CTIA-Supported Report Makes Case for Environmental and Permitting Reforms
Proposed reforms to the FCC’s application of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) will speed wireless deployments and significantly reduce costs, according to a study by NERA Economic Consulting, which was conducted for CTIA and released Thursday.
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The price of preparing an environmental assessment is $15,500 per installation, with the costs rising, NERA estimated. Absent reform, compliance costs will be more than $2.2 billion over the next decade, the report said.
NERA also argued that current permitting rules slow wireless deployment and “harm U.S. competitiveness by increasing the cost of deployment of 5G and next generation technologies.” Chinese state-owned businesses, “for instance, are able to deploy wireless at a much greater rate than private companies navigating red tape” in the U.S. The report estimated that Chinese companies can build traditional cell towers 18 times faster than their U.S. counterparts.