Utilities Petition FCC to Revise August Order on Pole-Attachment Rates, Processes
Electric utilities asked the FCC to revisit pole-attachment rate and process changes from an August order (see 1808020034 and 1808090011). Revisions are needed "to prevent one set of attachers from benefiting at the expense of the other, to prevent accidental…
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deaths and injury, to safeguard the public, to protect the integrity of the electric distribution system, to reconcile newly-imposed regulations with other conflicting regulations and the Pole Attachment Act, to add efficiencies to speed deployment, and to eliminate unnecessary roadblocks to future broadband deployment," said the Coalition of Concerned Utilities reconsideration petition, posted Tuesday in docket 17-84. It said existing joint-use agreements already give incumbent telcos many advantages over CLEC and cable competitors, so the FCC shouldn't have presumptively given ILECs the same rate in contract renewals or capped their rate at a pre-2011 telecom rate. The petition also seeks changes to FCC decisions on electric space self-help remedies, overlashing, pre-existing safety violations, make-ready estimates, "joint ride-outs," "double wood," contractor specifications, "one-touch make-ready," and completed applications. "Considering the number of moving parts and safety issues with pole attachments, getting everything right takes time," emailed counsel Thomas Magee of Keller and Heckman. The FCC didn't comment.