Fight Brewing on Wireless Infrastructure NPRM
Industry views the wireless infrastructure NPRM OK'd by FCC commissioners 3-2 Tuesday (see 2006090060) as potentially having bigger implications than the accompanying declaratory ruling. The NPRM seeks comment on a Wireless Infrastructure Association request for amended rules saying a modification doesn’t cause a “substantial change” if it entails excavation or deployments at up to 30 feet outside macro tower compound boundaries. State and local government groups are lining up against the NPRM.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
The rulemaking notice was altered at the urging of Commissioner Mike O’Rielly to propose the change rather than just seek comment (see 2006110066). The NPRM acknowledges concerns of local and state governments and seeks comment on an expedited basis. Initial comments are due 20 days after Federal Register publication, replies 10 days later.
“Every infrastructure reform that we engage in is a priority,” Commissioner Brendan Carr told us Friday. “We continue to engage productively on a range of infrastructure reforms,” he said: “We’ve got to get several dozen things right to secure and extend U.S. leadership. We’re going to keep pushing ahead.”
The NPRM is the next “big, big issue” for WIA before the FCC, President Jonathan Adelstein said in an interview. “They talk about adding 30 feet at every tower site in the country by right without the need to zone it to collocate backup generators, mobile-edge computing sites, FirstNet deployments.” The NPRM would mean more than 100,000 sites across the U.S. could get an expanded footprint, he said. “WIA is going to be intensely focused on trying to get this NPRM across the finish line this year and it’s very doable given the comment cycle,” he said.
Tower companies are under pressure to add backup power to sites, but there’s no physical room to install generators, Adelstein said. “We’re trying to get generators sited,” he said: “People are relying on wireless connectivity.”
NATOA is very concerned, General Counsel Nancy Werner told us. “The law was intended to allow only insignificant modifications to existing wireless sites,” she said. “There is no reasonable interpretation of the term ‘existing,’ the word Congress chose, that includes locations that are not part of the site and never received any review or approval to ensure they are safe and appropriate for wireless deployments.” The expansion could be interpreted as applying to driveways leading to a tower “hundreds of feet from a road,” Werner said: “The proposal could require approval of deployments along the road or even across the road from the tower, regardless of whether that’s someone’s front yard or otherwise not a reasonable location.”
“One gets the impression the commission isn’t all that interested in what people have to say when the time period [comments] is that short,” said Best Best’s Gerard Lederer, who represents cities. The FCC previously took steps opposed by localities “following a procedure where we heard and there were some changes that we made,” he said. “This feels like it’s being shoved down local governments’ throats without an opportunity to have our voices heard. … You don’t mind losing if you’ve had a chance to put up a good fight.”
“As counties are keenly focused on combating the COVID-19 pandemic, we are disappointed to see the FCC advance an unnecessary and untimely burden on our nation’s local governments in the absence of any basis for action,” said Arthur Scott, National Association of Counties associate legislative director.
Industry plans to support the proposed change.
While the NPRM “is very important, I wouldn’t undersell the importance of the clarifications in the declaratory ruling,” said Davis Wright’s Scott Thompson. “They address issues where cities were attempting to evade what I think was already the clear language of the commission’s rules.” Thompson represents WIA. The NPRM is important for industry “to respond to future technology needs,” he said.
The National Association of Tower Erectors “stands alongside WIA” in supporting in the changes proposed in the NPRM and plans to file comments, said President Todd Schlekeway.
“The FCC’s actions will be helpful to streamline upgrades to existing network infrastructure,” said Steve Berry, president of the Competitive Carriers Association. “It is an important step that builds on the FCC’s prior efforts to streamline infrastructure deployment and will help speed the transition to 5G,” he said: “You cannot lead from behind. Without streamlined processes, the wireless industry will never get ahead of consumer demand.”