Industry groups, internet service providers weigh in on Federal Communications Commission pole attachment proposal

As the Federal Communications Commission gets ready to vote on pole attachment reforms, industry groups and internet service providers submitted a fresh round of comments weighing in on what changes need to be made. The FCC has had an open proceeding on pole attachments since 2017, but it has yet to adopt new rules. In November 2023, the FCC published a 91-page proposal that aims to address cost-sharing between pole owners and attachers, pole attachment disputes, among other issues. NCTA – The Internet & Television Association requested the FCC include “stronger language” and additional examples in its Declaratory Ruling “to help ensure that pole owners are not able to shift the entire cost of pole replacements to attachers when the pole replacement is not ‘necessitated solely’ by the new attachment.” Charter expressed support for the NCTA’s suggestions, which can help “remove some of the most egregious infrastructure impediments to broadband deployment.” USTelecom asked the FCC to remove a reference in the Draft Order about depreciated poles, arguing that just because a pole is “fully depreciated,” it doesn’t mean the pole “already requires replacement at the time an attachment request is made.”