Texas PUC Staff to Urge Limited Scope in Right-of-Way Case
Texas Public Utility Commission staff said it’s “sympathetic” to Comcast concerns that an ongoing right-of-way proceeding about distributed antenna systems could inadvertently affect telecom companies broadly. The matter concerns a complaint by ExteNet, a DAS provider, against the city of…
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Houston for imposing public right-of-way fees. In a notice Tuesday in case 45280, the PUC said it will address the Comcast concern in a statement of position to be entered Sept. 30: “Staff agrees the scope of this case should be limited to whether Chapter 283 applies to Distributed Antenna Systems, and recognizes that a broader ruling may impact the current right-of-way paradigm.” In an Aug. 26 letter, Comcast said the PUC’s decision “could have far-reaching consequences to the municipal right-of-way regime that has been in place in Texas since 1999.” Most telecom utilities including Comcast pay franchise fees on access lines under Chapter 283 of Local Government Code, it said. "If changes are adopted in this proceeding that direct or suggest carriers must instead separately negotiate franchise agreements for services currently covered under Chapter 283, this could have enormous ramifications statewide. … Comcast is concerned that the outcome of this proceeding may inadvertently foreclose the ability of parties to amicably resolve how right-of-way fees are applied to new technologies if the ultimate decisions could be read to apply beyond the DAS system that is the subject of this proceeding.”