FCC Adopts New Pole Attachment Rules to Speed Deployment

This week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved updates to its pole attachment rules aimed at accelerating broadband deployment. I’m about to lose you as I write the next two words—pole attachments—but, if you’ll kindly unglaze your eyes, this is a crucial issue in efforts to ensure broadband networks reach everyone in the U.S. When an internet service provider (ISP) is building a new broadband network or improving an existing one, it can bury cables in the ground or, if that is infeasible or too expensive, run those cables on existing utility poles. Therefore, utility poles and how ISPs gain access to them are central to broadband deployment. The historic public investments in broadband infrastructure provide us with a once-in-a-generation opportunity to ensure high-speed internet access reaches everywhere in the U.S. The success of these investments depends, in great part, on the ability of broadband deployers to be able to quickly gain access to existing infrastructure. For too long, a lack of standard rules and timelines for processing large broadband deployment orders has slowed rollouts and led to costly disputes. By encouraging communications companies and pole owners to collaborate on larger broadband deployments and by providing more concrete timelines, the FCC’s action may remove barriers to deployment.