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Comcast Sues Nashville To Halt Rules That Give Google Fiber Faster Access To Utility Poles (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Comcast yesterday sued the Nashville metro government and mayor to stop a new ordinance designed to give Google Fiber faster access to utility poles. Comcast's complaint in U.S. District Court in Nashville (full text) is similar to one already filed by AT&T last month. Both ISPs are trying to invalidate a One Touch Make Ready ordinance that lets new ISPs make all of the necessary wire adjustments on utility poles themselves instead of having to wait for incumbent providers like AT&T and Comcast to send work crews to move their own wires. The ordinance was passed largely to benefit Google Fiber, which is offering service in Nashville but says that it hasn't been able to deploy faster because it is waiting to get access to thousands of poles. Nearly all the Nashville utility poles are owned either by the municipal Nashville Electric Service or AT&T. Because Comcast has wires on many of the poles, it has some control over how quickly Google Fiber can expand its network. When Google Fiber wants to attach wires to a new pole, it needs to wait for ISPs like Comcast to move their wires to make room for Google Fiber's. The Nashville One Touch Make Ready ordinance "permits third parties to move, alter, or rearrange components of Comcast's communications network attached to utility poles without Comcast's consent, authorization, or oversight, and with far less notice than is required by federal law and by an existing Comcast contract with Metro Nashville," Comcast's complaint said. Comcast asked the court to declare the ordinance invalid and permanently enjoin Nashville from enforcing it. The pre-existing Make Ready process "seek[s] to ensure that all providers can share available pole space cooperatively and safely, without interfering with or damaging any provider's equipment or services," Comcast said. The new procedures mandated by Nashville "are so intrusive that, tellingly, Metro Nashville has wholly exempted its own utility pole attachments from the Ordinance's coverage." Even though Google Fiber announced yesterday that it will pause operations and cut 9% of its staff, the ISP said it would continue operations in Nashville.
The world would be such a better place if Comcast wasn't an ISP.
It's not nice to mess with another utility's stuff.
"permits third parties to move, alter, or rearrange components of Comcast's communications network attached to utility poles without Comcast's consent, authorization, or oversight, and with far less notice than is required by federal law and by an existing Comcast contract with Metro Nashville,"
That's just not done in the utility business. You simply don't "move, alter, or rearrange" another utility's lines. If you cut a line of any kind or interrupt service without calling first, you pay. Google needs to learn how to get along with everybody else. They have to play by the rules, too.
You didn't address the question of what happens when you have a utility not acting properly, which is the reality here.
You forgot to mention that while you're suing and lobbying to even string up your first wire they are spending months lobbying on their own and improving their own network so you aren't as competitive and otherwise undercutting you at ever turn.
It's exactly how cable ISP's fight municipal broadband. Sue and cry that it's unfair competition and while it's all rolling through the courts they're busy stringing wire and servicing customers long before the municipal can, undercutting their position.
This is one of those situations where we need a strong government to seize the utility poles and mandate fair and equal access for all.
that's exactly what the ordinance prescribes - http://www.nashville.gov/mc/ordinances/term_2015_2019/bl2016_343.htm
1. The Attacher will not perform Complex Make Ready without first providing thirty (30) days’ prior written notice, which includes electronic communication, to the applicable Pre-Existing Third Party User;