UPDATE By a 5-0 vote, the FCC adopted several methods of continuing its efforts to speed the pole attachment process. Calling pole attachments “essential,” officials said the point is to make the process faster, more transparent and more cost-effective.
The Commission plans to establish a new intra-agency response team to coordinate a review and assessment of pole attachment disputes and recommend a resolution. This action, said Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, “should cut down on disputes.”
Starks added that with the upcoming BEAD funding in the New Year, it’s “imperative that we ensure that attachers can quickly get the attachments they need so that consumers have access to the broadband they want.” This is in addition to previous agency efforts to streamline the pole attachment process by adopting shot-clocks and one-touch make-ready. “Today we take additional steps that balance the needs of both pole attachers and pole owners, with consumers in mind,” said Starks.
The FCC will amend its pole attachment make-ready rules and require utilities to provide potential attachers information from the utilities’ most recent cyclical pole inspection reports upon request. This information will let attachers know when a pole is set to be replaced, and when. Attachers “benefit from having these facts up front and early,” said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.
In addition, the changes provide important clarifications regarding:
- What constitutes “red tagging” and when pole replacements are not “necessitated solely” by a new attachment.
- The obligation to share easement information.
- The applicable timelines for the processing of attachment requests for 3,000 or more poles.
The FCC is updating its policies “to make clear when an attacher does not have to pay the full cost to replace an existing pole,” said Rosenworcel. The agency sees this change as “clarifying this can help with new deployment,” she explained.
Commissioner Brendan Carr called the updates “a great step forward.” He’s glad “the Chair has found a path forward on this highly controversial proceeding, [in] a way that I think strikes a good, common sense landing spot.”
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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