FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr says the U.S. needs to accelerate the pace of small cell deployment, free up more spectrum for wireless companies and continue to streamline siting regulation, if the country hopes to lead in 5G. China has about 460 cell sites “a day” becoming operational in the lead-up to 5G, he told attendees at an event held by the American Enterprise Institute yesterday. AEI is a Washington-D.C.-based conservative think tank.
“We need to put out somewhere in the order of 60,000 cell sites a year,” he said. “I think the U.S. can win this race.” The Chinese government is paying for much of the siting infrastructure deployment he said, whereas in the U.S., the private sector “is going to come up with the money, not the government.”
Carr was in Arizona last week. He said the costs for deploying one small cell in that state was $4,000 before Arizona enacted a law to ease deployment. Now, the cost is $50, he said. That means deployment money there will go farther, including rural areas. Carr is “confident these types of regulatory changes will make a big difference outside large metro centers.”
Carr made the appearance as the FCC intends to vote next week on an order to streamline wireless infrastructure deployment at the local level. Comments? Email us.
September 18, 2018
