FCC Denies Petition For Reconsideration And Application For Review In Pole Attachment Proceeding

The Federal Communications Commission denied a petition for reconsideration filed by Duke Energy Progress and an application for review filed by AT&T in a dispute over rates for attaching to utility poles. Section 224 of the Communications Act of 1934 grants the FCC broad authority to regulate rates for attachments to utility-owned poles and ensure nondiscriminatory access to their poles to telecommunications carriers and cable television systems. AT&T and Duke are parties to a Joint Use Agreement (JUA) that contains the rates, terms, and conditions for each party’s use of the other’s utility poles. The new order upholds the Enforcement Bureau’s September 2021 order that found the rates AT&T paid under the JUA were “unjust and unreasonable” and orders Duke to charge a lower rate in compliance with the Commission’s 2011 and 2018 pole attachment orders. However, based on certain advantages provided to AT&T under the JUA, today’s order denies AT&T’s claim that it is entitled to the lower rate that other communications attachers pay to use Duke poles. The FCC also grants AT&T’s request to clarify that the parties only need to amend the JUA in response to the rulings in this matter rather than negotiate an entirely new agreement.