Case Study
One-Touch Make-Ready
In 2018 the FCC passed the Declaratory Ruling and Report, designed to promote utility pole access and broadband deployment advancements.
A major takeaway from the FCC ruling is One-Touch Make-Ready (OTMR). OTMR is "simple" make-ready in the communications space. This form of make-ready permits contractors to rearrange existing communication space attachments in preparation for new placements. Before this decision, new attachers were required to wait until each affected attachment was adjusted before placement.
Until this 2018 ruling, attaching companies had to wait upwards of months for each owner on the pole to individually move their attachments.
OTMR
OTMR is "simple" communications space work.
“Simple communications space make-ready involves rearranging communication space cables where there is no reasonable expectation of a service outage or facility damage, no cable splicing and no antennas.”
If power space make-ready work or work above the communications space is required, OTMR does not apply.
FCC’s OTMR ruling establishes qualifications for contractors, ensuring safe, reliable OTMR work. The FCC encourages utilities to create lists of approved contractors, allowing companies to take responsibility for making decisions.
The requesting attaching company must use an approved contractor to complete the OTMR construction work in the communications space.
Celerity Integrated Services, Inc. is an approved PPL Electric Utilities contractor, permitted to complete OTMR construction work in the communications space.
What is the Communications Space?
The National Electrical Safety Code (NESC) is the American National Standard for the safety of power and communication utility systems. The main fundamental safety recommendation by the NESC is the separation of the power space and communications space on utility poles.
The communications space is a section of a utility pole’s usable space, allowing low-voltage attachments such as fiber, broadband, telephone, copper and coaxial cables. The communications space is the lowest space on the pole, located forty inches below the lowest attachment of the supply space.
The supply space is located at the topmost portion of the pole, where high-voltage equipment is found. Only authorized electrical workers are permitted to work within this space.
One Touch Make Ready is permitted only for attachments in the communications space.
Fundamental Changes
One Touch Make Ready has fundamentally changed installation methods.
SIMPLIFIED COORDINATION
OTMR can protect public safety and minimize disruption to public rights-of-way, with reduced coordination with multiple contracts. OTMR minimizes the number of times crews must mobilize and enter a site, preventing potential traffic detours, as well as limiting the need for repetitive oversight. Through OTMR, costs will be reduced for all involved attachers and requesting entities.
Before OTMR practices, each involved company was required to perform their make ready adjustments individually. Those companies could self-perform the work or arrange for a subcontractor to complete the work. Because the last attacher is required to take the top attachment height in the communications space, the lowest cable needs to be moved first in order to accommodate the lowering of higher placed attachments. As each company performed these tasks individually, the schedule of the work was dictated by the schedule of the lowest attacher. The process would then repeat for each attacher that became the next lowest attacher. With OTMR, one contractor lowers all attachments during a single visit to the utility pole, thereby reducing the time required to complete the work and the number of times that traffic flow could be impeded. This singular work activity reduces the overall cost to complete and distributes those savings to each of the attachers. Furthermore, the applicant maintains more control of the make-ready process when using OTMR as there is a single point of contact for the completion of the work.
QUICKER TURNAROUND TIME
Deployment of new attachments is skyrocketing and OTMR allows for quicker turnaround time and speed to market. OTMR helps facilitate faster deployment of cable by reducing the time involved when attaching new facilities and equipment. OTMR policies require the joint-use community of utilities and communications providers to coordinate. These practices will promote reduced labor cost, fewer man hours to complete make ready, one mobilization as opposed to multiple mobilizations, as well as reduced time to begin serving customers.
Safety & Reputability
Celerity Integrated Services, Inc. is an approved PPL Electric Utilities contractor, permitted to complete OTMR construction work in the communications space.
Safety is the culture of Celerity, from the training we provide to the PPE and equipment we use at each job site, to the communication among our crews that ensures we are keeping each other safe.
The assigned tasks dictate what our PPE and safety procedures will be. We do toolbox talks upon arrival at each site– citing and addressing issues we see before we start. If a safety question arises during a project, we’ll stop and come together to discuss and correct it. We track and record detailed accounts by completing daily tailboard reports and job safety analysis checklists. Our Safety Coordinator travels to job sites to be certain each process is following OSHA standards as well as our commitment to safety.
Each of our safety efforts is designed to protect our employees and ensure they go home to their families each day.
