ACA Urges FCC To Grant NCTA Pole-Attachment Petition, Disputes Power Companies
The American Cable Association called on the FCC to approve an NCTA petition to revise a pole-attachment formula despite power company opposition. "ACA is heartened that the Commission is considering granting the NCTA Petition and urges it to do so,"…
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said an ACA letter posted Friday in docket 07-245. A draft FCC order would approve the petition, agency and industry officials have told us (see 1510020043). NCTA and telecom providers say the current formula is being used by electric power companies to keep the telecom rates well above those paid by cable companies despite a 2011 FCC order to harmonize the rates at the lower cable level. There are also concerns the agency's reclassification of broadband access as a telecom service could give power companies a justification to raise cable broadband pole-attachment rates. ACA noted a group of electric utilities met recently with agency staffers to oppose the petition (see 1510080045">1510080045). The utilities argued that the 2011 order had already reduced telecom pole-attachment rates by one-third "in every instance" and that the current formula doesn't discourage broadband deployment because the only group whose rates could be affected by the FCC's recent reclassification of broadband as a telecom service would be cable companies, which have already deployed their networks, according to the utilities. ACA said the 2011 order wasn't intended simply to lower the telecom rates, but to bring them into parity with the lower cable rates, which the group said hasn't always happened and warrants further FCC action. ACA also said cable companies continue to deploy transmission lines, particularly as they enter new areas and install more fiber "to meet exploding broadband demand." ACA disputed power company arguments that FCC action would render statutory cost allocators "meaningless," and it said the commission should use its discretion to interpret the Communications Act to spur rapid broadband deployment.