State’s consumer counsel challenges regulatory ruling

A second lawsuit has been filed seeking to overturn a May ruling by state utility regulators that limits the ability of communities across the state to develop ultra high-speed internet networks to serve residents and businesses.

Consumer Counsel Elin Swanson Katz said Wednesday her office is challenging the May 9 ruling by Connecticut’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority on the acceptable use of space that municipalities have on every utility pole in the state. The ability of communities to retain control of that space on utility poles, which they are given in return for allowing them in a municipal rights of way, is considered critical to bringing in additional ultra highspeed Internet service providers into the state.

The lawsuit by the Connecticut Office of Consumer Counsel come on the heels of an announcement by the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities last week that it was mounting a legal challenge to PURA’s ruling. The city of New Haven, along with officials in West Hartford and Manchester, are part of CCM’s legal challenge.

Katz said PURA’s ruling doesn’t mean competitors seeking to bring ultra highspeed internet to towns across Connecticut would be prohibited from gaining access to space on the utility poles. Rival high-speed internet providers can still apply to the companies that own the utility poles and can seek to rent space on them, she said.

“But that adds additional cost, which we think would impact the level of competition that we are seeking to bring to the state,” Katz said.

Kevin Maloney, CCM’s director of communications, said officials with the organization welcome OCC’s joining the legal battle.

“We think this is a battle that is worth fighting,” Maloney said. “This is a critical issue, whether or not it is municipality that actually does the work or not. We think PURA’s decision is flawed and that odds of it being overturned are in our favor.”

PURA officials weren’t available for comment on the lawsuit filed by OCC, which represents the interest of ratepayers in utility cases. The Office of State Broadband is part of OCC.

PURA made its ruling after being petitioned by Frontier Communications, the Communication Workers of America and a pair of telecommunications and cable television trade groups to address the acceptable use of the municipal space on utility poles. Officials with the New England Cable and Telecommunications Association, one of the trade groups that petitioned PURA for a ruling, were not immediately available for comment Wednesday of OCC’s lawsuit.

Katz contends that the telecommunications and cable companies in the state asked for the PURA ruling in an effort to thwart competition. Increased competition in the high-speed internet sector would also lower the cost of such services, she said.

“Despite being one of the most digitally connected states in the country, we still have tens of thousands of citizens who are unserved or underserved by the existing broadband market,” she said. “These members of our community cannot fully participate in the digital economy.”

Katz said PURA’s ruling relied on claims by the telecommunications and cable companies that municipally sponsored high-speed internet would constitute unfair competition that would harm their business. The PURA ruling, according to Katz, ignored the fact existing providers have failed to provide ubiquitous highspeed access statewide.

“In so many different ways, underserved and unserved areas of our state suffer because a lack of affordable broadband services limits access to information about education, public safety, health, employment, government, recreational and tourism opportunities, and many other key types of information valuable to citizens and businesses,” she said.

Katz said PURA’s ruling also illegally nullified a 2013 statutory amendment approved by the Connecticut legislature that gave municipalities the right to use their space on the utility poles for any purpose.

Katz said she doesn’t expect a ruling in the lawsuits until the end of this year at the earliest. “It’s hard to tell how long it might take, Katz said. “It’s possible it could take years.”