serving 1,293 unserved locations across Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz counties.
• WiConduit and GigabitNow will receive up to $32.4 million for the Forestville Connect Extension, Graton Connect, and Sonoma Coast Connect Extension projects, bringing fiber broadband service to 341 unserved locations in Sonoma County.
• Hankins Information Technology will receive up to $8.5 million for the West Marin Project, providing fiber broadband service to 154 unserved locations in Bolinas, Nicasio, Point Reyes Station, Stinson Beach, and surrounding communities in Marin County.

The investments are an ongoing part of California’s landmark $6 billion Broadband for All Initiative, which prioritized closing the digital divide in all of California’s 58 counties, which recently culminated in the launch of the state’s new $3.2 billion Middle-Mile Broadband Initiative (MMBI).

On Episode 15 of the Connect This! Show, co-hosts Christopher and Travis Carter (USI Fiber) are joined by two representatives from the Internet Service Provider Cruzio: James Hackett (Director of Business Operations & Development) and Chris Frost (Director of Technology and Infrastructure). 

The topic of the day is Equal Access Santa Cruz, and how Cruzio is expanding its network with philanthropy to serve low-income households. They talk about the organizing and technical efforts that got it started, challenges along the way, and the success they've seen as a result of their collective hard work. 

The secret sauce of equal access programs? There is none. Just put together a coalition of groups that can continue to do what they already do best, the result of which is bringing affordable, fast Internet access to more families. School districts can continue to serve kids, community foundations can continue to raise money and build relationships, and the ISP can continue to construct and operate Internet connections and infrastructure.

One particular success of the project: bringing in a point-to-multipoint gigabit connection to 140 homes, two laundry rooms, and an office in one farm worker community, funded by the local agricultural firm, to provide free service for three years.

Read more about the project here.

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Watch here, or below.

Join us on Thursday, June 3rd at 5pm ET/4pm CT for a new episode of the Connect This! show, with co-hosts Christopher and Travis Carter (USI Fiber) joined by two representatives from the Internet Service Provider Cruzio: James Hackett (Director of Business Operations & Development) and Chris Frost (Director of Technology and Infrastructure). 

The topic of the day is Equal Access Santa Cruz, and how a small ISP is expanding its network with philanthropy to serve low-income households. They'll talk about the organizing and technical efforts that got it started, challenges along the way, and the success they've seen as a result of their collective hard work.

The show will begin on Thursday, June 3 at 5pm ET/4pm CT.

Subscribe to the show using this feed, or visit ConnectThisShow.com

Email us [email protected] with feedback and ideas for the show.

Watch here, or below.

South of California’s Bay Area with its buzzing tech startups and expensive housing, Santa Cruz County has been overlooked by the big Internet Service Providers (ISPs). The city of Santa Cruz had less than stellar connectivity, and the rest of Santa Cruz County was no better. That’s when county leaders decided to rewrite the rules.

Throughout 2014 and early 2015, the Board of Supervisors for Santa Cruz County developed a broadband master plan, created a “dig once” policy, and streamlined the regulatory permit process. Cutting down red tape at the county level encouraged both small and large ISPs to reconsider investing in Santa Cruz.

Streamlining To Increase Competition

Although large ISPs have enough money and personnel to focus exclusively on permit acquisition, smaller ISPs must find a way to contend with the permitting process with limited resources. Santa Cruz County's new policies and processes enable all ISPs interested in Santa Cruz County to compete on better terms. Under these new rules, ISPs have a more equal playing field.

The policies reduce the amount of time spent on the regulatory process for ISPs building fiber networks. A master lease agreement simplifies the procedure to use county assets for networks. Modified ordinances enable ISPs to easily install or upgrade infrastructure in the county’s right-of-way. (Right-of-way is public land managed for the public good, especially boulevards and medians along roadways.)

We spoke with Santa Cruz County Board Supervisor Zach Friend about the impact of these policies and the Santa Cruz County master broadband plan. He credited the new policies for encouraging providers to offer better services. (Cruzio is building a fiber network in the city of Santa Cruz, and Comcast decided to increase speeds without raising prices in Santa Cruz county.) Supervisor Friend also emphasized that the public discussions brought attention to the need for improved Internet access in the community.