It’s been more than a year since the FCC sought comments regarding pole attachment rules.
The FCC wanted to hear from telcos and utility companies about how the cost of pole replacements should be allocated between the pole owner and the attachers, and what would be the best process to add more attachments to existing poles, among other issues.
The FCC definitely got an earful. It’s received 4,180 comments to date. But the Commission has yet to issue new rules on pole attachments.
In March 2023, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) sent a letter to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, inquiring as to the FCC’s timeline.
“I urge you to prioritize issuing a final rule to set clear standards on cost sharing of upgrades and replacements to utility poles,” wrote Johnson. He said it’s especially important to set the rules in light of all the funding that is being dispensed to states to extend broadband to unserved and underserved areas.
An FCC spokesperson told Fierce today, “Right now, FCC staff is reviewing the record that’s developed on our pole attachment rulemaking in order to strike a balance between the local authority of pole owners and internet service providers. Currently, 23 states already have pole attachment rules and policies, and we are working to provide clarity for the remainder.”
Aerial vs. underground
Pole attachments often become a critical cost concern for companies that want to deploy aerial fiber. And considering all the money that states have been allocated from the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program, there are bound to be hundreds of companies that want to deploy aerial fiber to unserved rural locations.
But some industry experts have reservations about aerial fiber. And the cost of pole attachments is a big part of their concern.
Keith Hayes is CEO of IMMCO, a company that designs rural networks, including networks funded with RDOF monies. Hayes wrote to Fierce Telecom, saying that many of his company’s projects were initially designed for aerial but had to be changed to underground fiber deployments because aerial was going to be more expensive. The reason for the high costs were due to limited clearance on rural poles, which weren’t designed to accommodate multiple attachments, as well as pole-attachment permitting delays. He said many rural power companies have very limited staff to review permit applications for the occasional new home or farm building. But they can’t support processing hundreds or thousands of pole attachment permits needed very quickly, due to the completion deadlines in grant awards.
“From my decades of experience as a VP/SVP running Network Operations reporting to the CTO for both Adelphia and Charter Communications, aerial and underground fiber are in parity in terms of reliability,” wrote Hayes. “For every tree or truck that damages aerial fiber, a backhoe or trencher damages underground fiber.”