Communications Act

Cities Oppose FCC Inquiry into Speeding Wireline Permitting

Broadband carriers, meanwhile, push the FCC for 60 to 90 day shot clocks, citing months long permitting delays.

Jericho Casper

Nov 17, 2025 — 3 min read

Photo of T.C. Broadnax, City Manager for Austin, from the city's website.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17, 2025 – An inquiry into how to accelerate wireline broadband deployments from the Federal Communications Commission has drawn sharply diverging responses from cities, electric cooperatives, and broadband industry groups.

Cities like Austin, Texas, have blasted the effort as “a solution in search of a problem,” while broadband association USTelecom described months-long delays, six-figure permit fees, and review processes that can stall for months which they say jeopardize forthcoming builds under the federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program.

At issue was whether the FCC should use its authority under Section 253 of the Communications Act to declare certain local permitting practices inherently prohibitive, and replace them with nationwide timelines, fee standards, and potentially broad preemption of state and local requirements.

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Communications Act permitting FCC USTelecom AT&T Verizon Lumen Chamber of Commerce Midwest Energy & Communications RDOF House Energy and Commerce Section 253 Austin

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