NATOA: Keep Rights-of-Way Decisions Local in National Broadband Plan

Some broadband providers hope to use the Broadband Plan to obtain a financial windfall. They are attempting to grab taxpayer property at little or no cost to the companies or their stockholders.

These same companies are also seeking "first among all" regulatory privileges to intrude on public rights-of-way to the disadvantage of all other right-of-way users. The Federal Communications Commission must resist these efforts and the related temptations to decide what states and local governments may charge for use of local taxpayer property, including rights-of-way; and to impose, as some companies urge, an artificial restraint on fees tied to some ill-defined and arbitrary concept of the "cost of managing" the rights-of-way.

There is no evidence that limiting fees for use of public property will make broadband more available or affordable for consumers. However, if the Commission issues any pronouncement that fees for rights-of-way or other public resources must be limited to "costs of management" or must be "cost-based;" or if it opines on what is "fair and reasonable compensation" for use of rights-of-way; local governments anticipate immediate and scorching damage to their budgets and to our ailing economy. We expect the broadband providers, consistent with their historic behavior, to immediately stop paying any fees that they unilaterally decide are not within the Commission's formulation. State and local government will face the immediate loss of these revenues and the additional expense of extended and expensive litigation to recoup the non-payments in multiple courts. Hundred of millions of dollars will instantly disappear from state and local budgets, and thousands of state and local jobs - teachers, police, firefighters and others - will be lost. If the FCC concludes that cost is a barrier to deployment in some areas, the economically sound course would be for the federal government to provide directed subsidies in return, and only in return, for actual enforceable promises of deployment. Dollars spent must lead to results. As importantly, the nation's local governments have worked, and continue to work, to encourage broadband deployment and adoption; they are enthusiastic partners in the Commission's efforts to ensure that this nation is served by a modern, high bandwidth system that supports innovative applications and spurs development of new business.

By encouraging and providing a forum for local governments to develop and exchange best practices, the Commission could create a pool of shared knowledge that will result in more and faster broadband deployment. Broadband deployment can be spurred if local governments are encouraged to act as market participants, to freely exchange assets, and to consolidate "anchor tenants" in return for enforceable promises by broadband providers to deploy. These are the courses the Commission ought to pursue. The Commission need not and should not in this proceeding, or any other, impose risky and costly federal standards on local governments for management and compensation for use of public property.