Ending unauthorized use of utility poles: consent in advance, and fees paid (1994)

Count them, pay for them, take them down

There is no dramatic turning point to be found in this decision. Neither the statement of intent in December 1994 nor the six-year plan of July 1995 was a declaration to the outside world; both were answers to a consultative body. What was actually carried out was repetitive work — counting poles, paying fees to each owner, obtaining permissions afresh, removing lines no longer in use — and its volume was directly proportional to the size of the network the company had strung across the country. It amounted to taking equipment laid down pre-emptively over thirty years and registering it, one pole at a time, on the lawful side of the ledger.

In cost terms, normalization brought in both a continuing burden of attachment fees and special losses on removal. Even so, the company did not let go of the poles. The businesses that followed — fibre broadband from 2001, and later communications, payments and electricity sold to shop customers — all presume the physical lines already in place and the register of premises connected to them. The agreement concluded with Kansai Electric Power is titled the “confirmation regarding rectification of unauthorized pole attachment,” and it still appears under that name in the securities report for the year to August 2005.