No Pole Price Hike, Says Cable

Cable operators are asking the Federal Communications Commission not to establish a uniform price for attaching to utility poles they say would be an unfair tax of hundreds of millions of dollars and a disincentive to broadband deployment. In a letter to the FCC, cable operators said Friday that broadband providers should pay the same rate to attach to poles as cable operators do, saying that was the fairest way to compensate pole owners and promote broadband service. The FCC is considering how to change the pole-attachment rate regime to better reflect broadband delivery and achieve regulatory parity among service providers.