For years one of the main things slowing down the expansion of fiber competition was access to utility poles that would allow them to run on current poles.
At issue was the need to get permission from companies already using the poles on the street by your house to run new fiber to you.
In 2016, AT&T, in an effort to stop Google Fiber, sued the City of Louisville to block a so-called One Touch Make Ready rule that made it easier for fiber to be added to new poles. In 2013, AT&T said it could deny Google Fiber access to poles in Austin, Texas.
AT&T is not alone. Other providers have also tried to block access to poles to make it harder for competitors to offer similar internet services.
Now the FCC has put into effect a new rule designed to make it easier for competitors to add fiber and more to current utility poles owned by third parties.
With this new rule, pole owners will be forced to give detailed information and make it harder to block competitors from coming into that area.
This change won’t be noticeable for some time, but slowly it will make way for competitors to bring internet to more areas.