Your utility pole attachment applications sit in a shared mailbox while the 45 day clock runs down.
Utility pole attachment management is the work of tracking third party requests to hang wire on poles a utility owns, from application through survey, make ready construction and final permit. Federal timelines govern each step. A utility must grant or deny access within 45 days of a complete application, surveys and make ready run on their own clocks, and the paperwork proving you met them lives in email, spreadsheets and a mapping system that do not talk to each other.
Neurobird Utility Pole Attachment in short
- Start a clock on every application the moment a complete package arrives and show what is due next.
- Hold survey notes, photos and field measurements against the pole they describe, not in a mailbox.
- Calculate make ready cost allocation from recorded usable space rather than a rebuilt spreadsheet.
- 300 poles The standard access timeline applies only up to the lesser of 300 poles or 0.5 percent of a utility's poles in a state, above which longer windows apply. 47 CFR 1.1411
- 3,000 poles A Large Order begins at the lesser of 3,000 poles or 5 percent of the utility's poles in a state. 47 CFR 1.1411
- Pricing runs 180 to 880 US dollars per month across 3 tiers. Early access is free.
What electric utilities and communications attachers actually deal with
Why it stays broken
Utility systems were built for outages and billing, not for renting vertical space on 2,000,000 wooden poles. The attachers who file the applications run entirely separate software. The joint use coordinator ends up as a manual bridge between an engineering map, a billing system and an inbox, which is why the federal clocks get missed even when everyone acts in good faith.
45 days is all a utility gets to grant or deny a complete application, and the survey clock runs in that same window.
A new attacher shall notify the affected utility and existing attachers within 15 days after completion of make-ready on a particular pole.
What the numbers say about utility pole attachment
The federal rules are specific about days, pole counts and space. Most of the argument in this trade is about whether anyone wrote those things down at the time.
The standard access timeline applies only up to the lesser of 300 poles or 0.5 percent of a utility's poles in a state, above which longer windows apply.
47 CFR 1.1411A Large Order begins at the lesser of 3,000 poles or 5 percent of the utility's poles in a state.
47 CFR 1.1411Existing attachers must prepare the pole within 60 days of notice for the communications space, and 90 days for attachments above it.
FCC Third Report and Order13.5 feet of usable space per pole may be presumed in a rate complaint instead of measuring, though the presumption can be rebutted.
FCC pole attachment complaint rulesA 24 foot unusable space presumption is available on the same terms when a rate is challenged.
FCC pole attachment complaint rulesNeurobird Utility Pole Attachment Compliance Platform
One record per pole and per application, with the federal clock showing on every row and the evidence attached where an auditor can find it.
- 1Start a clock on every application the moment a complete package arrives and show what is due next.
- 2Hold survey notes, photos and field measurements against the pole they describe, not in a mailbox.
- 3Calculate make ready cost allocation from recorded usable space rather than a rebuilt spreadsheet.
- 4Keep an export that answers a rate complaint with pole counts, space and dates already assembled.
What changes with Neurobird Utility Pole Attachment?
The same work, read left to right: how it runs today, and how it runs once the record is in one place.
| Today | With Neurobird Utility Pole Attachment |
|---|---|
| Applications arrive by email and nobody can say which of them are still inside the 45 day window today | Start a clock on every application the moment a complete package arrives and show what is due next. |
| Survey results live in one engineer's files, so every make ready estimate gets rebuilt from scratch | Hold survey notes, photos and field measurements against the pole they describe, not in a mailbox. |
| Rate disputes drag on for months because the pole count and the space allocation behind the invoice were never written down anywhere | Calculate make ready cost allocation from recorded usable space rather than a rebuilt spreadsheet. |
Who is this for?
Three places the clock and the paperwork usually part company.
The application backlog
A regional utility receives attachment requests from three carriers at once. Each package starts its own 45 day clock, and orders above 300 poles or 0.5 percent of the poles in a state move to a different timeline. One queue shows which is which and what is due first.
Proving the delay
A carrier building fibre needs to show where its application actually stalled. Dated survey and make ready records, held per pole, turn an argument about who was slow into a file that speaks for itself.
Defending the rate
An annual invoice is challenged. The pole count, the usable space used for the calculation and the lease arrangements behind it are already recorded, so the response is assembled rather than reconstructed.
See it work
A short walk through an attachment request from intake to permit.
| Requirement | Status | Next due | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Application received | current | in 42d | |
| Survey complete | due soon | in 9d | |
| Make ready scheduled | current | in 120d | |
| Survey complete | overdue | 3d late | |
| Application received | current | in 64d |
Tick a requirement to file evidence against it.
How does Neurobird Utility Pole Attachment work?
Intake
A new attacher files a request, the system checks the package is complete and starts the 45 day response clock with the due date visible to everyone touching the file.
Survey and make ready
Field results attach to individual poles, the estimate builds from recorded usable space, and the 60 day preparation window for the communications space is tracked separately.
Record and defend
Every decision, date and measurement stays on the pole record, so a rate or access dispute is answered from evidence instead of memory.
Utility pole attachment software questions, answered
Key terms
- What is utility pole attachment management?
- It is the process of handling third party requests to attach wire to poles a utility owns, and keeping the record that proves each federal step was met. That covers the application itself, the survey of the poles requested, the make ready construction needed to fit the new line, the permit, and the annual rate the attacher pays. The work is mostly evidence. When a dispute arrives, the question is always whether the dates, pole counts and space measurements were recorded when they happened.
- What counts as a large order?
- The rules set thresholds by pole count and by share of a utility's poles in a state. A Mid-Sized Order starts above the lesser of 300 poles or 0.5 percent. A Large Order starts above the lesser of 3,000 poles or 5 percent, running up to the lesser of 6,000 poles or 10 percent. Above that the utility and the attacher negotiate the timing in good faith rather than following a fixed clock.
How long does a utility have to answer an application?
Under 47 CFR 1.1411 a utility must respond to the new attacher by either granting access or denying it within 45 days of receiving a complete application. The word complete matters, because an incomplete package does not start the clock. Larger orders carry longer windows, and the survey of the poles has its own timeline running alongside. Tracking one date is not enough, which is why applications get answered late even when nobody intended to delay.
Do we have to measure usable space on every pole?
Not necessarily. In a rate complaint the FCC allows a presumption of 13.5 feet of usable space and 24 feet of unusable space per pole in place of actual measurement. Both presumptions can be rebutted, so a utility or attacher holding real measurements is in a stronger position than one relying on the default.
Is this software available now?
No. It is in development and open for early access. We are building it with joint use coordinators so the record matches how the work is actually done rather than how a rulebook describes it.
Why we are building this
We started on this after watching a coordinator answer a rate complaint with four spreadsheets and a folder of photographs, none of which agreed about how many poles were involved.
The federal rules are unusually specific. They name the days, the pole counts and the space. Software that ignores those numbers and offers a generic ticket queue is not much use to the person who has to prove compliance two years later.
So we are building the record first and the workflow around it. The Neurobird Team would rather get the evidence right for a small number of utilities than ship something broad and shallow.
Where the requirement comes from
Primary sources, straight from the regulators.
- 47 CFR 1.1411, timeline for access to utility poles Sets the 45 day response, the survey window and the order size thresholds.
- 47 U.S.C. 224, pole attachments The statute behind nondiscriminatory access and just and reasonable rates.
- FCC, pole attachment complaint rules Lists the pole counts, space and investment data a rate complaint must carry.
- FCC Third Report and Order, one touch make ready Adopts one touch make ready and the existing attacher preparation windows.
How much does Neurobird Utility Pole Attachment cost?
Early access pricing, fixed for the first 12 months for anyone who helps shape the build.
- One pole inventory
- Application clocks
- Survey and make ready records
- Multiple attachers
- Rate calculation records
- Dispute export
Get free early access
We are looking for joint use coordinators who will tell us where the record actually breaks.
Straight answer on where this is: The software is unfinished. Pole records, application clocks and survey attachments work today. Rate calculation is partial and there is no billing integration yet.
Prefer email? Write to office@neurobird.com and a person will reply. No autoresponder.