FCC's Proposed Order on Streamlining Cell Site Modifications Will Accelerate 5G

At its October 27 public meeting, the FCC will vote on a proposed order that will accelerate access to 5G networks. If adopted, the proposed order would enable streamlined review of modifications to wireless cell sites that involve limited ground excavation or deployment. The Commission should vote to approve it.

To make 5G network upgrades, mobile wireless service providers often need to add antennas to existing cell sites or make other small modifications to existing infrastructure. However, some local governments have used their powers over infrastructure permitting and zoning to obstruct even minor changes to cell sites. Local regulatory barriers to new wireless infrastructure deployment and to cell site upgrades are nothing new. The FCC's Wireless Competition Report from 2010, for instance, recognized that one of the "significant constraints faced by wireless service providers that need to add or modify cell cites" is "obtaining the necessary regulatory and zoning approvals from state and local authorities." This is still true in 2020. 

Congress passed the Spectrum Act of 2012 to provide for streamlined regulatory approvals of small modifications of existing wireless infrastructure. According to Section 6409(a) of the Spectrum Act: "[A] State or local government may not deny, and shall approve, any eligible facilities request for a modification of an existing wireless tower or base station that does not substantially change the physical dimensions of such tower or base station." The Commission has provided clarifying interpretations of Section 6409(a) that identify the types of infrastructure modifications that qualify for streamlined approval. In June, the Commission adopted its 5G Upgrade Order, which, among other things, clarifies the agency's rules for when the 60-day shot clock for local review begins and also clarifies how height increases, equipment cabinet additions, and some other aspects of proposed modifications affect eligibility for streamlined review. 

 

The Commission's proposed order, if approved by the agency at its October 27 public meeting, would revise the Commission's rules regarding streamlined approval eligibility when the infrastructure modifications to a tower or base station involve proposed ground excavation or deployment of up to 30 feet in any direction outside the boundary of a site. As the proposed order points out, the 30 feet standard is consistent with the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers' recognition of 30 feet as an appropriate standard for federal historic preservation reviews of collocations. The Commission's rule change would apply only to cell sites located outside of public rights-of-way. 

 

As the proposed order observes: "[M]ore towers now house several operators' antennas and other transmission equipment" than they did when the Commission's implementing rules for Section 6409(a) were first adopted. According to the proposed order: "As a result, there is less space at tower sites for additional collocations without minor modifications to sites to accommodate the expansion of equipment serving existing operators at the sites and the addition of new equipment serving new operators at the sites." The proposed rule change will help facilitate the modifications needed to enable more collocations. Apparently, a large percentage of site expansions involve additions of backup generators to provide network resiliency in cases of emergency. Thus, adoption of the order would promote public safety.  

 

The FCC's proposed order on streamlined treatment for colocations involving excavations around existing cell sites deserves a "yes" vote. Agency actions of this kind undoubtedly are narrow in focus and technical in nature. But the proposed order and other ones like it are a big help in clearing roadblocks to infrastructure upgrades for 5G and other advanced services.