September 6, 2001 The Building Owners and Managers Association International (www.boma.org) issued a statement applauding a Massachusetts court decision restricting telecommunications carriers' access to buildings. BOMA brought a lawsuit against the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Energy (DTE) in response to a DTE ruling stating that building owners would be required to provide telecommunications carriers access to their buildings.
The judgment stated that "a landowner's grant of space to one licensee does not equal a grant of space to all other licensees wanting access to his tenants. Therefore DTE is not empowered to create easements and access, but only to regulate attachments voluntarily created by landowner and licensee."
"BOMA applauds the Massachusetts Superior Court, which found that the ruling—passed last year—constitutes the taking of private property without just compensation," BOMA said in a statement.
According to BOMA, under the DTE ruling "building owners would have been forced to assume responsibility, maintenance, liability, and cost for telecom wiring regardless of an owner's objections, space limitations, and safety and security concerns."
"This judgment is another step towards preserving building owners' private property rights and management options to guarantee flexible and dependable telecommunications services to their tenants," said Sherwood Johnston III, BOMA's president.
