Under federal law, utility pole owners are required to sell access to poles on a non-discriminatory basis. There is no doubt that Google is allowed to run their fiber on the poles. The lawsuit is over provisions of the federal law that provide for a notice/"make ready" procedure for new attachments. Under that procedure, Google would file a request to use the pole, and the pole owner would have 145 days to notify everyone else using the pole and move equipment as necessary in order to get it ready for Google's attachment. Here, the municipality passed on ordinance allowing Google (and those similarly situated), to bypass that procedure and move other companies' equipment already on the poles in the process of putting up its own.
