Utilities Resist Changes to Pole Attachment Rules

In a proceeding that the Federal Communications, a coalition of utility companies is resisting a proposal for a host of new pole attachment requirements for electric utilities that are intended to promote the deployment of broadband services across the country.

Unfortunately, the National Broadband Plan presented the FCC with a "wish list" for attachers as if it were noncontroversial and beyond debate, all the while ignoring the significant concerns raised by the electric utility industry. As is apparent from the comments filed in this proceeding, these proposals would do very little if anything to promote broadband services, and almost all of them would jeopardize the safety and reliability of electric distribution systems. It is troubling that the full FCC would bootstrap these recommendations into new proposed burdens on electric utilities without any consideration of prior input from the electric utility industry. The National Broadband Plan recommendations were so one-sided that they cannot reliably form the basis for any proposals by the FCC, let alone ones that potentially impact the safe and efficient operation of electric utility distribution systems across the country.