As Google Fiber has begun to expand its presence around the country, it has started to see some issues in certain cities where AT&T and/or Comcast run the ISP game. In Louisville, Kentucky, AT&T has already sued the city for passing an ordinance that would make it easier for other ISP’s like Google Fiber, to come in and put their equipment on the utility poles. Before this ordinance was passed, the current user of the said utility pole would have to make the changes needed for the new competitor. Which has been slowing down Google Fiber’s rollout in some cities, like Nashville, Tennessee, who on Tuesday passed a similar ordinance.
Nashville’s Metro Council gave their final approval for this new ordinance on Tuesday evening. Now it’s off to Mayor Megan Barry to approve and sign the ordinance into law. Mayor Barry has already said that she will be approving the law, however this also means that she is beginning a lawsuit with AT&T. As that is the ISP’s next step in stopping Google Fiber from coming to Nashville. Mayor Barry tried to steer clear of a lawsuit by urging the providers to work together for a solution that would benefit all of them. She stated in a report out of The Tennessean, that her “hope now is that any potential legal disputes over this new law can be resolved quickly, and we can move forward with expanding fiber access throughout the city.”
Alphabet, who owns Google Fiber, has offered to lend their lawyers to the city to fight AT&T in this lawsuit. There’s no word yet on whether the City of Nashville will take Alphabet up on that offer. AT&T said that this ordinance is not a good way to expedite fiber deployment and its infrastructure. Previously, the company had noted that Google Fiber’s crews don’t always follow safety rules and regulations, which could be a big issue for AT&T and the other fiber companies located in Nashville.
As for now, it appears that those in Nashville will have to wait a bit longer to get some Google Fiber in their neighborhoods. Hopefully this lawsuit won’t delay things too much further for the city.