Utilities, Cable Still at Odds on Draft Pole Order
Groups are continuing to meet with staff ahead of Thursday's vote.
WASHINGTON, July 22, 2025 – Utility companies and broadband providers are still dueling over the Federal Communications Commission’s proposed update to its pole attachment rules.
A major remaining sticking point ahead of Thursday’s FCC vote is the ability of broadband ISPs to quickly hire new contractors to mount wires and other gear to poles.
“The record before the Commission unambiguously demonstrates that the Draft Contractor Rule is unlawful and imprudent,” Dominion Energy wrote in a July 17 filing. “While the current lack of contractors that are both qualified and readily available to perform work above the communications space that may be needed to install broadband facilities seems to be a source of continued frustration for attachers, the solution cannot simply be to require the approval of unqualified contractors for self-help work on or in the vicinity of electric power facilities.”
The draft order would institute a 30-day deadline by which pole owners would have to respond to ISP requests to approve new contractors to prepare poles for new attachments. Major electric companies want the agency to limit the deadline to certain contractors or at least take more comment on the move. The cable industry, which proposed the idea, has been urging the agency to go through with it.
Those and other lobbying efforts have not slowed down as the agency gets ready to vote on the rule, with 16 filings in the docket since July 15.
NCTA, which represents the cable industry, submitted its own letter on July 17 saying calls to limit the deadline to contractors working in the communications space, a lower area of the pole further from live wires, should be rejected. The group has said utilities leave such applications in limbo and hold up projects, while utilities have responded that such requests are relatively uncommon and delays are from contractor shortages.
“The Utilities fail to provide a compelling reason for this distinction,” the group wrote. “Contrary to the Utilities’ suggestion, applying the 30-day contractor approval requirement to work above the communications space does not impact the utility’s ability to maintain control over the space.”
The group said utilities could prevent ISPs from using their own contractors by finishing prep work on time and could still disqualify contractors if they didn’t meet safety standards.
The FCC can set the terms of pole attachment deals between investor-owned utility companies and telecommunications providers, which include some, but not all, ISPs. That authority is preempted by state laws in 23 states and D.C.
Pole owners have to approve the contractors that prepare poles for new communications equipment like fiber. When utilities miss deadlines to prepare poles, or if the work required is minimal, ISPs can handle the work themselves and must choose their contractor from a utility-approved list, or propose another for approval.
The draft would also set a timeline for larger pole attachment orders and require more coordination between attaching ISPs and utilities, among other things.
Light poles
Meanwhile, CTIA, the wireless industry trade group, submitted another filing last week saying it supported the agency’s plan to take comment on applying the Communications Act’s pole attachment framework to light poles.
The move would make it easier for wireless carriers to attach their equipment to light poles, something the industry has been after.
“As CTIA has highlighted, light poles are well suited for small cell facilities and access to light poles is especially important as wireless providers seek to increase capacity in their networks and expand competitive home broadband offerings,” the group wrote in a July 16 letter.
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