Are Light Poles Telecommunications Infrastructure?

A long-running issue resurfaced recently asking if light poles should be made available for telecommunications. This idea that light poles might be telecommunications infrastructure comes from language included in Section 224 of the Federal Communications Commission’s code that says that a “utility shall provide a cable television system or any telecommunications carrier with nondiscriminatory access to any pole, duct, conduit, or right-of-way owned or controlled by it.” The question was raised again recently when AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and the CTIA, the lobbying group for the cellular industry, asked the FCC to consider the issue. It will be interesting to see if the FCC takes up the issue. They have considered it before and never opted to bring light poles under their jurisdiction. I have to imagine there would be a court battle if the agency ordered it.