Pew: Broadband Expansion May Hinge on States’ Processes for Attaching Lines to Utility Poles
Increasing broadband deployment has been a critical component of the United States’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic and a central aspect of the recent wave of funding aimed at modernizing the country’s infrastructure. Two federal programs in particular, the Capital Projects Fund (CPF) and Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD), represent broadband investments of unprecedented scale and ambition.
However, achieving the goal of those federal commitments—connecting every American to highspeed, affordable internet—will require a new degree of public and private sector collaboration. And policymakers and broadband providers already have expressed concern that projects funded by CPF and BEAD will face headwinds and delays because of state and local regulatory processes.
One issue in particular is causing a disproportionate amount of uncertainty: the attaching of lines for broadband—which for purposes of this brief include fiber, the highest-speed option, as well as cable used for cable TV and internet—to utility poles.