Comcast slams Google Fiber over possibility of halting Nashville rollout
A spokesman for Comcast on Thursday slammed comments that a Google Fiber official made this week that suggested Google Fiber’s expansion into Nashville might not happen if the city doesn’t change a utility pole policy.
James Weaver, a Nashville lobbyist for Comcast, in a Thursday letter to two Metro Council committee chairmen, wrote that Comcast “is eager and ready to meet to work toward a negotiated solution” for more efficient and timely broadband deployment for Nashvillians.
He also took aim at remarks made during a special joint council committee meeting by Chris Levendos, head of network deployment and operations of Google Fiber. When asked at that meeting about the worst-case scenario if the pole policy doesn’t change, Levendos said Google Fiber's ongoing delayed rollout of broadband service into the Nashville market could lengthen or “it just ceases to happen.”
In his letter, Weaver wrote that Comcast — which is already a dominant broadband service provider in Nashville — is “not going anywhere” regardless of what happens in the coming weeks over the issue.
“Comcast has had serious pole attachment issues with (the Nashville Electric Service) for years,” the letter reads. “That's not a secret. NES representatives talked about the same Monday night. Not ONCE in all these years has Comcast said, ‘fix this or we will pick up and leave.’ This despite the fact that NES issues have cost Comcast millions and resulted in lost customers and damaged business-to-business relationships.”
Comcast's letter is addressed to council members Bill Pridemore and Jeremy Elrod, who are chairman of the council’s Budget and Finance and Public Works committees, respectively. Mayor Megan Barry, NES President Decosta Jenkins, Metro Law Director Jon Cooper, other council members and officials from Google Fiber and AT&T were copied on the letter.
A Google Fiber spokesman declined to comment on the letter.
Levendos, asked after the council meeting to clarify his remarks, told The Tennessean that the issues Google Fiber has identified regarding utility poles are "very challenging and make it difficult to look forward and suggest that we could just continue to proceed as is."
"Simply said, it would make the going-forward investment — if things stayed exactly the way they were — much more challenging," he said.
Under current law, existing providers AT&T and Comcast must move their own lines before a new provider can add another cable — a process that Google Fiber has described as slow and cumbersome and puts it at the mercy of competitors. Google Fiber says it has made its rollout into Nashville slower than anticipated.
To try to fix the issue, Google Fiber is backing a proposed Metro ordinance that would create a new One Touch Make Ready policy that would give Google Fiber, or any other provider seeking to add a line, the ability to hire an approved vendor to move all the lines at the same time. Google Fiber has said the bill also would “drive efficiency and drive competition” among internet providers in Nashville.
The One Touch Make Ready bill is set for a crucial second of three votes in the council Sept. 6 after lead sponsor Councilman Anthony Davis led a one-meeting deferral Tuesday. Davis said he hopes the extra time allows council colleagues to get lingering questions answered.
Barry earlier this week asked her law director and NES's Jenkins to take the lead in convening officials from Google Fiber, AT&T and Comcast to find a solution to the pole issue.
Comcast and AT&T, which both oppose the ordinance, have warned that the proposal could pose safety, liability and legal issues. In Thursday's letter, Comcast requests a "non-legislative solution."
The city of Louisville, Ky., was sued by AT&T after it passed a similar One Touch Make Ready proposal. The lawsuit, which is still pending, alleged the city lacked the authority to enforce the bill, arguing privately owned AT&T poles fall under the jurisdiction of the Federal Communications Commission. Metro Council's attorney, Mike Jameson, has raised similar legal concerns.
Reach Joey Garrison at 615-259-8236 and on Twitter @joeygarrison.