Thursday, March 29, 2018
That's the bad news the Vermont House Energy and Technology Committee received Thursday morning from officials of the Department of Public Service, which regulates utilities in the state. The loss of CoverageCo service will leave 26 rural communities and some 150 miles of rural roadway without cell service.
CoverageCo provides service along state highway corridors unserved by other carriers through the deployment of roughly 150 microcell units resembling small satellite dishes. Clay Purvis, director of telecommunications and connectivity for the Department of Public Service, told the House panel that 102 of the microcells are not working.
And Public Service Commissioner June Tierney testified that the entire CoverageCo system will go dark on Saturday, when a firm most of us have never heard of cuts ties with it.
Tags: June Tierney , Clay Purvis , Laura Sibilia , Curt McCormack , CoverageCo , Syniverse , Image , Web Only
Monday, December 11, 2017
“Oh, my God. I wasn’t aware of that,” Leahy said when he was asked Sunday about the comment. “I have been a consistent and noisy proponent of net neutrality.”
Tags: Patrick Leahy , net neutrality , Federal Communications Commission , Image , Web Only
Thursday, November 2, 2017
The officials said they are in the process of gathering information about data security issues, possible legislative remedies, and the lines between state and federal authority. The goal, said House Speaker Mitzi Johnson (D-South Hero) is to draft legislation for "immediate action in January."
One starting point: a series of public hearings to be held by the House Commerce and Economic Development Committee beginning next week to gather public testimony on the impact of the Equifax breach and other data-security issues.
Tags: Mitzi Johnson , T.J. Donovan , Michael Sirotkin , Bill Botzow , Equifax , data security , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
“Since January, the state has seen over 3.3 million potentially malicious cyberattacks against our information resources,” he said. “This is equal to 524 attempts to subvert our defenses and gain unauthorized access every single hour for the last nine months.”
Shocking, isn’t it? Well ...
Tags: Phil Scott , John Quinn , T.J. Donovan , EB-5 , cybersecurity , Image , Web Only
The co-op's $12 million bid is doomed by legal, financial and regulatory concerns, and is inferior to the $27.5 million offer from Ting and the $30.8 million put up by Schurz Communications, the mayor said at a press conference in his City Hall office.
Weinberger voiced his opinion loud and clear several days before the City Council holds a key vote Monday to narrow the field from three to two finalists.
"Fundamentally, at this point, the KBTL proposal is not viable," Weinberger said.
Tags: Miro Weinberger , Burlington Telecom , BTAB , David Provost , Alan Matson , Ting , Schurz , Keep BT Local , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
Forty-five people were laid off Tuesday at Dealer.com, one of Burlington’s largest employers.
The layoffs at the Pine Street tech company amount to about a 4 percent workforce reduction, according to company spokeswoman Alison von Puschendorf.
Employees were aware of the looming layoffs. Cox Automotive, Dealer’s parent company, announced plans last week to trim from its 35,000-person worldwide workforce by approximately 3 percent — a total cut of about 950 employees.
The impact on Burlington was unclear until the layoffs Tuesday.
Tags: Dealer.com , layoffs , Burlington , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, July 18, 2017
The Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles' facial recognition program violates state law and should remain suspended, Attorney General T.J. Donovan said Tuesday.
Donovan said the program, which includes 2.7 million images of license applicants and has previously been shared with police, violates a 2004 law barring the DMV from using "biometric identifiers" in granting identification cards.
The DMV suspended use of facial recognition in May after Seven Days, using documents uncovered by the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont, published a story on the program.
The DMV should not restart the program unless it gets legislative approval, Donovan said.
"This is about balancing public safety with the privacy rights of Vermonters," Donovan said.
Tags: T.J. Donovan , Vermont DMV , facial recognition database , facial recognition program , Image , Web Only
Monday, June 26, 2017
Consolidated Communications of Illinois will take over FairPoint
“The combined company will be more financially stable than FairPoint on a standalone basis, with stronger credit ratings, more flexible access to capital, and greater revenue and cash flow diversity,” the board said in its decision, released Monday evening.
In a memorandum of understanding with the state Department of Public Service, Consolidated has agreed to invest an average of 14 percent of its Vermont revenues in the Vermont telecommunications network. The company also pledged to spend $1 million to address areas of the state where service has been unreliable. Those investments were key to the sale’s approval, the board said.
Tags: FairPoint , Consolidated Communications , Public Service Board , telephones , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, June 7, 2017
Some city residents had objected to the idea of selling to a major outfit, said Burlington Telecom Advisory Board member David Provost. That fear won’t be realized based on the letters of intent the board received ahead of Monday’s deadline.
“The process has worked,” Provost said during a BTAB meeting Wednesday at Burlington City Hall. “The criteria set forth by the BTAB after public input, as well as the strategy to implement a deliberative sales process, have proven beneficial to position Burlington to find the right partner.”
Tags: Burlington Telecom , Keep BT Local , Burlington Telecom bids , Burlington Telecom sale , Image , Web Only
Monday, June 5, 2017
Sorting through the “letters of intent” — which include a proposed purchase price and descriptions of how bidders will meet the city's sale criteria — is the first step in a process that will continue through the summer, Stephen Barraclough told Seven Days at 4 p.m., an hour before the bids were due.
“We’ve had a number of pretty meaningful conversations, but until it's in writing you really don’t know,” the GM said. “And if you say 5 o’clock, people leave it to the last minute or ask for an extension.”
The identity of at least one of the bidders is common knowledge. Keep BT Local, a cooperative aimed at — you guessed it — keeping the utility locally owned, submitted a bid late last week, co-op chair Alan Matson said Monday.
Tags: Burlington Telecom , Stephen Barraclough , Alan Matson , Image , Web Only