FCC Sides With Google Fiber Over Comcast With New Pro-Competition Rule (arstechnica.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: The Federal Communications Commission today approved new rules that could let Google Fiber and other new [ISPs] gain faster access to utility poles. The FCC's One Touch Make Ready (OTMR) rules will let companies attach wires to utility poles without waiting for the other users of the pole to move their own wires. Google Fiber says its deployment has stalled in multiple cities because Comcast and AT&T take a long time to get poles ready for new attachers. One Touch Make Ready rules let new attachers make all of the necessary wire adjustments themselves. Comcast urged the FCC to "reject 'one-touch make-ready' proposals, which inure solely to the benefit of new entrants while unnecessarily risking harm to existing attachers and their customers." FCC Chairman Ajit Pai rejected this argument, saying that startups are unnecessarily delayed when they have to wait for incumbent ISPs before hanging wires. Here's what Pai had to say: "For a competitive entrant, especially a small company, breaking into the market can be hard, if not impossible, if your business plan relies on other entities to make room for you on those poles. Today, a broadband provider that wants to attach fiber or other equipment to a pole first must wait for, and pay for, each existing attacher to sequentially move existing equipment and wires. This can take months, and the bill for multiple truck rolls adds up. For companies of any size, pole-attachment problems represent one of the biggest barriers to broadband deployment."

Comments

Re:See how it goes...

[Tailhook]

there is a fairly large risk to have someone move someone else's equipment and/or wires .... doesn't have the same training, or cuts corners, and messes something up

Either you haven't investigated this or you're spreading FUD. The OTMR rules require the utility pole owners to designate qualified contractors to do the work. Only these contractors are eligible to move or add anything. The poles won't be swarmed by unaccountable bozos wrecking everything.

With change comes risk. Try not to be a sackless coward, prattling on about the parade of horribles inside your head. They're just wires on poles. We can cope with them as we have for 150+ years now. The only actual problem with any of this is that it's at least twenty years overdue.

Re:In case you're wondering why Pai would do this.

[hondo77]

...and if you don't own the poles (like Verizon)...

Verizon, the telephone company, does not own telephone poles? That seems...wrong.

To be fair, they own a lot less than they used to.