Requirements for ROW access vary considerably by state and locality. It's probably not up to the residents, it would be something decided by city county or mayor/manager possibly with input from their engineer, or attorney.
With a city funded provider in the ROW, it seems like they would be on very shaky legal ground if they tried to deny access to a company with proper rights/credentials to be there (ILEC,CLEC, Franchised Cable etc). Seems to be an obvious conflict of interest . As for your question regarding alternatives, well, wireless would be one obvious alternative you are certainly familiar with. Negotiating private easements with landowners is another alternative. Depending on the area, there may already be land set aside for utility easement that may not really be under city jurisdiction (easement in a subdivision controlled by a homewoners association, for example). If the concern is regarding physical space in the ground, perhaps going aerial using pole attachments could be an option. In my area you'd still need "ROW Access" for this however. On Fri, Aug 14, 2015 at 2:31 PM, Brett A Mansfield < li...@silverlakeinternet.com> wrote: > Me and another company have both requested access to the city ROW to run > FTTx on the same day in the same city, and the response from the city was > that they are trying to decide if they want to allow access to one or both > of us or if they feel their current formally city funded company is enough. > > My question to the group is, is it even up to them or is it up to the > residents? And if I cannot get into the ROW, what alternatives do I have? > > Thank you, > Brett A Mansfield > Silver Lake Internet, LLC >
