Next Big Wireless Infrastructure Item Seen Likely to Get September Vote
The FCC is widely expected to try to take on one of the remaining big wireless infrastructure orders at its Sept. 26 meeting. State and local government representatives are bracing for a fight. The order is expected to be based in part on the work of the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee. The wireless industry is focused on above-cost fees and a push for cost-based rate, a revised shot clock for deciding siting issues, and eliminating duplicative reviews. It's difficult to say which will be tackled first, industry officials said. The FCC didn’t comment.
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As is typical on items close to commission action, carriers and tower companies have been at the agency in recent weeks to discuss the importance of acting on wireless infrastructure, with an emphasis on small cells and 5G (see 1808130041 and 1808100036). The FCC tackled tribal issues in March (see 1803220027) and a crackdown on moratoriums last month (see 1808020034) over dissents by Democrats.
Spiegel McDiarmid’s Tim Lay said many are speculating the September agenda will include items on either right-of-way fees or shot clocks and deemed-granted. The local government attorney expects the commission to take up such infrastructure issues piece by piece this fall.
As was apparent at the last BDAC meeting, there's disagreement on many issues even among industry representatives (see 1807270020), NATOA General Counsel Nancy Werner told us. Werner hopes the FCC will wait to make big decisions on infrastructure: “I would think the commission would like to see if and how the BDAC resolves those issues before moving forward, but there doesn’t seem to be time to do that given that the date for the next BDAC meeting has not even been announced.”
Even where the panel reached agreement, on the model code for municipalities, its “recommendation does not support federal mandates or preemptions,” Werner said: “The BDAC recognized local governments have ‘enormous diversity based on geography, size, resources, aesthetics, existing infrastructure, regulatory and legal framework, history, culture, and community priorities’ and thus what was needed was a ‘non-binding, flexible guideline,’ not federally imposed policies" on communities.
“The FCC has a history of moving forward with limited pre-emption orders on a bipartisan basis when it comes to promoting broadband deployment,” said Robert McDowell of Cooley. Under Chairman Kevin Martin, “we had a bipartisan vote implementing limited pre-emption of local franchising authorities when it came to video competition,” McDowell said. Under Julius Genachowski, “we had a bipartisan vote putting forth modest pre-emption of local obstacles in the way of building more wireless infrastructure that frustrated 4G buildout,” he said. “Both of those orders prevailed after vigorous appeals.” Under Ajit Pai, the FCC “is poised to continue that bipartisan tradition of promoting sensible and limited pre-emption of states and municipalities when it comes to small-cell 5G deployment,” he said.
“Hurdles at the state and local level hold back wireless deployment,” said Margaret McCarthy, executive director of Mobile Future. “Rules written for macro towers need to be rightsized for the network architecture of the future. The FCC has collected a robust record of the costs and delays created by current processes.”
“Policymakers at every level of government need to streamline outdated infrastructure rules to deliver new 5G networks for consumers as demand for mobile connectivity continues to soar,” said Scott Bergmann, CTIA senior vice president-regulatory affairs: “Communities that accelerate 5G wireless deployments will be well positioned to benefit.”
“Nobody is right,” in the battle, said Fletcher Heald’s Peter Tannenwald. The FCC stresses the importance of 5G, he said: “The communities say these guys are putting this crap up all over the place and they don’t do a nice neat job of it. You can walk around and look at these wires,” he said. “How far is the federal government going to try to butt in when the party that controls the Congress and the administration doesn’t like to step on states?”