AT&T Sues over Municipal Challenges to Project Lightspeed
AT&T sued 2 Chicago suburbs late last week, and planned to file a 3rd suit today (Mon.), in disputes over its Project Lightspeed network. The towns have refused AT&T’s buildout requests over its lack of video franchises -- the requirement that landed AT&T at the center of a raucous House debate earlier in the week. AT&T, maintaining it isn’t a cable firm, said in the suits the towns are violating its rights as a telecom carrier.
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In petitions against Roselle, Carpentersville and Wheaton, Ill., to the U.S. Dist. Court, Chicago, AT&T alleges the towns interfered with its established prerogative to build in public rights of way. AT&T said Carpentersville rejected its request for approval to build Project Lightspeed cabinets and electric wiring next to company equipment already in place. In its Roselle suit, AT&T is challenging an ordinance placing a 180-day moratorium on “ground mounted utility installations.” A company spokesman said the Wheaton suit to be filed today will challenge a similar ordinance there. AT&T said neither federal nor Ill. law requires it to obtain a cable franchise to install physical facilities for a multipurpose telecom network.
“Roselle is all for competition -- as long as it is on a level paying field,” Mayor Gayle A. Smolinski said in a written statement last week. “The Village Board and I believe that what AT&T wants is to compete with Comcast to provide [video] service, without the franchise benefits and controls, which makes this a very uneven playing field.” Members of Carpentersville’s board made similar statements in rebuffing AT&T’s request.
AT&T’s status as “cable operator” remains murky after last week’s wrangling in Congress. Commerce Committee Chmn. Barton (R-Tex.) called AT&T “silly” and “stupido” after it penned a letter to the committee claiming not to be (CD April 6 p1). Barton disagreed with several Democrats over whether an amendment was needed to clarify AT&T’s position, saying “we explicitly say they're a cable service.” AT&T has held since its days as SBC that because its video service uses Internet Protocol, it’s an upgrade of DSL.