Plain Meaning Undoes Connecticut Muni Broadband Ruling, Says Consumer Counsel
The Connecticut Superior Court should reject a Public Utilities Regulatory Authority decision limiting local-government use of the municipal-gain space on poles by considering the plain meaning of a 2013 state law saying the space may be used “for any purpose,”…
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the Connecticut Office of Consumer Counsel wrote in a Monday reply brief. Connecticut defended PURA in December for interpreting the phrase as not allowing municipal broadband, saying the agency had sought a reasoned construction of statute comporting with state and federal law (see 1812100006). The 2013 law was written when broadband on utility poles was common, so it's “inconceivable” municipalities might use the gain for public broadband, OCC said. By considering federal laws, PURA overreached because it isn't a court that may determine constitutionality of state laws, the consumer counsel said. It was "textbook arbitrary and capricious," because the regulator said in a 2004 decision on dispute between Southern New England Telephone Co. and Manchester, Connecticut, that it had no jurisdiction over the internet as an information service, but in the 2018 case, PURA argued lack of jurisdiction was irrelevant, OCC said. Oral argument could be in April, OCC Principal Attorney Joe Rosenthal told us.