State research record

Texas pole attachment rules, in writing and dated.

Who regulates the pole you are attaching to in Texas, what rate standard applies, where a dispute actually goes and whether cooperative and municipal poles are covered. This is the record we work from, published so you can read it yourself.

Record dated July 28, 2026 · not certified under Section 224(c) · 5 authorities cited
The record

Texas

TexasTX

Not certified under Section 224(c)Record dated July 28, 2026
Cooperative poles
Yes, under Utilities Code Chapter 253, effective 2021-09-01, but with no state agency enforcement
Municipal poles
Yes. Utilities Code 54.204(b) bars a municipality or municipally owned utility from discriminating for or against a certificated telecommunications provider on attachment rates or terms, and 54.204(c) bars it from charging any entity, whatever services that entity provides, more than the fee permitted under FCC rules adopted under 47 U.S.C. 224(e), and requires a single uniform rate to unaffiliated entities. Chapter 253 itself does not reach municipal poles. Local Government Code 284.201 remains a separate small cell network node access rule
Rate standard
For cooperative poles, a state just, reasonable and nondiscriminatory five factor standard with cost based nonrecurring charges, no FCC formula and no cap. For municipal poles, a statutory ceiling set by Utilities Code 54.204(c) at the fee permitted under FCC rules adopted under 47 U.S.C. 224(e), with the contract setting the actual rate below it. Investor owned poles are federal
Where a dispute goes
Texas district court for cooperative disputes, not the PUC, after a 90 day negotiation and a mediation. For municipal poles the Public Utility Commission has enforcement jurisdiction under Utilities Code 54.204(d), and a violation is also enforceable as breach of contract in district court where the agreement carries a compliance with laws clause. Investor owned disputes go to the FCC
Confidence
High confidence on non-certification, cooperative coverage, the rate standard, cost causation, forum and timelines, and on the municipal regime at Utilities Code 54.204(b), (c) and (d) and the Supreme Court of Texas holding that applies it; Provisional only on how the commission and the district courts will apply the municipal ceiling on remand

AuthoritiesTex. Util. Code ch. 253Tex. Util. Code 253.0004(a)Tex. Util. Code 54.204Tex. Local Gov't Code 284.201Spectrum Gulf Coast, LLC v. City of San Antonio, No. 24-0794 (Tex. Apr. 10, 2026)

Read the chip above as one fact and no more: whether Texas has certified under Section 224(c) that it regulates pole attachments itself. It does not settle your pole. Cooperative and municipal poles sit outside federal jurisdiction whether or not a state has certified, so the two owner class lines are the ones that answer the question for the invoice in front of you.

This record is worked from the statute and the order that made it rather than from a summary of one. The confidence line is tied to its source: where a conclusion rests on weaker ground the record says so, because a hedge you can see is what makes the confident answers worth believing. The method is set out in how PoleProof researches and verifies, and how a cleared rule enters an audit is on the methodology page.

Back to the state research ledger · 45 jurisdictions on file

Scope

How to use this, and how to check it

Every conclusion above names the authority it rests on, so you can go read that authority and decide whether you agree. That is the point of publishing the record rather than asserting the result.

This is general information about the rules and it is not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for your own counsel on a specific dispute. PoleProof is not a law firm. PoleProof performs financial and cost review of what you have been billed rather than engineering evaluation of what the pole owner determined was necessary. Rules change, and this record carries the date it was worked so you can see how current it is.

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