AT&T and Comcast Helped Elected Official Write Plan To Stall Google Fiber (arstechnica.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: As the Nashville Metro Council prepares for a final vote to give Google Fiber faster access to utility poles, one council member is sponsoring an alternative plan that comes from ATT and Comcast. The council has tentatively approved a One Touch Make Ready (OTMR) ordinance that would let a single company -- Google Fiber in this case -- make all of the necessary wire adjustments on utility poles itself. Ordinarily, Google Fiber must wait for incumbent providers like ATT and Comcast to send construction crews to move their own wires, requiring multiple visits and delaying Google Fiber's broadband deployment. The pro-Google Fiber ordinance was approved in a 32-7 preliminary vote, but one of the dissenters asked ATT and Comcast to put forth a competing proposal before a final vote is taken. The new proposal from council member Sheri Weiner "call[s] for Google, ATT, Comcast and Nashville Electric Service to create a system that improves the current process for making utility poles ready for new cables," The Tennessean reported last week. "Weiner said ATT and Comcast helped draft the resolution she proposes." Weiner told Ars that she asked ATT and Comcast to propose a resolution. "I told them that I would file a resolution if they had something that made sense and wasn't as drastic as OTMR," Weiner told Ars in an e-mail today, when we asked her what role ATT and Comcast played in drafting the resolution. Weiner said she is insisting on some changes to the resolution, but the proposal (full text) was submitted without those changes. When asked why she didn't put her suggested changes in the version of the resolution published on the council website, Weiner said, "I had them [ATT and Comcast] submit it for me as I was out of town all last week on business (my day job)." Weiner said an edited resolution will be considered by the council during its next meeting. Weiner's plan could stall the OTMR ordinance and -- though it might improve Google Fiber's current situation -- would not provide the quick access to poles sought by Google Fiber and most council members. However, Weiner said she is willing to support OTMR later on if her proposal doesn't result in significant improvements.

Comments

Criminal behavior

[ArtemaOne]

Unfortunately clearly anti-competitive and manipulative activities like these will never be prosecuted properly. Drafting legislation that negatively affects your competition could be prosecuted under countless existing laws, even so far as insider trading if you made any financial adjustments in advance of the laws you wrote taking effect.

Re:Criminal behavior

[guruevi]

The backstory reads as such:
Google wants to roll out fiber, AT&T and Comcast have received several orders in order to move "their" cables, however most have been outstanding for more than 100 days, AT&T and Comcast are causing nuisances by moving each cable individually and requiring (unnecessary) permits/inspections from the city and/or the electrical service for each move. So basically for every pole you have 5-6 trucks passing by (Comcast, NES, AT&T, NES, Google).

Google proposed that 1 contractor can do all that in one visit. However, Comcast/AT&T purchased two city council members who brought up legislation that would just maintain the status quo and charge Google for their 'pre-approved contractors' to do the work, the reasons being claimed that AT&T contractors have full rights to any work on a pole due to 'union contracts' and Comcast thinks it would be fair that they stay in charge of 'maintenance' (charge money for losing customers).

Imagine how it would work

[Anonymous Coward]

Comcast would claim they can't move *their* wire until ATnT move theirs under this bill, because ATnT run the same poles.
ATnT would claim Comcast needs to move their wire first under this bill, as ATnT cannot move Comcasts wire out of the way as they move ATnTs.
So they'd be at (fake) standoff, wherever more than one provider has wires running.

They could delay rollout of competitors for years or even decades with tricks like this.

An even more simple solution

[bl968]

Eminent domain all the polls in Nashville.

Create the Nashville Telecommunication Services a city government ran agency/non-profit corporation to handle all maintenance and wiring on the poles.

All companies who wish to use them simply pays 1/#ofproviders of the total maintenance cost for the poles.

So 1 Company pays 100%
2 Companies pays 50%
3 Companies pays 33% etc

The more companies using the poles the cheaper the poles are for each company doing so.