
On the same day in 1927, the
“flying fool” Charles Lindbergh started his solo flight across the Atlantic
from New York to Paris in 33 hours and 30 minutes. Today you can follow the
path of the Spirit of St. Louis, but your flight time would be 7 hours and 20
minutes.
As OTMR is designed to
shorten the daunting make-ready process, how much faster can broadband
deployment become? How will it compare to the four-fold decrease in time it
takes to travel now from New York to Paris?
Internet Service Providers
face many obstacles in deploying broadband services including large capital costs,
time to deployment, and numerous other sales and marketing challenges. One of
the largest areas of concern is equal access to attach to poles and a reliable
process in which to do so.
FCC Regulated
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Opt-Out (Created their own Make-Ready
Laws)
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Alabama
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Nevada
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Alaska
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Massachusetts
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Arizona
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New Mexico
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Arkansas
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Michigan
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Colorado
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North Carolina
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California
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New Hampshire
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Florida
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North Dakota
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Delaware
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New York
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Georgia
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Oklahoma
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D.C.
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Ohio
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Hawaii
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Pennsylvania
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Idaho
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Oregon
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Indiana
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Rhode Island
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Illinois
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Utah
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Iowa
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South Carolina
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Kentucky
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Vermont
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Kansas
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South Dakota
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Louisiana
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Washington
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Maryland
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Tennessee
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Maine
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Minnesota
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Texas
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Mississippi
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Virginia
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Missouri
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West Virginia
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Montana
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Wisconsin
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Nebraska
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Wyoming
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A joint-use utility pole with power and communications. |
In the FCC pole attachment
regulated states, the major reform calls for simplified rules in attaching to
the middle section of lines on a pole, known as the communications space. Before a company can attach its fiber optic cable to a pole,
each owner of currently attached wires must be asked to assess and move their
wires if necessary–a process called “make ready.” Poles are typically owned and
operated by the local incumbent phone company – which coincidentally is
typically one’s largest competitor in that market, which is why this type of
regulation is necessary for equal and timely access to poles.
In
general, the FCC’s order allows the construction of make ready and pole
attachment quicker and more safe; allows wider deployment of broadband services
to urban, suburban and rural residents, lowers barriers to entry; and ensures
tighter deadlines for network contractors to receive feedback on poles and any
necessary make ready work needed.
This
new regulation has not come without concern. Many incumbents have their own
internal process for make ready, claim to not resources available, or even only
want their own trusted contractors working in this space. However, the FCC has
pushed ahead with this set of rules. If the contractor that the new attacher
would like to use is not on the pole owners’ approved contractor list, they are
not allowed to use them. In order to prepare for the OTMR ruling, ILECs and
CLECs should be in contact with their pole owner partners as soon as possible
to have their contractors evaluated and approved.
As
utilities are the primary pole owners, it is important for those companies to
prepare for OTMR by adding the necessary resources to be able to process the
new permit requests under the timeframes dictated by the 2019 OTMR order.
Another challenge on both sides will be the effectiveness to determine without argument the differences between "simple" and "complex" make-ready. Poles that do not require a lot of work to maintain compliance with the new attacher, and ones that do not require a new pole fall under simple make-ready rules. That is where the true benefits of OTMR come into effect for the new attacher. Otherwise, poles that require a lot of work and replacement fall under the complex make-ready. Some instances of complex make ready, such as the image above, are obvious. Some poles may not be identified as complex when they really are. The term "shot clock" is used to describe the amount of time each stage of the make-ready process takes to complete under the ruling, and simple make-ready has much shorter shot clocks.