NEWSReport No. CS 98-2     CABLE SERVICES ACTION       February 6, 1998

                    COMMISSION ADOPTS REPORT AND ORDER
         ON POLE ATTACHMENT RATES FOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS PROVIDERS
                          (CS Docket No. 97-151)


     The Commission has adopted a Report and Order (FCC 98-20) implementing new
rules under Section 224 of the Communications Act with respect to the rates a utility pole
owner may charge telecommunications providers for attaching their wires to the utility's
poles, ducts, conduit or rights-of-way.  The new rules apply to telecommunications carriers
and cable operators who provide telecommunications services in states that do not regulate
pole attachments when the parties fail to resolve a dispute over pole attachments.  The
Telecommunications Act of 1996 ("1996 Act") amended Section 224 to create a right of
access to these facilities and required the Commission to ensure that rates charged are fair
and reasonable.  By issuing the new rules before February 8, 1998, the Commission has met
another statutory deadline under the 1996 Act.    

     The 1996 Act created a distinction between pole attachments used by cable systems
solely to provide cable service and those used by cable systems or telecommunications
carriers to provide any telecommunications service.  Section 703(e) of the 1996 Act
prescribed a new methodology for determining pole attachment rates for telecommunications
carriers.  Consistent with the statutory mandate, the rules adopted today implement the plain
language of Section 224, establishing the new methodology for telecommunications carriers,
with these rules becoming effective in the year 2001.  The rules adopted will foster
opportunity for entry into telecommunications markets, as well as expand choice for
consumers, while ensuring fair compensation for the utilities that own the infrastructure upon
which such competition depends.
  
     Key elements of the Report and Order include:

     the adoption of a new methodology allocating the cost of the pole attachment on the
     basis of both usable and unusable space.  First, two-thirds of the costs relating to the
     unusable space on the pole or in the conduit is apportioned equally among all
     attaching entities.  The Report and Order provides that, in allocating the cost of
     unusable space among telecommunications carriers, any telecommunications carrier,
     cable operator, local exchange carrier, and any pole owner or government entity that
     provides telecommunications services, be counted as a separate entity for the purpose
     of the allocation of cost.  Second, telecommunications carriers will also be
     apportioned the cost of usable space, according to the amount of usable space the
     entity's attachment requires. 


     the modification of the Commission's pole attachment formula to reflect both usable
     and unusable space, applying the existing formula presumptions regarding average
     usable space, pole height and safety space to attachments by telecommunications
     carriers.  

     the adoption of a methodology for determining rates for use of conduit by 
     telecommunications carriers including a presumption that each telecommunications
     provider occupies a half-duct of conduit space.

     a phase in of rate increases over a five year period beginning on February 8, 2001,
     with one-fifth of the total increase being added to the rate each year.

     Action by the Commission February 6, 1998, by Report and Order (FCC 98-20). 
Chairman Kennard, Commissioners Ness, Furchtgott-Roth, Powell and Tristani. 

                                   -FCC-

News Media Contact: Morgan Broman at (202) 418-2358
Cable Services Bureau Contacts: Lynn Crakes and Elizabeth Beaty at (202) 418-7200
TTY: (202) 418-7172.