Wireless Industry Continues Push for Access to Light Poles

WASHINGTON, Sept. 25, 2024 – Utility pole disputes are an evergreen issue before the Federal Communications Commission. The wireless industry is continuing to push the agency to protect its access to light poles, and broadband providers are still quarreling with utilities over timelines for large pole attachment requests.

The FCC oversees the terms of pole attachment deals between utility companies and telecommunications providers looking to attach equipment. The agency can mandate reasonable access timelines and conditions, and set guardrails on when utilities can offload pole replacement costs onto attachers.

The framework covers many but not all ISPs, and excludes publicly owned utilities like electric cooperatives. At least 26 states have their own laws that preempt the agency. 

CTIA, the wireless industry trade group, met with staff from four of the five FCC commissioners’ offices, including Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s, last week to ask the agency to protect its access to utility-owned light poles, something the industry has been after since 2019.

“As wireless providers continue to build out and enhance 5G networks nationwide, access to existing poles—including light poles—is critical,” the group told FCC staff according to ex parte filings. “However, uncertainty exists today as to the application of Section 224 [of the Communications Act] to light poles, which continues to impede their use and hamper wireless providers’ ability to increase capacity in their networks to meet ever-growing data demands and expand competitive home broadband offerings.”

The talks come weeks after officials from the three dominant wireless providers, AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, joined CTIA in making the case to Wireline Competition Bureau staff.

“The ordinary meaning of a pole includes a pole that hosts lights,” they told staff.

Telecom consultant Doug Dawson wrote in a blog post last week that the resurfacing of the issue might be motivated by the success big wireless carriers have seen offering home internet on excess 5G capacity. Extra cell sites in cities would allow companies to scoop up more of those customers, he said.

Large order timelines

Last year, the agency adopted updated pole attachment rules that made it harder for utilities to offload all pole replacement costs onto attachers and set up a dedicated team to resolve pole disputes quickly, an effort to get ahead of the upcoming influx of broadband projects funded by the Infrastructure Act and prevent delays.

The order left open the question of what make-ready timelines should look like for orders larger than 3,000 poles. Current rules require poles to be ready for new attachments within 75 days for orders of 3,000 or less, with less time allotted for smaller attachment requests, and mandate parties negotiate in good faith on a timeline for any larger orders.

The cable industry advocated on September 10 for a firmer deadline: an extra 45 days for orders between 3,001 and 6,000 poles, which it said would “account for certainty and clarity for all stakeholders.”

USTelecom, which represents some of the largest broadband providers, also counts some pole owners among its members. The group continued to join utilities in arguing against a “one-size-fits-all” framework.

“It is impossible to predict solely from the number of poles involved how much time an over-3,000 pole make-ready project will require,” the group wrote. It argued contractor shortages and project-specific factors like existing attachments and adjacent co-op poles outside FCC jurisdiction require individual timelines to be worked out for major projects.

Edison Electric Institute, the trade group for investor-owned electric companies, made clear it opposed a set timeline but said that if the agency went ahead with one it should be conditioned on pre-application consultation between the attaching provider and pole owners.