AT&T’s Attempt To Stall Google Fiber Construction Has Backfired

One of the best internet providers in the country, AT&T^® had earlier sued the local government in Louisville and Jefferson County for stopping the “One Touch Make Ready” ordinance, which was designed to provide Google Fiber and other new internet providers faster access to the utility poles. However, reports from several reliable sources claim that AT&T^® has just lost the case, as the US District Court Judge David Hale dismissed the lawsuit by stating that the claims made by the telecom company are false.

The officials from AT&T^® responded to the issue by stating that, “We are currently reviewing the decision and our next steps.” The telecom giant also claimed that Louisville does not have any jurisdiction under state or federal law for regulating the pole attachment.

One Touch Make Ready laws allow ISPs to make all the necessary wide adjustments on their own. This means that these ISPs will not have to wait for other internet providers such as AT&T^® to send their work crews for moving the wires. If there were no One Touch Make Ready rules, then the pole attachment process could be delayed for months.

Hale wrote that AT&T^® had argued that the referred to in-court documents since Ordinance No. 21 “impermissibly regulates the terms and conditions of pole attachments,” but in doing so, the telecom company referred to in-court documents as Ordinance No. 21 “impermissibly regulates the terms and conditions of pole attachments.”

The reality is that “the ordinance actually prescribes the ‘method or manner of encumbering or placing burdens on’ public rights-of-way,” Hale wrote. He further said that the Public Service Commission of Kentucky has exclusive jurisdiction over services of utilities and regulation of rates, and added that cities are allowed to “regulate local utilities in every area except as to rates and service.”

“Louisville Metro has an important interest in managing its public rights-of-way to maximize efficiency and enhance public safety,” Hale wrote. “And Kentucky law preserves the right of cities to regulate public rights-of-way. Because Ordinance No. 21 regulates public rights-of-way, it is within Louisville Metro’s constitutional authority to enact the ordinance, and [Kentucky law] cannot limit that authority.”

“The Metro Council uses the ‘strike-through and underscoring method’ of amending the municipal Code, which identifies both the language to be repealed and the new language to be added. This is the longstanding practice of the Metro Council when enacting ordinances that amend the Code. AT&T has failed to show how this method is inconsistent with the requirements,” Hale said.