AT&T Sues Nashville Over One-Touch, Make-Ready
AT&T sued Nashville over the one-touch, make-ready ordinance passed last week. The lawsuit (in Pacer), filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Nashville, was expected (see 1609210065). “Tennessee municipalities do not have jurisdiction to regulate pole attachments,” an AT&T spokesman…
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said: After working with the mayor, council members, Nashville Electric Service and others, “we have no other option but to challenge this unlawful ordinance in federal court.” The Nashville Metro Council passed the one-touch policy to speed the rollout of Google Fiber, a competitor to incumbent AT&T. The law is meant to speed network rollouts by new entrants by allowing all pole attachment work to happen in a single visit by a crew approved by the pole owner. Currently, each existing provider on a pole sends a separate crew to move its line to make room for the new one, a process that Google says causes long delays (see 1609020013). AT&T's suit argued that FCC pole attachment regulations pre-empt the Nashville action. The ordinance conflicts with Metro Nashville’s charter under Tennessee law and impairs AT&T’s existing contract with Metro Nashville in violation of the U.S. and Tennessee constitutions, the telco ISP said. Mayor Megan Barry stood by the ordinance. “One Touch Make Ready has been litigated in the court of public opinion, and the public overwhelmingly supports this measure designed to speed up the deployment of high-speed fiber in Nashville,” the Democrat said in a statement. “Now, we hope that this federal litigation is quickly resolved so that we can get on with the business of expanding access to gigabit internet throughout Davidson County.” The city and the council saw the suit coming, "but we hoped common sense maybe could prevail and AT&T would see that Nashville residents overwhelmingly supported One Touch policy," emailed Council Member Anthony Davis, who sponsored the ordinance. "I know our legal department will vigorously defend our rights to regulate pole policy and to decide what occurs in our city right-of-way." AT&T previously sued Louisville, Kentucky, for passing a one-touch policy (see 1602260043). Pole attachment policies are expected to be a continuing challenge for Google as it expands its gigabit network (see 1609070026).