Commission Approves Notice Proposing Single Rate for Pole Attachments
The FCC launched a rulemaking that proposes a single rate for pole attachments, to be paid by wireline carriers, cable operators and competitive local exchange carriers alike. That would be bad news for cable operators, which generally pay the lowest rates. Incumbent local exchange carriers generally pay the highest rates. The rulemaking also asks an extensive series of questions on matters that have been raised by telecom carriers and cable companies.
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Chairman Kevin Martin pulled the rulemaking from the FCC agenda Wednesday morning, after commissioners approved it on circulation. The text wasn’t available at our deadline but is expected to be released by the commission soon.
FCC action on rates paid for pole attachments is controversial and probably will face opposition from electric utilities. USTelecom and Fibertech Networks have asked the FCC to step in. But Keller and Heckman, a law firm that represents electric utilities, said in a statement before the meeting that ILECs aren’t covered by the Pole Attachment Act.
“Since the Commission is talking about a ‘Notice of Proposed Rulemaking’ (and not a ‘Notice of Inquiry'), it looks as if they tentatively have bought off on at least some of the USTA/Fibertech proposals, ridiculous as they seem,” Keller and Heckman said. “The attachers claim to be the ‘victims’ and argue that the electric utilities are somehow the ‘perpetrators’ of some kind of corrupt outrage. Attachers want to provide new services to the American public, and electric utilities, in their greed, want to block them. That’s the perception that the attachers are trying to create.” The firm called this view “completely backwards.
Commissioner Michael Copps joked that the public will be hugely disappointed that the pole attachment rulemaking was pulled from the agenda. “I am just disappointed and disenchanted and crest fallen that the pole attachment item has been removed from this morning’s agenda,” he said. Referring to a small media ownership protest outside the FCC building, he joked: “I came to work at 6:45 this morning and there were dozens of people outside this building trying to get in and there are hundreds maybe out there now. I'm fearful we're going to have a rebellion here because those people came to talk about pole attachments.”