Broadband providers and a major industry group are backing another ISP’s request for federal regulators to overrule local permitting rules.
Maple Grove, Minn., countered that the Federal Communications Commission didn’t have legal authority to intervene in disputes surrounding broadband internet deployments.
Doug Dawson from CCG Consulting reports…
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals made a recent ruling that could end up eliminating one of the biggest rights-of-way issues that slow down fiber construction projects. In the case of CSX Transportation v. Zayo Group, LLC, the court ruled that the easement that CSX owns for its railroad tracks only applies to the surface of the Earth and that the railroad right-of-way does not extend either above or below the tracks.
The court said specifically that the installation of underground fiber lines or overhead fiber lines that are tall enough not to interfere with trains does not constitute “continuous trespass”. This ruling means that Zayo is free to place the fiber without the railroad company’s permission and that Zayo doesn’t have to pay any one-time or ongoing fees for the rights-of-way.
The court said that the right-of-way still belongs to the actual landowner. That’s an important distinction, because most railroad lines were granted an easement to build the railroad lines, and were not given outright ownership of the land. The land under the tracks is still owned by a local government or a private landowner. Since most fiber crossings for railroads happen where the railroad tracks cross a public road, then the state, county, or city that maintains that road still owns the actual rights-of-way and can grant it to a fiber overbuilder just like they grant rights-of-way along all public roads.
It’s an interesting decision and one, that as Doug points out, could have some loud repercussions. Permitting and rights-or-way have always been roadblocks, or at least slow-downs for providers and this is adding to the uncertainty. A whole new look at the wrong side of the tracks!
The rapid growth of artificial intelligence is putting unprecedented pressure on U.S. communications networks, telecommunications leaders told a Senate panel Thursday.
Industry witnesses told officials of the Senate Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Media that AI’s growing use across businesses and households is reshaping internet traffic in ways existing networks were not designed to handle, making broadband deployment and modernization increasingly urgent.
A Minnesota city recently told a broadband provider what it would cost to run fiber down a single city block: a $63,000 permit fee, plus nearly $29,000 in per-foot charges. More than $90,000, for one block. The provider offered a compromise on how the fiber would be buried. The city refused. So the provider walked away, and that block stayed offline.
That case is documented in the FCC’s public record, and it’s one of the starker ones. But the pattern behind it is common. A fiber route or tower upgrade can clear design, secure financing, and line up a crew, then stall at a local permit counter over fees and timelines that bear little relation to the actual work.
The Federal Communications Commission and Congress are considering reforms to numerous broadband permitting processes across the country, with the aim of accelerating deployment. Most changes would potentially preempt state and local government rules.
The House Energy Subcommittee on Communications and Technology on Tuesday heard amendments and marked up 28 bills that would streamline broadband permitting, passing several Republican-led measures to rollback regulations.
And the FCC this week has formally kicked off consideration of new measures to reform broadband permitting. That process includes public comments solicited through a notice of inquiry published in September. The agency’s deadline for initial comments passed on Monday, and reply comments are due in mid-December.
Both efforts follow frustrations over the last several years with the broadband infrastructure permitting process, magnified by billions of dollars of federal investment across the states. The Biden administration created a number of federal broadband programs to expand access to high-speed, broadband internet through the former president’s Internet for All initiative, which was created by the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021.
The article goes on to explain the impact on some proposed changes on state and local role…
Following roll call votes, the subcommittee voted favorably on seven bills, sending them to the full committee for consideration, including one that would set “shot clocks” for permitting, giving state and local agencies 150 days to approve or deny new construction permits, and 90 days to respond to permit applications to modify existing broadband infrastructure. Requests that don’t receive responses within those timeframes would be automatically approved.
The NTIA is working with other federal agencies, including the Bureau of Indian Affairs, to streamline permit approval processes, but the agency is concerned that permitting at the state level could potentially be a “bigger issue,” Davidson said.
When states submit plans to the NTIA for how they plan to distribute their BEAD allocations, they will be required to include the steps they will take to ease their permitting processes, he said.
“It’s one of the homework assignments [that states will have to complete], and we’re going to take it pretty seriously,” he said.
As a steward for billions of dollars in federal funding to move the needle on broadband access and adoption, the NTIA “needs all hands on deck to make this work,” Davidson said.
He said the NTIA also wants to ensure that the Affordable Connectivity Program — a Federal Communications Commission program that subsidizes internet bills for low-income households — “continues to thrive.”