Google Fiber Slams Cable 'One-Touch, Make Ready' Proposal as Subverting BDAC Progress
Google Fiber said a cable "one touch, make ready" proposal undercuts recommendations of the FCC Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee for improving the pole-attachment process. "NCTA, Comcast, Charter, and Cox have submitted a totally different proposal that undermines the progress made…
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by the BDAC," Google Fiber said Wednesday in docket 17-84. "This after largely ignoring -- or, in the case of Comcast, even voting in favor of -- the BDAC recommendation." The NCTA-led proposal (see 1803060030) was "extremely late" and "fatally flawed," Google said: "NCTA’s proposed make-ready improvements entirely fail to address the fundamental problems with the existing make-ready rules and procedures -- in particular, the gross inefficiency, unnecessary costs, and risks to safety of multiple truck rolls and trips up a pole, and the ability of existing attachers to thwart the ability of new competitors to enter the market. NCTA's proposal would add more costs and increase risk for new entrants, making expanded broadband deployment less likely." While NCTA’s goal of speeding make-ready work "seems helpful on a first glance, its touted improvements are likely illusory," Google added. NCTA emailed that its "proposal is a balanced approach to resolving these complex issues. In contrast, Google’s approach fails to account for the legitimate interest that cable operators have in managing and protecting their networks.” Verizon and the American Cable Association also made recent filings (here and here).