Here in NA and I think other local Dept's you will find a mix of Tel Co and Municipal owned poles. I have no idea how that evolved.
I think it's because the telegraph system predated the electrical system, so the telco's monopolized ownership of the poles. Though I'm sure if I'm wrong about that, someone here will hopefully chime in.
I know when the local power company installed new taller poles so they could add more high voltage circuits above it literally took years for the Telephone company to come out and shift their cables over to the new poles.
Yeah, they don't seem to jump on that, do they? Down the street from me they replaced a pole that was snapped in a car accident. They left a fragment of the old pole (leaving only the telco lines on it) attached to the new one with their heavy bailing wire. They still haven't moved the telephone lines over to the new pole and removed the old pole fragment. That happened 2 years ago!!
