As reported by Christopher Cole in Law360 [subscription required], the FCC has launched a "rapid response team" to help resolve disputes between utility pole owners and broadband Internet service providers regarding the cost of upgrading or replacing poles to allow the attachment of the ISPs' broadband equipment. The official name of the new unit is "Rapid Broadband Assessment Team" or "RBAT."
According to the FCC's Enforcement Bureau Notice:
"The RBAT is charged with prioritizing and expediting the resolution of pole attachment disputes that are impeding or delaying the deployment of broadband facilities and providing coordinated review and assessment of those disputes. The RBAT will swiftly engage stakeholders, gather essential information, and distill issues in dispute. It will then provide guidance and advice to parties on the most effective means of resolving their dispute including, but not limited to, RBAT-supervised mediation. The RBAT also may decide if a complaint (or portion of a complaint) is suitable for placement on the FCC’s Accelerated Docket based on consideration of specified criteria."
The inter-agency RBAT is supposedly staffed with experts regarding the FCC's pole attachment rules.
Pole attachments are an integral part of the overall infrastructure to facilitate the deployment of high-speed broadband networks, and, obviously, speedy resolution of pole attachment disputes is important in deploying broadband sooner rather than later.
It's good that the FCC has taken this step to establish the RBAT. And it's good to know that the RBAT is staffed by experts.
But what's also needed is the will to make the RBAT effective, especially with respect to rapid action. As they say, the proof will be in the RBAT pudding.
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