A telco can not "drop a pole" anywhere for free. There is a fee paid to either co-locate on existing or to place a new pole. All cities and counties have right of way fees that all carriers pay to use the right of way.
Obviously it isn’t free, but it’s helluva a lot cheaper than renting pole space for the 5G equipment.
In my city, 90% of the 5G poles are new, some feet away from existing poles. Federal rules give the locality no power to deny placement, only to make limited cosmetic changes, and only in a period of 30 days or less.
Unlike cable companies, the “national emergency” and need to “catch up” to the Chinese allows the telcos to drop poles anywhere and avoid pole rent, etc.
It’s probably one of the grossest examples of corruption at the federal level, which is a high bar.