Power Companies Oppose Pole Attachment Rate Change
The FCC should deny a petition to reduce telecom pole attachment rates that was filed by NCTA, Comptel and TW Telecom in docket No. 09-51, said Ameren, AEP, Duke Energy and Tampa Electric in an ex parte filed Wednesday. A…
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2011 commission order has already reduced telecom pole attachment rates by one-third, they said. The rate formula the companies use now doesn't discourage broadband deployment because the FCC's recent reclassification of broadband as a telecom service would change prices only for cable companies, which have already deployed their networks, their filing said. The petition's proposed definition of cost assumes that the exact same pole decreases in cost each time an attachment is added, which is not the case, the ex parte said. A draft FCC order would approve the cable/telco petition, agency and industry sources told us recently (see 1510020043).