Industry Groups Urge FCC to Cut Wireline Red Tape
The FCC continues to hear both opposition to and support for proposals in its notice of inquiry about changes to wireline infrastructure rules. Comments on the NOI, which commissioners approved 3-0 in September (see 2509300063), were posted Wednesday in docket 25-253. State and local government groups largely opposed changes that could take power away from their members (see 2511180033).
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Incompas filed Wednesday in favor of FCC action to cut red tape. Its members “are ready to invest billions in next-generation networks that will connect unserved communities and enable AI-driven innovation,” said Staci Pies, the group’s senior vice president for government Relations and policy. They can’t “do so profitably or sustainably if state and local governments continue to treat broadband deployment as revenue generators or bury projects in delays and unrelated requirements. Excessive fees, unpredictable permitting, and arbitrary conditions are shutting down deployments and keeping communities offline.”
The Fiber Broadband Association said projects are being held up at the state and local levels. “While fiber-to-the-premises, fiber connectivity for AI, and other fiber deployments have been growing at record rates, FBA’s network operator members report that permitting challenges continue to be one of the most costly and time delaying obstacles to deploying fiber network infrastructure.”
USTelecom filed, as expected, details on how infrastructure deployments are affected by permitting delays (see 2511140040). “Despite massive private and public investment, broadband deployment continues to be hindered by this patchwork of inconsistent, duplicative, and often unreasonable permitting and fee practices across state and local jurisdictions,” the group said.
T-Mobile supported the changes, noting its increasing investments in fiber. The carrier said the companies it works with on fiber confirm what the record cited by the commission in the NOI “already shows: delays in authorizations (and in some cases outright moratoria), excessive or burdensome fees, and in-kind compensation requirements are inhibiting wireline network deployment and the high-speed services those networks support.”
Crown Castle Fiber urged the FCC to use its authority under Section 253 of the Communications Act to curb regulatory impediments for wireline, as it has for wireless. Statutory interpretations and rules should “apply consistently to both wireline and wireless facilities, consistent with the intent of Section 253.”
The American Public Power Association questioned whether there’s “a pressing need for the imposition of sweeping top-down regulation of public power pole attachments.” The group said Section 253 applies only to government entities “acting in a regulatory capacity,” and while public power utilities may be government-owned, “they operate as business units in functionally the same way that private investor-owned utilities do.”