Nashville Mayor tried to bring together Comcast, AT&T, Google on ‘One Touch Make Ready’

Nashville Mayor Megan Barry has called on Comcast, AT&T and Google Fiber to meet and discuss a solution to their local pole-attachment issues. Just as it has in Louisville, Kentucky, Google Fiber is trying to circumvent cumbersome rules for attaching fiber-optic cables to local telephone poles by introducing an ordinance to city government called “One Touch Make Ready.”

AT&T, which is battling Google over the same ordinance in Louisville alongside local cable franchise holder Charter Communications, is siding with Comcast in Nashville. In Nashville, Mayor Barry isn’t taking sides. But she has called on the top executive for the company that owns and operates 80 percent of the local utility poles – Nashville Electric Service President and CEO Decosta Jenkins – along with Metro Department of Law Director Jon Cooper to get the three sides in a room together. Google Fiber said it can’t wait around for months while AT&T and Comcast deploy technicians to make room for Google fiber-optic cables on local poles. AT&T and Comcast reps, meanwhile, make arguments based on safety and liability concerns.