The FCC issued an Order clarifying the statutory right of communications providers to use the same space- and cost-saving techniques that pole owners use, such as placing attachments on both sides of a pole. The Order also establishes that attachers have a statutory right to timely access to poles.
The FCC is also seeking public comment on revising pole attachment rates to make them as low and as close to
uniform as possible, reducing the disparity between current telecom and cable rates. The FCC said the current practice of different rates for different types of firms using the same space on a pole makes little sense when the cost of providing the space is the same to the utility pole owner. Disparate rates can affect investment decisions and product offerings, resulting in fewer competitive choices for consumers.
“The National Broadband Plan demonstrated that the U.S. is lagging globally in
broadband, and that rapid progress is essential to our global competitiveness and to U.S. world
leadership in innovation in the 21st century. The National Broadband Plan also demonstrated that
there’s no silver bullet to achieve these goals — indeed, that many key rules and policies will
involve the ‘blood and guts’ of broadband deployment. Our Order today is in this category — I
believe it will yield real results for real people: faster, cheaper, and more widely available
broadband,” stated FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.http://http://
