News - February 13, 2024

INCOMPAS Suggests Ways to Increase Poles Deployment, Opposes Utilities' Petition to Undo December Poles Ruling

WASHINGTON, D.C. – February 13, 2024 –
Today, INCOMPAS, the internet and competitive networks association, filed comments in response to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) rulemaking notice on ways to further increase telecommunications providers access to utility poles in order to facilitate broadband deployment. INCOMPAS urged the Commission to set specific deadlines for utilities to approve large pole attachment orders and encouraged the Commission to allow providers to engage in self-help when stymied by pole owners. In addition, INCOMPAS also filed comments opposing an electric utility association's reconsideration petition, which attempts to remove some of the modest pole attachments reforms the FCC adopted in December.

“Far too often, INCOMPAS members are unable to attain timely access to investor-owned utility poles at a reasonable cost hindering their ability to deploy future-proof networks quickly and affordably. With the billions of dollars of federal resources flowing to broadband deployment, there is no doubt we will see a significant increase in the number of large pole orders making it critical for the Commission to address access issues,” said INCOMPAS CEO Chip Pickering. “Increasing broadband providers’ access to the poles will spur faster and more efficient deployments, which ultimately benefits consumers and businesses waiting to use next-generation networks.”

"INCOMPAS is supportive of the Commission’s proposal to set specific deadlines to complete the make-ready process in the communications space for large pole attachment orders," Pickering continued. "This will help streamline deployment of broadband facilities in both unserved and underserved communities.”

“We also suggested the Commission should expand the rights of new attachers to engage in self-help and encourage negotiations to take place as much as possible between attachers and pole owners. Taking both important steps, will ensure a more just, and timely process that will result in greater cost savings across the board for competitive broadband service providers trying to build out to unserved and underserved communities.”

“With respect to the reconsideration petition, Edison Electric Institute’s request would undo many of the modest gains that new attachers will experience because of the Commission's December ruling,” Pickering remarked. “The petition would further restore investor-owned utilities' ability to make unreasonable pole replacement demands on competitive telecommunications providers. We strongly urge the Commission to reject this petition as it directly conflicts with the Commission's goals in this proceeding of clarifying its cost-causation principles and increasing transparency between these parties.”
 

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