FCC Proposes Cutting Small Cell Deployment Costs, Time

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The average cost to deploy a small cell is about $35,000, according to the FCC. Much of that goes to paying for legacy environmental or historic review procedures developed for macro towers. “Regulatory incrementalism,” or nibbling at the edges of the problem is not going to fix it, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said on Wednesday.

That’s why at its March 22 meeting, the agency will vote to modernize the historic and environmental review procedures that apply to wireless infrastructure developments, he announced at the Consumer Technology Association’s 5G Day. The text should be available today.

The Commission believes its proposed changes could reduce the regulatory costs to deploy small cells by 80 percent, and reduce deployment timelines by half. The proposal changes how small cell deployments are classified — no longer considered major federal actions, so they would no longer need to go through environmental or historic review. Instead, they would be treated the same as WiFi routers, consumer signal boosters, and similar unlicensed equipment. 

“For traditional, large cell deployments, the order would streamline the historic preservation requirements that will continue to apply to them,” said Carr. “This will cut unnecessary red tape while ensuring that larger deployments—including those 100-foot macrocell towers—continue to undergo review.” The Section 106 Tribal Review process would be streamlined, by eliminating upfront fees, clarifying the approach to Tribal consultations, and adopting a clear time period for providers to deploy, in cases where Tribes do not respond.

The agency would also adopt a shot clock for the agency to process environmental reviews for large cell deployments.

March 1, 2018        

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