A Path Forward on Pole Problems

The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition filed comments in response to the Federal Communications Commission’s Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (SFNPRM) to remove barriers to infrastructure investment. In our comments, the SHLB Coalition made several recommendations to the FCC, often drawing from our Pole Attachment Principles:

• Pole replacement costs should be equitable. Specifically, pole owners should not be able to impose the entire cost of replacing a pole on a new pole attacher.
• Cost allocation standards for pole replacements should encourage efficiency. A pole owner’s attachment procedures, project timelines, costs, and other components impacting pole attachments should be transparent.
• The FCC should resolve pole-related disputes quickly. When disagreements arise between pole owners and attachers that hold up active deployments, the FCC could automatically place these proceedings on the Accelerated Docket.

[Kristen Corra is policy counsel at the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition.]