One Touch Make Ready (also known as One Touch, and often abbreviated as OTMR) is the various statutes and local ordinances passed by various local governments and utilities in the United States, which require the owners of utility poles to allow a single construction crew to make changes to multiple utility wires.
Effect
Background Across the United States, utility poles in a given area may be owned by the local government, a municipal electric company, a private entity, or any combination of the three. In most cases, the poles are owned by a private entity, like a local incumbent phone company or electric company.
Make Ready Work Before an Internet Service Provider (or any company) can add a new attachment or line to a utility pole, the existing attachments may need to be moved around so that the pole can be made ready to handle a new attachment or line. This is known as 'Make Ready work.' The reason Make Ready work is necessary is that, under Federal Law, to prevent the risk of outages or other issues, lines on utility poles must be spaced a certain distance apart from each other based on how many lines are on the pole.
Under federal guidelines, Make Ready Work must occur sequentially, meaning that attachments can only be moved in the order with which they were originally placed on the line. This process can create massive delays, as well as other large disruptions in high traffic areas, such as alongside major roadways. In addition, the make ready work can take months, or even years, to complete as every company involved must send out their own approved contractor to move only their respective attachment. Each contractor must also schedule their work to not conflict with other contractors performing Make Ready Work, as well as taking into account other local factors, such as weather, traffic, and maintenance work (such as road paving). These factors must be considered as the United States primarily uses aerial work platforms to perform Make Ready Work.
One Touch Make Ready To rectify these issues, several local governments have passed One Touch Make Ready legislation. While specific portions of the statutes vary, all carry a unifying theme that under these laws, certified construction crews chosen either by the pole owners or local governments are allowed to make all the necessary changes to a utility pole to make it ready for a new attachment.
In a location which has adopted one touch make-ready, companies that own utility poles must agree on one or more common contractors that have permission to move existing attachments on a pole, allowing a single crew to move all attachments on a pole on a single visit, rather than sending in a unique crew to move each attachment sequentially.
Differences between localities
Nashville Nashville's OTMR ordinance is unique in that it requires a company that has reached an agreement to install a new line on a pole to give every company already on the pole 30 days' notice to move their equipment. If those companies have not moved their equipment within 30 days, then the company installing the new line can perform the complex make-ready work themselves. If that work causes any errors or problems, the companies already on the pole can recoup expenses caused by those errors from the company that did the work.
Implementation in various areas As of August 2017, only three cities in the United States have One Touch Make Ready statutes: Louisville, Kentucky; Nashville, Tennessee; and San Antonio, Texas. Numerous other cities are in various stages along the process of implementing the One Touch Make Ready system.
Louisville, Kentucky On February 11, 2016, the City Council of Louisville, Kentucky voted 23–0 to adopt a One Touch Make-Ready Statute, making it the first city in the country to adopt such legislation. According to city councilman Bill Hollander, who sponsored the legislation "This will help businesses locate here and grow here. It will create jobs, and will retain and attract our young people and make Louisville broadband ready." These sentiments were echoed by Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, who stated that it would help lay the groundwork for entities like Google Fiber, and said "Tonight's vote puts Louisville one step closer toward becoming a Google Fiber city." The legislation states that an applicant for attachment must first receive approval from the existing pole owners, at which point it may contract a pre-approved construction crew to perform all make ready work at its own expense. Pole owners and pre-existing providers whose wires were moved may choose to do post-make ready work inspections and call for remedial work if needed, at the new provider's expense.
San Antonio, Texas On May 6, 2016, San Antonio's municipal utility, CPS Energy, adopted broad new guidelines which included many of the fundamental principles of One Touch Make Ready legislation. The standards include specific requirements for OTMR, and include what needs to happen before, during and after the process. The 128-page standards are far more detailed than the legislation passed by Louisville, Kentucky a few months prior. This is mainly due to CPS being an electric company. The Introduction of the standards states:
The standards go on to lay out technical provisions, administrative procedures, as well as various specific provisions for both wired and wireless utility pole attachments. They incorporate recommendations from the FCC on how best to expand broadband while also addressing safety concerns by working into the guidelines various safety standards recommended by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
Nashville, Tennessee On August 2, 2016, the Metropolitan Council of Nashville and Davidson County began to debate its own One Touch Make Ready Ordinance. The measure, sponsored by Councilman Anthony Davis, was nearly identical to the measure passed by the city of Louisville several months prior. On September 6, 2016, the Nashville City Council Approved the Measure 32–7 on a roll-call vote, as the Council's computer systems were down. On September 20, 2016, Councilwoman Tanaka Vercher, a critic of the bill, proposed a resolution that would delay voting on the bill for two Council meetings. This resolution was defeated 26–12. A few hours later, the City Council passed the OTMR bill via voice vote. After the vote, Nashville Mayor Megan Barry, stated she would sign the bill.
On September 21, 2016, the Mayor of Nashville, Tennessee, Megan Barry, signed into law the city's OTMR ordinance. The ordinance exists under Nashville Law as Ordinance BL2016-343 Notably, throughout the entire process of the debate amongst council lawmakers on the specifics of the bill, Barry remained neutral on the bill's contents, refusing to comment on the bill's status, and only encouraging lawmakers and providers to seek a compromise.
Arguments
In favor Reduced cost, time, and disruption
Supporters, such as the Fiber to the Home Council (FTTHC) and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA), argue that OTMR policies drastically reduce the cost of adding additional lines, noting that allowing a single crew to work on a line over the course of a single workday, as opposed to multiple crews working on multiple, often non-sequential days, reduces the financial cost of adding additional lines, by decreasing the number of workers needed to install a new line, thereby decreasing the total number of man-hours worked. Further, the FTTHC argues that OTMR policies reduce the traffic disruption caused by the large Aerial work platforms used by the overwhelming majority of utility pole maintenance companies in the United States.
Increased Competition Supporters, such as Google Fiber and several lawmakers, have argued that OTMR policies create and encourage competition, as they can theoretically allow any outside Internet service provider to lay networks of fiber-optic cables, thus leading to a breakup of the various local internet monopolies which exist across the United States.
Opposed Numerous groups have criticized OTMR since its implementation in several cities. The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), along with several lobbying groups, have critiqued the proposal. In addition, the measure has received extremely vocal opposition from cable and telephone providers, mainly AT&T and Comcast, who together have thus far filed lawsuits against every city which has successfully passed OTMR ordinances.
Federal oversight Opponents, including AT&T, Comcast, and the Nashville Electric Service (NES), have argued that the regulation of telecommunications poles falls under the purview of the Federal Communications Commission. To back this up, they cite federal pole attachment rules, which mandate the Federal Communications Commission, not local municipalities, regulate telecommunications poles. However, on October 30, 2016, in response to the case AT&T v. Louisville Metro, the Federal Communications Commission stated that states which have opted out of the FCC guidelines (including Kentucky) are not subject to the Federal Pole Attachment rules.
Involvement of Google Fiber Opponents, including the American Legislative Exchange Council, have criticized the policy as a blatant attempt by local officials to "bend over backward" to ensure the continued support of Google Fiber's expansion within their respective cities. ALEC further contends that cities are willing to spend millions of taxpayer dollars to defend legislation in court that they see as only a way to appease Google. They cite Google's willingness to join as defendants in every OTMR lawsuit filed as of August 2017.
Rights of corporations Opponents such as the American Legislative Exchange Council have argued that OTMR ordinances violate the property rights of corporations to control what happens on their respective lines. They further claim that OTMR ordinances violate federal property law by allegedly allowing any third party to relocate equipment on a pole, without notifying the equipment's owners, unless the third party believes there will be a service outage. However, so far, all cities which have successfully passed OTMR ordinances have included provisions which mandate that only contractors approved by the pole's owners may work on the lines.
Union concerns Opponents, such as the Communications Workers of America (the largest communications labor union in the United States), have argued against One Touch Make Ready proposals on the grounds that the new proposals have the potential to create unsafe working conditions, as well as violate existing labor contracts. In their filing with the Federal Communications Commission on the matter, the union argues that since new attachers would not be required to submit formal applications, this could lead to a situation where existing infrastructure could be damaged by workers who are unfamiliar with the lines. The union further emphasizes that pole owners should be able to conduct a thorough review of the lines before any work can be done.
Legality
Under the guidelines of the Federal Communications Commission, states are presented with two options for the regulation of their utility poles. They can either pass legislation recognizing the right of the FCC to regulate their utility poles, or states can form their own regulatory agencies and maintain their right to self-regulate their utility poles. As of 2016, thirty states have turned over regulatory power to the FCC, while the remaining twenty states have maintained their right to self-regulate. All Territories of the United States and Insular areas must adopt the federal guidelines.