Cox Communications: Kansas' broadband laws create unfair right-of-way fees

Across Kansas, families, small businesses, students, hospitals, and entire communities rely on fast, dependable broadband. It’s no longer a luxury—it’s the infrastructure that keeps our modern lives connected. But while the technology powering that connectivity has advanced quickly, Kansas law governing how broadband providers access and use public right-of-way has not kept up. And that gap is now creating inequities that affect providers and the customers we serve. Today, cable companies, phone companies, and broadband-only providers all use the public ROW to deliver service. Yet they pay dramatically different amounts for that same access. These differences aren’t based on business size, customer footprint, or the complexity of the work; they come from outdated statutes written for a different era—long before streaming, smart homes, remote work, or widespread fiber deployment. Under current Kansas law, legacy definitions mean that broadband-only companies can access the public ROW while paying little—or in some cases nothing at all—for that privilege. Meanwhile, cable providers are often paying two to three times more for the same access. Other providers may classify themselves in ways that allow them to bypass meaningful ROW fees entirely.

[Rachel Aja is with Cox Communications.]