Bill would require California PUC to report on broadband access, competition

Sen. Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego) has introduced SB 323 that would require the California Public Utilities Commission to annually report to the Legislature on the availability of broadband Internet access, including where broadband isn't available and where there are no competing providers.

Note to Sen. Kehoe: Consider amending your measure to provide for more specific geographic information, using multiple measures such as census tracts, assessors' rolls, electronic mapping, provider subscriber data and ZIP Code plus 4. (See previous post re Maryland's HB 1069. )

Measurements of broadband availability based on a single geographical parameter -- such as a five digit ZIP Code -- are too broad and easily miss large broadband black holes that can exist in a five-digit ZIP where some neighborhoods have access to broadband while others in the same ZIP code do not.