At long last, the FCC’s latest order on pole attachments was published in the Federal Register and will officially go into effect on September 2, 2010.  The order comes almost a month after the FCC’s further notice of proposed rulemaking was published in the Federal Register, even though the order and the further notice were released simultaneously by the FCC back on May 20, 2010.  By way of background, the order clarifies that communications providers have a statutory right to use space-and cost saving techniques that are consistent with pole owners’ use of those techniques.  The order also establishes that providers have a statutory right to timely access to poles.  As a practical matter this order means that a pole does not have “insufficient capacity” if it can accommodate a new attachment through boxing and extension arms and bracketing; and it means that utilities are obligated to provide timely “make ready”, regardless of whether the FCC ultimately adopts specific timelines, as proposed in its further notice of proposed rulemaking.

In a related development, the FCC also published in the Federal Register a correction to its proposed telecom rate formula in its further notice of proposed rulemaking.  Specifically, the correction substitutes the term “maintenance and administrative carrying charge” for the term “maximum carrying charge” in the proposed telecom rate formula.