Broadband Expansion May Hinge on States’ Processes for Attaching Lines to Utility Poles

Increasing broadband deployment has been a critical component of the United States’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic and a central aspect of the recent wave of funding aimed at modernizing the country’s infrastructure. However, achieving the goal of those federal commitments will require a new degree of public and private sector collaboration, and one issue in particular is causing a disproportionate amount of uncertainty: the attaching of lines for broadband to utility poles. To better understand pole attachment challenges and begin to identify possible policy solutions, The Pew Charitable Trusts conducted individual interviews and a June 2024 roundtable with state, local, and federal policymakers; representatives from pole owners and internet service providers (ISPs); policy experts; and researchers. Pew’s interviews identified a set of state-level policy interventions to improve the pole attachment process, with a particular emphasis on the states that regulate poles independently.

• Increase access to standardized data about pole assets and the costs and timelines of attachment to enable public agencies to make funding and regulatory decisions.
• Create tools to digitize and streamline local permitting systems and build local capacity to handle the anticipated influx of pole attachment requests and related permitting applications.
• Standardize and monitor pole attachment timelines, cost allocations, and other practices and create mechanisms to promptly resolve disputes.
• Ensure that pole-replacement programs and disaster mitigation funds promote increased standardization and transparency of the attachment process.