NCTA, Cox, Charter Welcome Some FCC Pole-Attachment Plans, Object to OTMR Approach
Cable officials praised certain FCC pole-attachment proposals, but criticized the one-touch, make-ready (OTMR) approach in a draft order eyed for an Aug. 2 vote. Many of the draft's proposed decisions "would be helpful in promoting continued broadband deployment by cable…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
operators, including codification of the Commission’s overlashing policy, accelerating the processing of pole attachment applications, and the declaratory ruling regarding local construction moratoria," said a filing posted Thursday in docket 17-84 on meetings representatives of NCTA, Cox Enterprises and Charter Communications had with aides to Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Brendan Carr. But the draft OTMR policy "does not strike the appropriate balance and would jeopardize the safety and reliability of existing cable networks," it said. "The fundamental problem is [it] would require that existing attachers surrender complete control over work on, and relocation of, their networks to a new attacher, but not require the new attacher to take complete responsibility for its work. We strongly disagree with the suggestion in the Draft ... Order that [Communications Act] Section 224 provides new attachers a greater right to move existing facilities than the company that owns those facilities. The better and non-discriminatory approach is for existing attachers to be given the opportunity to move and protect their own networks in an expedited time frame."