Declaratory Ruling Regarding CTIA Infrastructure Petition

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau clarified that 

• the imposition of a “blanket ban” by a utility on attachments to any portion of a utility pole is inconsistent with the federal requirement that a “denial of access . . . be specific” to a particular request; and
• while utilities and attachers have the flexibility to negotiate terms in their pole attachment agreements that differ from the requirements in the FCC’s rules, a utility cannot use its significant negotiating leverage to require an attacher to give up rights to which the attacher is entitled under the rules without the attacher obtaining a corresponding benefit.