As Nashville learned in a lawsuit it lost, utility pole owners are touchy about lending out that real estate – especially to competitors.

There are many reasons providers want to take to the air. It’s cheaper, faster and requires much less permitting, says Ethan Elyasian, vice president of operations – LDA Fiber, a part of LDA Engineering.

“It’s also cleaner,” Elyasian says. “The infrastructure is in place, and you’re not digging up someone’s front yard. Most municipalities are looking for this option because they own the pole, so it’s easier to get other users to maneuver around and move your own infrastructure to accommodate something else being put on there.”

That said, Tennessee’s natural beauty means hills, hollers, hard and soft rock, and other attributes that scoff at a “one-size-fits-all” cable-rollout philosophy. Chattanooga’s EPB has pursued the path of least resistance when prudent, as has Knoxville’s KUB.

“Ground or air depends on where the electric service lines are,” says Jamie Davis, senior vice president of fiber and chief technology officer for KUB. “The plurality of our power transmission lines are in the air, so we like to follow those, but if there’s a subdivision with buried lines, we’ll try to use those conduits or go in next to them. The plan is to mirror what is there.”

-- Joe Morris