ISPs Back Lumen in Ohio Permitting Dispute
Two counties in the state objected to Lumos's request that the FCC overrule their requirements
WASHINGTON, Aug. 25, 2026 – Fiber provider Lumos is asking federal regulators to preempt local permitting rules in two Ohio counties.
The counties strenuously objected Tuesday, but other ISPs and broadband trade groups rallied behind Lumos.
Back in June, Lumos told the Federal Communications Commission that Stark and Mahoning Counties were imposing excessive fees and professional survey requirements that caused it to abandon fiber deployment plans to 200,000 locations.
“The challenged requirements bear no resemblance to ordinary permitting conditions. They are deployment-defying burdens that have sabotaged otherwise favorable buildout economics,” wrote Shiva Goel, an attorney representing Lumos.
Goel served as an advisor at both the FCC and National Telecommunications and Information Administration during the Biden administration.
Stark County has a population of about 373,000 and Mahoning County has a population of about 225,000, according to 2025 estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The FCC can preempt state and local rules that have the effect of blocking telecom deployments. The agency has multiple open rulemakings on the issue, which are generally popular with ISPs and opposed by local governments.
In July the agency sought comment on instituting a slot clock and fee caps for local agencies processing wireline telecom permits.
Fiber is chiefly used for broadband, a non-telecom information service, but in the FCC’s proposal it asked about applying its preemption to any technology that could potentially provide telecom service. Lumos focused on the benefits of expanded broadband and noted it was a registered telecom provider in Ohio.
Lumos alleged Stark County delayed review of its permit applications before coming to the company with previously undisclosed requirements, including a professional surveyor overseeing a pre-construction survey and fees of $1 per foot of fiber laid in the county’s right-of-way.
Mahoning County mirrored the surveyor requirement. Lumos said that was the most onerous, since there are few professional surveyors and a comprehensive review would be time-consuming
The “blanket requirement that all plans be certified by a Professional Surveyor goes well beyond what is necessary to coordinate construction or protect existing infrastructure,” the company wrote.
Counties object
The counties urged the FCC not to strike down its rules in a filing posted Tuesday.
“Lumos misrepresents many of the Counties’ right-of-way management requirements,” attorneys from both counties’ prosecutor’s offices wrote. “Lumos also improperly belittles both Counties’ responsibility to safely manage facility work within their rights-of-way and overlooks its own role in causing the delays and costs it now attributes to the Counties.”
The counties said Stark had no per-foot fee, and only charged for cost recovery related to processing permits and overseeing the rights-of-way. They said several other ISPs and utility companies had managed to get surveys done in both counties without derailing projects.
“Other permit applicants have managed to comply with Stark’s certified engineer and surveyor requirements without difficulty or complaint,” the counties wrote. “Through August 3, 2026 alone, Stark issued 50 broadband fiber permits.”
Stark and Mahoning argued their surveyor rules were protected from preemption as right-of-way management under the Communications Act, and didn’t actually block Lumos’s deployments regardless.
The County Engineers Association of Ohio supported the counties.
Industry backs Lumos
Multiple ISPs and broadband trade groups took Lumen’s side.
Major industry group USTelecom noted that Lumos said Stark’s professional survey mandate in particular would have increased project costs by 50 percent and by themselves cost 23 percent of Lumen’s projects five-year revenue across the county.
“The effects of the challenged requirements extend beyond Lumos and the Counties,” wrote USTelecom legal affairs head Kathleen Slattery Thompson. “Investment is disproportionately deterred along longer, less densely populated routes that are often essential to reaching unserved and underserved communities.”
NTCA, which represents rural ISPs, and AT&T also backed Lumos. The group said it supported local governments trying to protect infrastructure along their rights-of-way, but that the policies Lumos described were unreasonable.
Other counties might adopt similar policies if these weren’t struck down, the group feared, since the comprehensive right-of-way survey could be seen as a way to outsource government data collection.
T-Mobile said it supported FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s efforts to eliminate permitting roadblocks.
“The Lumos Petition provides further evidence that these reforms are needed,” wrote T-Mobile attorney David Crawford.
T-Mobile acquired Lumos last year through a joint venture with investment firm KKR.
