Johnny Kampis
As government officials discuss the affordability of broadband, some regulators are helping contribute to the problem by implementing sky-high pole attachment fees, the cost of which tend to be passed onto the end consumer.
What are pole attachment fees? When an internet provider wants to access a pole owned by someone else – such as AT&T wanting to put its equipment on a pole owned by the local power provider – it has to pay a fee to gain that access. This has been standard operating procedure for many years.
A recent piece in the New Yorker discussing how the Biden administration can expand rural broadband noted the woes of Slic Network Solutions, a small broadband provider in New York State. Two years ago, shortly after that company received a $32 million grant from the state to service 9,200 residences in Adirondack Pack and surrounding areas, the state changed a rule on usage of utility poles. Suddenly, Slic had to pay a contractor to survey the poles and th