The National Association of Towns and Townships (NATaT) submitted comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on its recent order, Accelerating Wireline Broadband Deployment by Removing Barriers to Infrastructure Investment, on behalf of its member towns and townships. PSATS and its townships are NATaT members. 

NATaT supported timely, predictable authorization of wireline broadband deployment but opposed case-specific preemption of local rules; requiring a 120-clock for municipal review at submission rather than completeness; and limiting recoverable review costs, which would call into question contracted engineering review fees and shared overhead. The filing also objected to abandoned lines being considered as the road owner’s property and considered compensation to the road owner. NATaT’s comments focus on right-of-way management, fee structures, and proposed reasonable alternatives to the preemption and federal oversight proposed by the FCC. 

To read NATaT’s comments, click here.