Kansas committee hears Cox, municipal utilities on ‘right‑of‑way parity’ for broadband fees

Megan Battenberg, director of government affairs for Cox Communications, told a legislative committee in Topeka that Kansas’ telecommunications franchise laws date from the pre‑broadband era and currently treat providers inconsistently, leaving some broadband operators to pay little or nothing for public right‑of‑way use.

Batttenberg said Cox serves nearly 120 communities across Kansas and has expanded into roughly 25 additional counties through private investment. She brought fiber samples to the committee to demonstrate the technology and the infrastructure placed in public rights of way. “We lay fiber, of course, and provide them with … multi‑gig speeds,” she said, and added that franchise rules written decades ago no longer reflect how video, voice and broadband services are delivered.

The core statutory issue, Battenberg said, is how gross receipts are defined for franchise fees. Cable video services, she said, pay a 5% franchise fee on video revenue — including subscriptions and on‑demand purchases — while broadband or VoIP services are often excluded…