CCTA Asks to Pull Petition After CPUC Says It May Deny

Public Utilities Commission said it may deny the petition next month (see 1701100062). In a Friday motion to withdraw posted Tuesday, CCTA said the public interest may be better served by withdrawing the petition than by “issuing a final decision based on incomplete (and potentially incorrect) information.” The proposed decision made clear to CCTA that the commission “would benefit from additional information regarding the cable industry’s interest in attaching antennas to joint-use utility poles, the services they intend to provide using those devices, and the regulatory authority they intend to rely on to provide such services.” The group said its petition may be moot given the proposed decision’s finding that cable providers can install wireless facilities by relying on CLEC authority, especially if the CPUC grants a separate pending petition by the Wireless Infrastructure Association to extend the ROW rights of CMRS providers to CLECs. "Most, if not all, of CCTA's cable provider members have CLEC affiliates,” the association said. If adopted, the proposed decision may spur pole access disputes in the state, the association said. "The Proposed Decision as drafted could be read to suggest that cable television providers’ use of even the wired facilities they install may be limited to providing cable (i.e., video) service and not, for example broadband services and/or that they have no rights to install wireless pole attachment even in furtherance of their provision of cable television services."