October 17, 2023                      961

The Honorable Jessica Rosenworcel 
Chairwoman 
Federal Communications Commission 
45 L Street NE 
Washington DC 20554 

Dear Chairwoman Rosenworcel, 

Ensuring that all American families have access to broadband service and the significant benefits it 
brings is a top priority for the current Congress, and me, personally. Through multiple, bipartisan 
legislative initiatives that I helped establish, particularly the BEAD program, enormous Federal 
investments are being made to deploy broadband networks to those households currently without any 
internet access.   

For these efforts to be successful, however, the Federal Communications Commission (“the 
Commission”) must do its part to ensure broadband construction is promptly and efficiently completed 
to unserved communities. Unfortunately, I continue to hear about problems and delays associated with 
broadband providers getting reasonable and timely access to utility poles as part of their broadband 
deployment efforts in West Virginia. I understand that this issue is widespread. The Commission can 
and must do everything possible to stop this harmful behavior and end practices and tactics that are 
slowing or halting broadband network deployment. The trend of deployment costs increasing also 
warrants attention to ensure that federal funds are not being wasted. As such, I seek the assistance of 
you and your fellow commissioners to immediately take action to improve this situation.   

In particular, taking action in the Commission's long-standing pole attachment proceeding is an 
important first step. The proceeding was started over three years ago, the record is complete and the 
time is right for the Commission to act in a unanimous fashion. The Commission’s actions related to 
reasonable and timely pole access sets an important precedent, even for pole owners not subject to the 
Commission's jurisdiction and in states that have adopted their own pole attachment rules. 

The very diverse landscape of our nation means that many broadband network construction efforts 
cannot be buried underground. West Virginians are well aware of this fact as the  
Appalachian Mountains make such underground deployment impossible. West Virginia's challenging 
topography is shared in other communities across the country, and a disproportionate amount of 
unserved households can be found in mountainous areas. In these hard to serve regions of the country, 
broadband networks are dependent on access to an existing and long established network of utility 
poles.  Yet, as has been documented to the Commission in the record of its open pole proceeding, the 
process for obtaining timely and reasonable access to poles is too often obstructed due to a number of 

  
  


 factors such as workforce shortages and pole owners that are seeking to offer broadband services and 
 receive funding from federal broadband programs. 
  
 In West Virginia, pole attachment disagreements are already a major obstacle to deployment and will 
 become even more problematic as additional government broadband funding is allocated and put to 
 use. In fact, West Virginia’s State Broadband Office leadership has publicly declared that reaching 
 pole attachment agreements is the biggest source of delay in deploying federal broadband funding. 
 Specifically, inconsistent policies that allow pole access by owners are keeping some broadband 
 networks from being built. These are the kinds of policies that could further prevent the 271,000 West 
 Virginia locations that are currently unserved according to the FCC’s maps. Moreover, the State 
 Broadband Office has noted that these issues are unnecessarily draining the resources of broadband 
 providers, as it has documented massive increases in rates sought by pole owners compared to those 
 from just a few years ago.     
  
 The pole attachment experience in West Virginia is unfortunately not uncommon across our country.  
 Absent prompt attention by the Commission to act quickly on pending issues before it – such as 
 establishing a fair sharing of pole replacement cost with an expedited process for resolving disputes – 
 likely will result in missed deadlines and timelines for network construction, as well as changes to 
 deployment plans that will mean that millions of Americans without broadband will have to wait even 
 longer. 
  
 I look forward to your prompt attention to this matter.      
  
 Sincerely, 


                                       
 Shelley Moore Capito 
 United States Senator 
  
  
  
  
 cc:   The Honorable Brendon Carr 
       The Honorable Geoffrey Starks 
       The Honorable Nathan Simington 
       The Honorable Anna Gomez  


  
  
  
170