Sen Capito Urges FCC Action on Broadband Utility Pole Acces

In a letter to the Federal Communications Commission, Sen Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) asked the FCC to take action on a long-standing proceeding which could change the way broadband providers access utility poles. Capito said she continues to hear “problems and delays” associated with broadband providers getting access to utility poles. Broadband networks are dependent on access to utility poles, especially in rural parts of the country where infrastructure often cannot be buried underground given difficult terrain. According to the senator, reasonable access to poles is currently obstructed by a number of factors, including workforce shortages and pole owners that want to offer broadband services of their own and receive funding from federal broadband programs. Capito also pointed to “inconsistent policies that allow pole access by owners are keeping some broadband networks from being built.” “The State Broadband Office has noted that these issues are unnecessarily draining the resources of broadband providers, as it has documented massive increases in rates sought by pole owners compared to those from just a few years ago,” she wrote, and the FCC taking action in a years-long pole attachment proceeding is “an important first step.”