On February 7, 2019, the Commission published in the Federal Register that OMB has approved for a three year period the information collection associated with the Commission’s revised pole attachment complaint rules in the Accelerating Wireline Broadband Deployment by Removing Barriers to Infrastructure Investment, Third Report and Order and Declaratory Ruling (WC Docket No. 17-84, WT Docket No. 17-79).
As a reminder, the FCC established a presumption that an incumbent local exchange carrier (“LEC”) is similarly situated to an attacher that is a telecommunications carriers or a cable television system providing telecommunications services for purposes of obtaining comparable pole attachment rates, terms, or conditions. It also established a presumption that incumbent LECs may not be charged higher than the pole attachment rate for telecommunications carriers. A utility may rebut these presumptions with evidence that the incumbent LEC receives benefits under its pole attachment agreement with a utility that materially advantages the LEC over other carriers or systems on the same poles. OMB has approved the increase in paperwork required to challenge these presumptions.
The Commission estimates that of 1,775 respondents and 1,791 responses, the time per response is an estimated 10-14 hours for on-occasion reporting and third-party disclosure requirements. The estimated total annual burden is 3,149 hours with an estimated total annual cost of $486,000. Respondents may request confidential treatment.
These rules are effective March 11, 2019.
Please contact us know if you have any questions.