Are all telephone poles in Maine are privately owned? | Fact brief

The Maine Public Utilities Commission identifies Central Maine Power, Versant Power and Consolidated Communications (now Fidium) as the state’s three largest owners of joint-use poles. The commission says a pole management database involving the large owners covers the vast majority of Maine utility poles.

But a 2020 legislative report includes testimony from the nonprofit Maine Municipal Association that many municipalities also own utility poles. Poles may stand in public rights-of-way without being government property.

Maine law makes it a civil violation to place any object or attachment on any utility pole without the owner’s prior consent, whether the pole is in a public way or elsewhere. The penalty is $25 to $100.

Maine’s traveler information law bars temporary signs in public rights-of-way from being posted on utility poles.