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

Solution to Net Neutrality

[js290]

The solution to net neutrality is more ISP competition.

Re:Solution to Net Neutrality

[Rick Schumann]

Yeah, sure. You're an antelope and you're in a room full of lions, and tigers, and cheetahs, who are arguing over who gets to eat you. Do you really think they're going to unanimously agree to not eat you? At worst, they kill each other off until one is left, who then proceeds to eat you. At best, they agree to split the kill; then they all eat you, they just get a little less. In the latter scenario, they further agree to split all future antelope. Welcome to CAPITALISM.