Pole Attachment Workshop
Federal Communications Commission
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Contacts:
Wesley Platt, 202-418-2821, Wesley.Platt@fcc.gov
Ian Dillner, 202-418-1191, Ian.Dillner@fcc.gov
http://www.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2010/db0914/DA-10-1738A...
The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau will convene a workshop to learn from the experiences and insights of state regulators regarding the Commission's proposed pole attachment regulations.
Section 224 of the Communications Act requires that the Commission regulate pole attachments to ensure that rates, terms, and conditions of access are just and reasonable. However, the Act permits a state to take over the regulation of pole attachments in that state through a certification process. To date, twenty-one states have certified that they regulate pole attachments in their respective states. Among these states, several have considered or implemented regulatory requirements similar or related to certain requirements the Commission proposed in its May 2010 Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. The Commission can learn from the substantial knowledge, efforts, and perspectives of these various state commissions as it considers the implementation of its own proposed rules that would apply to the remainder of states in the nation. Moreover, because the Commission's proposed rules would not directly impact the regulations in states that regulate pole attachments, there is a chance that the Commission would otherwise not hear from these states as it develops a record on its proposals.
The Commission is in the process of developing a record in response to its proposed rules and this workshop would aid in the development of that record. Because this workshop falls before the due date for reply comments, interested parties will have an opportunity to respond in the record to ideas discussed at this workshop as a part of their reply comments. The Commission will provide additional details about the workshop as it approaches.