USTelecom Calls for Pole Attachment Parity March 7th, 2008
Glenn Reynolds

Today, USTelecom filed comments in the FCC’s pole attachments proceeding. In terms of leveling the playing field among broadband providers and making the market for broadband more competitive, getting parity in pole attachment rates would be a giant step forward. As we discuss in the comments, a recent survey of USTelecom’s membership shows that incumbent local exchange carriers (LECs) pay more than eight times what cable providers pay per attachment and almost six times the rate paid by competitive LECs. That’s a pretty substantial disparity between companies that are selling nearly identical bundles of services. But more importantly, it results in a substantial disparity in what consumers ultimately pay; in essence, it’s a tax on ILEC broadband consumers.

My colleague Robert Mayer talked a bit about pole attachments in his recent USTelecom vidcast. If you haven’t caught it yet, you can see it here.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 7th, 2008 at 10:02 am and is filed under Filings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.