Court Dismisses ExteNet 5G Suit Against Mass. City
A federal court dismissed an ExteNet small-cells lawsuit against Cambridge, Massachusetts. The wireless infrastructure provider said the city’s Pole and Conduit Commission improperly denied its applications by not giving timely notice that applications were incomplete. ExteNet claimed the denials effectively…
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prohibited wireless service provision and unreasonably discriminated against the company in violation of FCC orders and the Telecom Act including sections 253 and 332. The U.S. District Court of Massachusetts disagreed in a Wednesday decision. “ExteNet has cited no authority suggesting that denying an application based on incompleteness is a shot clock violation,” wrote Judge Allison Burroughs. ExteNet failed to state a claim for relief for a prohibition of service under either the FCC’s 2018 declaratory order or the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' “Significant Coverage Gap” standard, the judge said. ExteNet failed to show the city’s small-cells policy “materially inhibits or limits the ability of any competitor to compete in a fair regulatory environment, she said. “ExteNet has not shown that there is a competing provider who is its functional equivalent or that Defendants have unreasonably discriminated.” ExteNet declined comment Thursday. Localities might challenge a 9th Circuit ruling last week that mostly upheld the FCC’s 2018 wireless infrastructure orders (see 2008250023).