New Data on Pole Prices Power 5G Debate

As part of the working group efforts within the Federal Communications Commission's Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC), one subcommittee has collected data on telecommunication pole attachment rates and published the information along with some very early data analysis. The results suggest there is a wide range in the rental fees being charged for wireless equipment attachments, and that fees are significantly higher in unregulated markets compared to regulated ones. Across all of the data collected, the mean rental fee assessed for wired pole attachments is $17.58 per year, according to this latest study, while the median is $15.56 per year. For wireless pole attachments (which typically take up significantly more space), however, the mean rental fee is $505.56 per year, and the median is $56.60 annually. Further, among wireless attachments, the mean rate in regulated markets is $224.25 versus $993.55 in unregulated ones. The median fee is $50 in regulated markets and $360 in unregulated ones. As an important note, the study for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is based on data voluntarily submitted by BDAC participants, with 592 cases of wired attachments and 612 cases of wireless attachments recorded. That is a sample of convenience and is not necessarily representative.