With tens of billions of dollars being made available for rural broadband infrastructure projects, electric utilities – including rural electric cooperatives, publicly owned power companies, and investor owned utilities – stand ready to play a crucial role in bringing broadband to unserved and underserved areas of the U.S. Easement issues are a significant concern for
Georgia PSC Pole Attachment Ruling to Promote Broadband
The electric cooperatives in Georgia (Georgia EMCs) Tuesday received an outstanding pole attachment ruling from the Georgia Public Service Commission, protecting Georgia EMCs and their more than four million member-owners, but also providing hope for more fair pole attachment regulation elsewhere in the country.
With the first and only ruling of its kind in the
FCC DRAFT Small Cell Order
The FCC last week released a DRAFT order, scheduled for a vote at its September 26 meeting, designed to dictate the process and fees that state and local governments must apply to small cell wireless antenna installations on government-owned poles and similar facilities, and on newly-constructed poles the wireless carriers want to install in state
FCC Adopts One-Touch Make-Ready Policy for Pole Attachments
On Friday, August 3, the FCC released its order adopting a One-Touch Make-Ready (OTMR) policy for attaching telecom and cable facilities to utility poles in the 30 states that don’t regulate pole attachments themselves. The FCC stated that it believes its action should help enable deployment of small cells and wireline backhaul for 5G services.