Few Changes Likely to Draft FCC Pole Replacement FNPRM, Digital Discrimination NOI

Few changes are likely to be made to the FCC’s draft Further NPRM on pole replacement disputes and notice of inquiry on digital discrimination in broadband access, aides told us. The items are expected to be unanimously approved during Wednesday’s commissioners' meeting.

Several groups lobbied FCC staff and commissioners’ aides on the draft FNPRM, which aims to identify who must pay and how much when there’s a pole replacement or attachment dispute (see 2203080052). Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s office and Wireline Bureau staff have been making red line edits to incorporate some of the feedback, one aide said. Most of the changes included adding a few questions to reflect some of the ex parte letters the agency received. The FCC didn't comment.

The FCC should consider exploring the "scope of pole owners' obligations to act in a nondiscriminatory manner with respect to pole replacement practices," said ACA Connects in separate meetings with a Rosenworcel aide and Wireline Bureau staff, per a filing posted Friday in docket 17-84. It proposed adding language to examine the "existence of, and potential for, discrimination" in pole replacement practices and considering potential rule changes in response to such a record.

Don't impose "new burdens and limitations on municipal, public power and cooperative entities' ability to manage their assets," said a NATOA-led coalition in a letter posted Thursday. It could "reduce local revenue and increase costs," the groups said, saying "[c]ircumscribing local oversight" could result in "unsafe attachments that jeopardize worker and public safety."

Crown Castle sought clarification of the term "red-tagged" when referring to poles, in separate meetings with a Rosenworcel aide and Wireline Bureau staff, per a letter posted Friday. It asked the FCC to avoid using the term because the draft’s language is “imprecise, and the term may be used differently by different utilities.” If the FCC uses the term, Crown Castle asked that it "adopt a much broader definition" and include any pole where "the utility contends the pole must be replaced before any new attachment, or change to an existing attachment, may be made."

USTelecom asked aides to all commissioners in separate meetings that the FCC remove from the draft two references to an Edison Electric Institute petition, saying they're "unrelated to the core issues raised in the NPRM and a sufficient record has already been developed" on its petition, per a letter posted Friday. ACA Connects backed removing the language.

Others backed a request to adopt a notice of inquiry on the item in lieu of the proposed FNPRM (see 2203090050). Doing so would "provide opportunity for stakeholders to engage and to propose solutions to the issues raised," said EEI in separate meetings with aides to Rosenworcel and Commissioner Nathan Simington. Saying the draft "poses a multitude of complex legal, policy, and factual questions," EEI requested a 60-day deadline for comments, 120 days for replies, if adopted as a FNPRM. The Coalition of Concerned Utilities, which includes Arizona Public Service Company, Berkshire Hathaway Energy and Exelon, backed the request.

Several groups lobbied commissioners’ aides on the agency’s draft NOI on digital discrimination (see 2203010051). The Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council asked Wireline Bureau staff to consider including questions about whether certain parts of the ultimate rules “should be severable in the event a court of appeals declares certain of the rules (or elements thereof) invalid or enforceable,” per an ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 22-69.

MMTC said this question should be asked about the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act's listed characteristics, including income level, race, ethnicity, color, religion and national origin. It also recommended seeking comment on severability for attributes for determining certain terms in the definition of "equal access" and identifying when digital discrimination is "based on" those characteristics, and which entities the rules would apply to.

The FCC's data collection effort to address digital discrimination should be "effective and efficient," said NCTA in meetings with aides to Rosenworcel, Carr and Starks, noting it should account for "relevant data it has already collected or will be collecting." The agency should seek comments on the communications equity and diversity council's digital empowerment and inclusion working group's proposals, Public Knowledge told a Starks aide. The group also backed a new device voucher program funded by the Universal Service Fund.