The FCC approved updates yesterday to its pole attachment rules that Commissioners say will make it easier and faster to deploy broadband networks. Increased funding for broadband projects has led to extensive new deployments in recent years, resulting in a significant increase in attachment applications for large numbers of utility poles.
During the 3-0 vote, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said, “for too long,” pole attachment work has been made harder by a regulatory regime that does not make it easy to build new high-speed infrastructure.” He highlighted a lack of standard rules and timelines for processing requests to attach to a large number of poles. This, he said, “has slowed the rollout of new connections and led to costly disputes between broadband builders and utility pole owners. This is unacceptable.”
The FCC’s action is meant to encourage greater collaboration between telecoms and pole-owning utilities on larger broadband deployments. It establishes more concrete timelines for large batch requests. Also, the Commission seeks comment on whether the FCC can help accelerate mobile wireless builds by finding that light poles are covered by Section 224 of the Communications Act.
Commissioner Olivia Trusty said the initiative, “builds upon past rules by adopting new measures to enable providers to benefit from improved, predictable timelines when seeking access to larger volumes of poles and implementing other policies to further expedite pole access. Against the backdrop of Commission rules and guidance, information sharing and pre-planning meetings will help minimize disputes and delays.”
Commissioner Anna Gomez called utility poles “the unsung heroes of broadband deployment.” She called the item a “common-sense measure to making broadband deployment quicker and more cost-effective.” While acknowledging that “balancing the interests of pole owners and attachers is always a difficult task,” she believes the agency found “good compromises on several points of controversy” in the order.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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