On July 20, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr announced that the Commission and officials responsible for preserving historic sites have reached an agreement to facilitate colocation of wireless facilities. The Second Amendment to the Nationwide Programmatic Agreement for the Collocation of Wireless Antennas – or Collocation NPA – eliminates reviews under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act for collocating or adding wireless equipment to existing towers. As Commissioner Carr's statement explains: Previously, a collocation project that involved any excavation outside of the current tower site would not qualify for the streamlined review process established by the Collocation NPA. That conflicted with the streamlined review process that applies when providers are taking down and replacing a wireless structure—a process that allows for deployment and excavation up to 30 feet outside of the existing site. Today's amendment resolves that inconsistency by bringing the Collocation NPA into conformance with the tower replacement review.
Also on July 20, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau released a Public Notice of the amended agreement, which will go into effect upon its publication in the Federal Register.
By this action the Commission and its partners clear away unnecessary and inconsistent regulatory obstacles to timely deployment of small cell technologies. Small cells are critical to 5G service and to American economic competitiveness. Credit goes to the Commission for a job well done.
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