While much has been written about easing wireless infrastructure deployment, wireline broadband infrastructure needs some love, too, USTelecom tells the FCC. Many rule changes can incentivize investment and speed such deployment, according to the association, which believes the Commission should move quickly to update its rules to reflect today’s competitive environment. Changes concerning pole attachment and speeding copper retirement are critical, says USTelecom in wireline comments submitted to the FCC June 15.
“The general rate structure for pole attachment rates remains in a silo-based framework that does not adequately address the realities of today’s converged broadband marketplace,” USTelecom said. “While cable and telecommunications attachers benefit from a more uniform attachment rate,” incumbent carriers “remain at an artificial regulatory pricing disadvantage regarding access to essential critical infrastructure.”
USTelecom also urged the FCC to address difficulties encountered by broadband providers in accessing poles, ducts, conduits, and rights-of-way owned by parties such as municipalities and electric cooperatives. Those access barriers are “increasingly problematic and acute” for broadband providers. USTelecom cited a recent decision by the seven-state rural Tennessee Valley Authority to adopt pole attachment rates that are several times those that are federally regulated. TVA’s decision will have a “broad and negative impact on millions of consumers across multiple states.”
As for copper retirement, the sooner the better as far as USTelecom is concerned. Legacy networks that rely on copper “are fast becoming relics, serving fewer and fewer telecommunications users as newer broadband services and technologies systematically replace them.” There’s little point to maintaining or adopting rules that make it harder for providers to make a timely transition, the association says, adding 84 percent of Americans won’t be affected by any future copper retirement rules because they’ve already transitioned to more modern networks.
June 20, 2017
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