Comment by eek2121

> Other benefits to being a "public telecommunication utility" include the competitive right to place your own facilities on telephone/power poles or underground in public right-of-way under the Telecommunications Act of 1996. You will need to enter into and pay for a pole attachment agreement. Of course local governments can reserve the right to tariff your facilities, which has its own ugliness.

Note that in many parts of the country, the telcos/cablecos themselves own the poles. Google had a ton of trouble with AT&T in my state thanks to this. They lost to AT&T in court and gave up.