City of Huntington Beach v. Public Utilities Commission

Public Utilities Code section 7901 1 grants “telephone corporations” the privilege to construct infrastructure upon public rights-of-way, subject to a municipality’s “right to exercise reasonable control as to the time, place, and manner in which roads, highways, and waterways are accessed” (§ 7901.1, subd. (a)). In the proceeding under review, the Public Utilities Commission (commission or PUC) classified NextG 2 as a telephone corporation and approved NextG’s proposed construction project in the City of Huntington Beach (the City).

The City is opposed to aspects of NextG’s project. As its first line of defense to the NextG project, the City asserts that NextG is a wireless provider and therefore not a telephone corporation. The City contends that the definition of “telephone corporation” for purposes of section 7901 does not include wireless providers, as opposed to traditional landline providers. But in *570 our view, the commission correctly interpreted and applied the Public Utilities Code in designating NextG as a telephone corporation entitled to the privileges of section 7901.

As its second line of defense to the NextG project, the City relies on municipal…