Legal and Regulatory Considerations When Providing Broadband Services

Abstract Description: Electric utility companies play a vital role in broadband deployment. They have in place physical connections to rural customers and a ubiquitous network of infrastructure that can be leveraged to provide fast, reliable, and affordable broadband service to areas that remain without suitable options to access the internet. However, as utility companies undertake to build out broadband facilities and to initiate broadband services, they are constantly confronted by a patchwork of federal, state, and local laws and rules that continue to evolve. This presentation will discuss the vast number of legal and regulatory issues that utility companies must consider as providers of broadband services, and the ways in which these issues can be effectively managed. Topics will include (i) access to utility poles, conduit, and public and private easements; (ii) federal and state service provider rules (including the status of the FCC’s Open Internet and Digital Discrimination rules); and (iii )the current status of BEAD deployment and its programmatic requirements.