Pew: States Should Collect Data on Utility Poles

WASHINGTON, March 18, 2025 – States that regulate their pole attachment rules should consider creating a database of existing poles and attachments to inform future policy decisions, Pew Charitable Trust’s Broadband Access Initiative said in a new report Thursday.

That information should include “the location, age, condition, existing attachments, and available space, as well as any maintenance that has been performed, for each pole,” plus pole attachment costs, Pew wrote.

Disputes around pole attachment cost allocations and timelines are a longstanding issue, leading to frequent lobbying by ISPs and utility companies and sometimes delaying or derailing projects. The Pew report was produced in response to concerns that pole attachment issues could delay deployments funded by the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program. 

Outgoing BEAD Director Evan Feinman said in an email to former colleagues that he worried the program could be changed under the Trump administration to shift money toward Elon Musk’s satellite broadband service, and the administration still hasn’t given a greenlight to the three states that completed spending plans under the current rules. But the program will presumably at some point result in an influx of wired infrastructure projects that could be gummed up by pole attachment issues.

Interviews with policymakers from all levels of government and other stakeholders “revealed that, despite decades of attention from broadband advocates and policymakers, officials in many states do not have access to the data they need to effectively monitor progress and proactively intervene when pole attachment practices threaten deployment of high-speed internet,” Pew wrote.

Having that data could make cost estimates for publicly funded projects more accurate and help officials make more informed decisions as they adjudicate disputes between attachers and pole owners, according to Pew.

The research group pointed to several similar efforts already underway in states like Maine, which maintains a database of utility pole information, and New York, where, starting this year, utilities will have to submit annual reports on the attachment requests they receive.

“Given the urgency of federal funding and the time required to gather the necessary information, states should consider prioritizing the collection of the most essential existing data necessary to accurately estimate costs in BEAD-eligible locations,” the group wrote. “And states may choose to designate a portion of their allowed administrative expenses under BEAD to cover costs for collecting and using this data.”

At the federal level, the Federal Communications Commission sets the terms of pole attachment deals between telecom providers and investor-owned utilities, but 23 states have their own policies that preempt the agency. The FCC has also sought to get ahead of an increase in deployments from BEAD, instituting in 2023 a rapid response team to mediate disputes that might delay projects. 

The agency declined in the same order to create a pole information database, instead opting to require utilities to provide inspection reports to attachers upon request and to encourage voluntary information sharing. The agency said it intended to “monitor the record in this proceeding to determine if additional information sharing mandates may be required,” although that was during the Biden administration and it’s not clear how Brendan Carr, the agency’s current chairman, will handle the issue.

Pew said state regulators should also consider instituting uniform, online application systems for local owners to adopt, set up a rapid response team similar to the FCC’s, and leverage pole replacement programs, if they have them, to incentivize participation in data collection.