Doing Nothing on NY Pole Attachments Not an Option, Says Wireless Industry
The New York Public Service Commission should reject utilities’ claims that wireless companies face no barriers attaching equipment to poles, the Wireless Infrastructure Association said in PSC docket 16-M-0330. WIA earlier this month supported a CTIA petition to apply existing…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
pole attachment requirements to wireless providers so the industry can quickly deploy small cells and distributed antenna systems (DAS) that are critical to 5G services (see 1608020029). In replies Monday, WIA said utilities “fail to recognize that their costs for wireless attachments are not the only economic barrier to broadband deployment. Many municipalities have also sought fees to access public rights of way that were never imposed on the utilities in deploying their own plant and infrastructure and which are improper relative to the limited municipal authority reserved by federal and State law.” But New York utilities said jointly the wireless industry testimony failed to convince them there’s a problem. The utilities said “it is clear that CTIA and the other wireless telecommunications providers have not met the burden for the relief sought in this proceeding.” They said wireless commenters still haven’t “provided demonstrable evidence that would support a new generic Commission proceeding concerning wireless attachments.” Doing nothing isn't an option, CTIA said. “If the Joint Utilities’ unabashed invitation to do nothing were accepted by the Commission, New York would find itself in a place where the utilities’ self-interest reigned supreme over the public interest, denying New Yorkers the benefits of advanced mobile broadband deployment.”