FCC Working with States to Facilitate High-Speed Broadband Deployment and Effective Pole Attachment Regulation

The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireline Competition Bureau reminded states that regulate pole attachments of their obligation, pursuant to section 224 of the Communications Act of 1934, to issue and make effective rules and regulations implementing their regulatory authority over pole attachments, and further emphasized that these states must actually regulate the rates, terms, and conditions of pole attachments and have established procedures for resolving pole access complaints. The pole attachment process is a key factor in ensuring Americans benefit from the increased broadband deployment enabled through government funding programs, including the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program.  While the FCC has taken significant steps in recent years to accelerate the buildout of next-generation infrastructure on which high-speed broadband deployment depends, including through targeted changes to its pole attachment rules, such actions pertaining to pole attachments may not apply in the 23 states and the District of Columbia that have certified to the FCC that they regulate pole attachments in their jurisdictions and have thus reverse-preempted FCC jurisdiction.  As a result, these reverse-preemption states are important facilitators of broadband deployment through their pole attachment regulations. However, there have been recent reports of challenges to deployment stemming from state regulation of pole attachments, or the lack thereof, and the potential for noncompliance with the FCC's rules pertaining to reverse-preemption. Thus, the FCC seeks comment on the current status of reverse-preemption state regulation and jurisdiction over pole attachments, as well as the FCC’s jurisdiction in the face of incomplete or inadequate state regulation.