State Broadband Expansion Clears Bureaucratic Hurdle

The Public Service Commission of West Virginia signed off on a settlement Monday that brings broadband internet closer to reality for scores of homes and businesses across the state. It concluded issues that divided utility pole owners and those wishing to attach high speed internet equipment to the poles. 

For broadband to expand across West Virginia, fiber optic cable needs to be attached to utility poles. But disputes between pole owners and other utilities over capacity, access and cost-sharing have proven to be a major stumbling block for the maintenance and improvement of infrastructure nationally, especially in rural parts of the state. 

In a joint report filed with the commission on June 30, Mon Power and CityNet said they reached agreement on the application and engineering considerations of preparing utility poles owned by Mon Power and Frontier for attachments. They worked out an arrangement smoothing differences over the cost of attachments to poles that have pre-existing problems. 

Last year the commission ruled that pole companies, primarily electric utilities, cannot charge a third party the full cost when one of their poles must be replaced. 

In signing off on those matters, the commission referred two issues that remain outstanding to its PSC pole attachment working group for resolution. The working group was established last July as part of an effort to bring the state closer to recent FCC guidelines. 

More information on this case can be found on the PSC website: www.psc.state.wv.us. Click on “Case Information” and access Case No. 25-0640-T-E-POLE