NTIA released four case studies on the impact of the more than $450 million in awards it has granted under its Broadband Technology Opportunities Program since 2010 for establishing or upgrading public computer centers and innovative broadband adoption programs in underserved communities, in a blog post (http://1.usa.gov/1ixJFwz) Friday. The investment has resulted in more than 3,000 new or improved public computer centers and produced 600,000 new household broadband subscriptions, said the agency. Released at a Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition conference, the studies were done as part of an evaluation contract by research firm ASR Analytics. One study was done about Florida A&M University, which established a BTOP-funded Center for Public Computing and Workforce Development for Tallahassee and surrounding counties, said NTIA. The center has 80 new computers with broadband Internet connections, internal wireless access, and interactive video conferencing technology to provide both college classes and training for area businesses, said NTIA.

A California measure requiring smartphone makers to install theft-deterring kill switches will move to the Assembly after being approved by the Senate Thursday. “The theft and robbery of smartphones is the fastest growing crime in many cities across California because thieves have a financial incentive to steal and then resell these valuable devices on the black market,” said Democratic Sen. Mark Leno, sponsor of Senate Bill 962 (http://bit.ly/1i0TKOj), in a news release after the 26-8 vote. “We can end this crime of convenience and protect the safety of smartphone consumers by ensuring that every new phone sold in our state has theft-deterrent technology installed and enabled by default.” The vote came upon reconsideration after the measure was narrowly defeated in the Senate on April 24 (CD April 28 p19). CTIA pointed to smartphone manufacturers having pledged to enable the devices with preloaded or downloadable features to render them unusable upon being stolen or lost. “Given the breadth of action the industry has voluntarily taken, it was unnecessary for the California Senate to approve SB 962, which would mandate a specific form of anti-theft functionality,” said Jamie Hastings, CTIA vice president-external and state affairs. “If technology mandates are imposed on a state-by-state basis, the uniformity is threatened since the wireless industry, which manufactures and distributes smartphones nationally, does so to provide security and choice regardless of where consumers live, purchase or use their smartphones. State-by-state technology mandates stifle innovation to the ultimate detriment to the consumer.” Leno had criticized the voluntary initiative because it requires device owners to opt in (CD April 17 p10).

Proponents of a Montana ballot initiative (http://1.usa.gov/1kMRWKb), pushed by Charter Communications General Manager - Mountain States Christopher Fulton to lower the company’s state property taxes, have the go-ahead to try to gather enough signatures to put the measure on the Nov. 4 statewide ballot, the Secretary of State’s office ruled Tuesday. The initiative needs 24,175 verified signatures by June 20 to qualify, said a Secretary of State spokeswoman. Charter’s predecessor, Bresnan Communications, had divided its property for tax assessment purposes between being a “cable television system” and “telecommunications services company,” according to a Montana Supreme Court synopsis (http://bit.ly/1g8DoDi) of a dispute between Charter and the state spurring the ballot initiative. In 2008, a Montana Department of Revenue audit found that Bresnan’s voice, cable and Internet operations should be taxed as one entity, as a telecom company, hiking the company’s annual taxes by 329 percent from $1.7 million to $7.3 million, according to the Supreme Court decision. Bresnan argued portions of its operations could not be labeled telecom because it provided one-way signal cable. The state Supreme Court ruled Dec. 2 the state could classify the company’s operations as telecom “because it is capable of delivering telephone, cable and Internet service over the same equipment,” the decision said. Initiative 172 would classify the cable portion of companies that provide bundled voice, cable and high-speed Internet services to a taxing category that includes cable and assesses taxes at a lower rate than telecom. “If this 300 percent tax increase becomes permanent, Montana consumers will suffer if companies are forced to curtail services or diminish high speed Internet and high-definition television expansion in the state,” the initiative said. A Charter spokeswoman said the company is a “supporter of both the effort to repeal the 300 percent retro-active tax increase and the committee organized to spearhead it.” Mike Kadas, director of the Montana Department of Revenue, said in a statement, “We stand by our assertion and the Montana Supreme Court decision that Charter Communications must pay property taxes as a single telecommunications services company.” A Charter spokeswoman said the company is a “supporter of both the effort to repeal the 300 percent retro-active tax increase and the committee organized to spearhead it.” Mike Kadas, director of the Montana Department of Revenue, said in a statement, “We stand by our assertion and the Montana Supreme Court decision that Charter Communications must pay property taxes as a single telecommunications services company."

Arkansas should expand the Arkansas Public School Computer Network (APSCN), which serves K-12 schools, to meet minimum broadband targets, a panel convened by the state Department of Education said in a report (http://bit.ly/1j3550k) to legislators and Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe on Tuesday. Arkansas should adopt the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) recommendations of 100 kbps per student and staff in 2014-15 and 1 Mbps per student and staff in 2017-18, said the report by the Quality Digital Learning Study Committee. The panel, made up of representatives from higher education and K-12, telecom providers, legislators and other stakeholders, also recommended centralizing state network support services, including E-rate applications and network monitoring and vendor management. The report also recommended finding economies of scale and maximizing seeking E-rate and other federal funding. “Our children are growing up as digital natives, never knowing a world without the Web, personal devices like iPads, and multifunctional phones. Yet our educational system has been slow to adopt these technologies as part of the teaching and learning pedagogy,” said committee Chairman Ed Franklin in a letter to Beebe and legislators. Beebe’s office did not return a call for comment.

The Alabama Public Service Commission tentatively approved a staff proposal Tuesday that would reduce inmate phone rates and fees, said a PSC news release (http://bit.ly/1oq5nDE). The PSC extended a comment period through June 12 before deciding whether to issue a final order to implement the changes, it said. According to a PSC fact sheet, the changes would eliminate a $2.25 per call surcharge on each local or intrastate toll call made by inmates. Local calls are now charged an additional 50 cents per local call and 30 cents a minute for intrastate toll calls, on top of the surcharge. The changes would phase down the rates for both types of calls to 25 cents a minute the first year, 23 cents a minute for debit and prepaid calls the second year, and 21 cents a minute for debit and prepaid calls the third year. Collect calls would remain at 25 cents a minute the second and third years. The tentative changes would cap or eliminate a variety of fees charged by phone companies service jails and prisons. The changes are among a number of steps in states to reduce intrastate inmate call costs after FCC action on interstate inmate calls last year (CD May 5 p8).

An increasing number of local governments are building high-speed broadband networks, said New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute (OTI) and CTC Technology & Energy, a communications and information technology engineering consulting firm, in a report Tuesday. Public broadband networks in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Wilson, North Carolina, “as well as hundreds of others across the U.S., have demonstrated their ability to provide cutting-edge and more affordable broadband access to their communities,” said OTI Policy Program Associate Patrick Lucey in a news release (http://bit.ly/1fMvipc) on the report (http://bit.ly/1kHd04X). The projects signal “an opportunity for other local governments to define a better broadband future, where private sector-only approaches are unwilling or unable to meet a community’s aspirations or needs,” Lucey said. “In light of the current debates about net neutrality and the potential Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger, it is more important than ever that communities begin to discuss local broadband options."

Iowa Republican Gov. Terry Branstad is disappointed with the Legislature’s failure to pass Iowa House File 2472 (http://bit.ly/1flQXo6), which would have provided incentives to expand broadband in the state’s underserved areas, before adjourning for the year Wednesday. “We launched the ‘Connect Every Iowan’ initiative to increase access, adoption and use of broadband technology in Iowa,” Branstad said in a written statement Thursday (http://bit.ly/1rIZ8Lf). “Technology is the great equalizer and we know for Iowa to continue to grow and prosper, we must have quality broadband technology all across Iowa. ... We plan to continue working to bring high-speed Internet access to all corners of the state, not just to population and industrial centers.” The House Republican majority “failed to pass the Governor’s broadband bill, one of his top priorities this year,” countered House Democratic Leader Mark Smith. Republican supporters of the bill couldn’t pull enough Democrats to pass it, because “House Democrats firmly believe the bill does not go far enough in expanding broadband access to more homes and small businesses,” Smith said. The Connect Every Iowan Act (CD April 29 p13) would have exempted broadband equipment and infrastructure installed or constructed in unserved or underserved areas from property taxes until Dec. 31, 2018.

Google Fiber is “impressed by the enthusiasm and engagement” of all 34 cities under consideration for Google Fiber, and all of them have or for the most part completed checklists the company is seeking (CD May 1 p5), Google Fiber said on its blog Thursday (http://bit.ly/1pTbDYT). “There’s still a lot of work to do.” Google Fiber said it will now work on tying up loose ends with the checklists, including working with city councils that have yet to act on approving agreements to allow fiber huts. Video franchise agreements still need to be worked out, said the company. “After all of these steps, we'll start drawing up construction blueprints for local fiber networks. These detailed designs will help us see how complex it would be to build in each city, and will be used as we make our final decisions."

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is right to shine a spotlight on “anti-competitive and economically stifling” state laws that bar or impede municipal broadband networks, the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) said in a statement (http://bit.ly/1o4juOA) Wednesday. “In an era when policymakers throughout the country have recognized that robust broadband networks are necessary to ensure the nation’s economic future, it is imperative that local communities, entrepreneurs, and innovators have the opportunity to develop next generation networks at the local level,” NATOA said.

The nation’s need to invest more in infrastructure “is by no means a justification for turning the Internet over to private parties to derive maximum profits at the expense of consumers,” said Montgomery County, Md., Councilman Hans Riemer Wednesday, responding to comments by NCTA President Michael Powell. “Because the Internet is not regulated as a public utility, it grows and thrives,” Powell said Tuesday at NCTA’s 2014 Cable Show. “The contribution citizens make to ISPs in the form of providing access to their communities’ public assets such as rights-of-way, many times for free or less than market rates, is often forgotten in statements such as Mr. Powell’s,” Riemer said in a statement. “And I find it ironic that Mr. Powell, speaking for an industry that has torn up the nation’s streets on an ongoing basis, would use potholes as an example of why private industry should be unregulated when using public assets."