CTIA Defends Small-Cells Lawsuit Against Tampa
Tampa seeks “to run out the clock” on a CTIA lawsuit challenging the lawfulness of a city ordinance prohibiting wireless small-cells facility applications for 120 days, the group said Monday at U.S. District Court in Tampa. It urged the court…
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to reject the city’s Sept. 18 motion (in Pacer) to dismiss the suit. The city disputed the complaint because it said the Telecom Act doesn’t apply to local governments acting in a proprietary capacity regarding their property. "Applications to rent City-owned poles for the placement of facilities may not be subject to the federal law at issue here,” CTIA responded (in Pacer). “But the same is not true of applications to place small wireless facilities on non-City property, like existing or new utility poles.” CTIA’s complaint “references multiple permit applications that the City’s own public records show were applications to place new utility poles, not to collocate on City-owned poles,” the association said. In June amid local opposition, Florida became the 10th state to enact small-cells legislation pre-empting local authority to manage rights of way (see 1706260042).