Maine Pole Riders, Owners Clash on Proposed Data Request About Rate Method

CTIA urged the Maine Public Utilities Commission to quickly open a rulemaking on pole attachment rates, once the PUC gets data from pole owners about effects of adopting FCC rate formulas. But Consolidated Communications, recent acquirer of pole owner FairPoint Communications, said it doesn’t want to provide the data. In comments last week in docket 2018-00010, CTIA supported a Maine Fiber proposal to direct large pole owners to say what their rates would be under the FCC rate method (see 1805150016). “The need to remove barriers to wireless deployment and attach new and evolving technologies to utility poles makes it all the more important that the Commission establish regulatory certainty by amending the rates portion of the pole attachment rule,” CTIA said. The Maine Office of the Public Advocate agreed pole owners should provide data on what their rates would be under the FCC method. “The OPA supports a rate formula that requires that attachers be charged for the space they use, plus a reasonable contribution to the common cost of the pole,” it said. But Consolidated said the data sought isn’t relevant and would burden pole owners. The FCC formula “arbitrarily reduces rates by 33% and 66% to put it in line with a favorable cable rate that was adopted in cable’s infancy in order to accelerate cable deployment,” Consolidated said. The actual rate doesn’t matter as long as the policy doesn’t discriminate, it said. The Telecom Association of Maine also took issue with Maine Fiber’s approach, saying it “will simply lead to a morass of conflicting data as different providers utilize differing assumptions when calculating their pole costs as well as their interpretations of how the FCC Rules should be applied which will lead to further arguments among the parties and, ultimately, delay the process.”