Connecticut Commissioners Rule Municipal Gain Pole Space Isn’t for Muni Broadband
The Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority “disregarded legislative intent” in ruling Wednesday that the "municipal gain" space on utility poles or underground ducts -- reserved by a 2013 state law for municipalities to use “for any purpose” without charge -- may not be used to provide muni broadband, state Sen. Beth Bye (D) said in a Wednesday interview. “I’m just so sad for consumers,” said Bye, who sponsored the bill that provided the space and told PURA that the law allowed broadband. Commissioners said the law was hard to interpret. Frontier Communications applauded PURA, and Connecticut Consumer Counsel Elin Swanson Katz said she and municipalities are disappointed and “considering next steps.”
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PURA members voted 2-0 for the order interpreting Connecticut General Statute Section 16-233 to restrict the public and third parties to physically connect to a muni broadband network in the municipal gain and banning localities from giving third parties the right to locate facilities in the space. Connecticut law “does not permit a municipality to use the gain to provide broadband services to its residents or businesses,” said the final order in docket 17-09-37. Commissioners had punted action on the muni-gain issue more than once, removing the item from a March 21 meeting agenda (see 1803210033) and last year appearing to let the clock run out on a similar proposed order (see 1708230049).
“Rulings like this just show the power that” telecom companies "have over agencies,” Bye said. The state senator in December wrote PURA clarifying that she intended to allow broadband when she wrote the municipal gain law. The law was meant “to let the towns use an asset that they have to help their citizens,” she said. After clashing with industry for about three years, Bye is “discouraged that consumers are ever going to win this fight because the telecoms have so much money to maintain their monopolies,” she said. As a legislator, Bye thought she could level the playing field, “but I was proven wrong,” she said. Writing another bill is an option, said Bye, not optimistic it would help, given industry lobbying power.
“It was very difficult to determine from the very scant information that we had what legislative intent perhaps really was,” Commissioner Michael Caron said at PURA’s livestreamed meeting. It was a “long road” to get to the vote, with much internal discussion, he said. Chair Katie Dykes said there were “a lot of complicated issues” and “we certainly were very well informed as we … reached this decision as a result of the extensive briefing that we received.”
“PURA reached the correct result today,” a Frontier spokesman said. The ILEC supports expanding broadband in Connecticut, he said. “This decision helps ensure the continuation of robust broadband competition.”
The ruling “disregards the plain language of the statute” that municipal gain may be used for any purpose and doesn’t carve out broadband, emailed Katz. Municipalities want to use the pole space to bring better broadband to the underserved, the state consumer counsel said. “This decision is a setback for those efforts but is not the last word.”