Google Fiber plan faces new hurdles
Opponents of the controversial, Google Fiber-backed One Touch Make Ready ordinance have put forward new legislation to address internet deployment in Nashville, complicating efforts by the tech giant to expedite its internet installation in Nashville.
A week ahead of the final vote on the proposal, Councilwoman Sheri Weiner put forward a bill calling for Google, AT&T, Comcast and Nashville Electric Service to create a system that improves the current process for making utility poles ready for new cables. A separate proposal filed by Councilmen Bob Mendes and Steve Glover seeks to shift legal burdens to the providers in an effort to help the city avoid litigation.
Mendes and Weiner voted against One Touch Make Ready earlier this month, when Metro Council approved the ordinance on the second of three votes. Glover voted to approve the measure after supporting an unsuccessful deferral of the vote.
Called "Right Touch," Weiner's measure would limit permitting by NES to 30 days and make-ready work to 45 days, with providers encouraged to work on poles at the same time rather than consecutively. A provider would incur $500 fees per pole per month if it failed to act in time. Weiner said AT&T and Comcast helped draft the resolution she proposes.
"While the OTMR ordinance may have gotten the proper conversations started, in the end instead of ensuring the stakeholders continue working toward a beneficial solution, OTMR has pitted the parties against each other," Weiner wrote in a Sept. 9 letter to council members. "The Right Touch resolution is a positive path forward with one purpose in mind, which is to materially shorten the timeline for deployment of broadband in Nashville and ensuring Davidson County citizens have access to a wide variety of high-speed networks."
It is unclear whether the resolution would be binding if passed or how it would affect One Touch Make ready. Metro Council attorney Mike Jameson said he was preparing a legal analysis on the matter and declined to comment until he had submitted the analysis to council members. In general, he said, resolutions are often deemed non-binding and are meant to relay recommendations of the council, but he would not discuss the two specific proposals.
As it stands, a new provider must wait on each existing provider to move its lines on a pole and make it ready for the new line. Google Fiber says the months-long process has slowed its rollout in Nashville. The One Touch Make Ready proposal, up for final vote on Sept. 20, would allow a contractor to move all existing providers' lines in one session.
Comcast and AT&T have both fought against the One Touch measure. Comcast argues the one-touch process would lead to safety issues and would be less efficient when work is done improperly. AT&T says it violates its contract with union workers and it has sued Louisville, Ky. after the city passed a similar ordinance.
Councilman Jeremy Elrod said he opposes Weiner's resolution and reiterated his support for the One Touch Make Ready ordinance he co-sponsored.
"Google Fiber service and other competitors will be forced to rolling out their service at a trickle, when under the One Touch ordinance it will be like opening the floodgates," Elrod said in an emailed statement. "This resolution coming at the last minute, to be considered the same night as third reading of the One Touch bill, just shows it’s the last gasp of Comcast and AT&T, desperately trying to hold on to their top place on the utility pole.
"These two companies should not be the gatekeepers that get to decide when and where their customers get access to a competitor, but (a Memorandum of Understanding) like this one enshrines that they stay that way. Comcast and AT&T would win, and competition and consumers would lose."
The ordinance co-sponsored by Mendes and Glover would require companies attaching new lines to ensure that make-ready work complies with federal, state and local laws. They would have to obtain a $1 million surety bond to guarantee their compliance with the ordinance, safety measures and timeliness.
Weiner's resolution also calls on NES to allow each provider to improve permitting agreements. At previous council meetings, Comcast officials complained about 100 day delays from NES on permits. Both NES and Comcast have since said they are already working on a new contract outside of legislation.
Reach Jamie McGee at 615-259-8071 and on Twitter @JamieMcGee_.