The Nashville Metro Council last year claimed a “One Touch Make Ready” rule that presents Google Fiber or other new ISPs faster introduction to utility poles. The ordinance lets a single company make all of the certain wire adjustments on utility poles itself, rather of having to wait for incumbent providers like AT&T and Comcast to send work crews to move their own wires.
AT&T and Comcast demanded the metro government in US District Court in Nashville, claiming that federal and local laws appropriate the One Touch Make a Ready rule. Judge Victoria Roberts agreed with AT&T and Comcast in a decision issued Tuesday.
Google Fiber is advising service in Nashville despite announcing last year that it was waiting for access to thousands of utility poles.
“We’re reviewing court ruling to assume its potential impact on our build in Nashville,” a Google spokesperson said this week, according to The Tennessean. “We have made important progress with new innovative deployment procedures in some areas of the city, but access to poles rests an important issue where underground deployment is not a possibility.”
The case centered on two sets of utility poles: those recognized by AT&T and those owned by the municipal Nashville Electric Service (NES).
The Nashville statute is preempted by federal law when it comes to poles owned by AT&T and other private parties, the judge conducted. The Federal Communications Commission has jurisdiction to regulate pole attachments for privately owned poles without when states opt out of the federal regime.
“Tennessee has not opted out of FCC authority over pole attachments,” Judge Roberts wrote.
In August, a similar One Touch Make a Ready rule in Louisville, Kentucky endured despite another AT&T lawsuit. Kentucky is one of 20 states that has opted out of the federal pole addition regime, giving Louisville a leg up over AT&T in that case.
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