AT&T sues Louisville to stop Google Fiber from using its utility poles

AT&T today sued the local government in Louisville and Jefferson County, Kentucky, to stop a new ordinance designed to give Google Fiber access to utility poles.

AT&T’s lawsuit in US District Court in Louisville says the Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government’s ordinance is invalid because it conflicts with and is preempted by the Federal Communications Commission’s pole attachment regulations. AT&T also argues that under Kentucky law, only the state Public Service Commission has jurisdiction to regulate pole attachments.

WDRB posted a copy of the lawsuit.

“Louisville Metro Council’s recently passed ‘One Touch Make Ready’ Ordinance is invalid, as the city has no jurisdiction under federal or state law to regulate pole attachments,” AT&T said in a statement to Louisville Business First today. “We have filed an action to challenge the ordinance as unlawful. Google can attach to AT&T’s poles once it enters into AT&T’s standard Commercial Licensing Agreement, as it has in other cities. This lawsuit is not about Google. It’s about the Louisville Metro Council exceeding its authority.”

But with AT&T planning its own fiber deployment in Louisville, it could get a head start on Google if the lawsuit delays its rival’s progress.

AT&T—also known as BellSouth Telecommunications in Kentucky—complains that the ordinance lets companies move AT&T wires without notifying AT&T as long as the work wouldn’t cause customer outages. So-called One Touch Make Ready policies are designed to speed up deployments that require some wires to be moved to make room for new ones. The ordinance also lets Google install wires even if AT&T doesn’t respond to requests or rejects requests to attach lines.

The ordinance was also designed to reduce disruptions caused by work crews. Under earlier rules, “each provider would have to send a contractor to move its equipment to make way for new services like Google Fiber,” WDRB wrote. The ordinance allows all the necessary work to be done by a single crew. Ordinance supporters “said it will reduce disruption in neighborhoods as Google or other broadband providers install thousands of miles of new fiber-optic cable throughout Jefferson County,” WDRB wrote.

AT&T doesn’t see that as a good thing. The telco’s lawsuit argues that the ordinance allows companies to “temporarily seize AT&T’s property, and to alter or relocate AT&T’s property, without AT&T’s consent and, in most circumstances, without prior notice to AT&T.” Most of the poles used by AT&T in the area are owned by AT&T or Louisville Gas & Electric. AT&T said it has had a contract with the utility for the joint use of utility poles since 1917.

AT&T and Google also clashed over utility pole access in Austin, Texas, but eventually came to an agreement.

Google declined comment today. Google Fiber lists Louisville as one of 11 “potential” fiber cities, along with four cities where it already provides service and another seven where it plans to do so.

UPDATE: Google Fiber said in a blog post that it is “disappointed that AT&T has gone to court in an effort to block Louisville’s efforts to increase broadband and video competition. We are confident the City’s common-sense initiative will be upheld.” Louisville’s ordinance would allow “work [to] be done by a team of contractors the pole owner itself has approved, instead of having multiple crews from multiple companies working on the same pole over weeks or months,” the blog post noted.

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer vowed to “vigorously defend” against the lawsuit, saying that “gigabit fiber is too important to our city’s future.”