5G is Making Its Way to the Hills of the Ozarks

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The city of Branson, MO is a cornpone Las Vegas-meets-Nashville (without the gambling or the whiskey-soaked culture) and home to the Dolly Parton Stampede, Russian funnyman Yakov Smirnoff and, if you were wondering whatever happened to Herman’s Hermits…they’re down there too. This musical mecca in the Ozark Hills is trying to stay ahead of the 5G curve, with city leaders wanting a say on how it happens and the small cells needed to support it, reported KSPR-TV.

“It’s coming…we’re dealing with Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T,” City Attorney Chris Lebeck said. 

The carriers can apply for a permit of up to 20 small cells at one time, according to Lebeck. “This isn’t a situation where we are talking about a single cell phone tower on a hill somewhere. These are a number of these little boxes throughout the City of Branson,” Lebeck added. 

City leaders are drafting an ordinance to control the design, permits, and overall appearance of small cell infrastructure on public right-of-ways. “If this goes unregulated in City of Branson here, then our citizens and our visitors are going to have to get accustomed to seeing light poles with, what I amount to a little dorm fridge, tacked to the side,” Lebeck said.

The city welcomes the new high-speed service, reported KSPR, but wants to be prepared for it. The Board of Aldermen will still have to approve the ordinance and it will have to comply with a law passed in Missouri last year that limits what cities can and cannot control when it comes to 5G infrastructure.  Comments? Email Us.

January 28, 2019

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