Ahead of Thursday’s FCC vote on ways to streamline wireless infrastructure siting for small cells, lobbying both for and against the proposal has increased. The Competitive Carriers Association (CCA) and member companies including Nex-Tech Wireless, HTC Inc. and GCI Communications Corp., tell the agency in filed comments examined by Inside Towers, that streamlining the process for historic and environmental review will expedite the siting process, ease concerns and provide “much needed clarity” surrounding siting applications. In lobbying visits at the FCC, CCA President/CEO Steve Berry said carriers, “face a plethora of unnecessary regulatory burdens when trying to build out their networks. There is no reason why small cells, many of which are well hidden from the public eye, should have to undergo the same arduous approval processes as large towers, and it is time for FCC action.”
He cites examples of rising Tribal, historic and environmental paperwork and fees carriers face for small cell deployment. From January 2017 until now, the average CCA member deploying in the western United States reports that Tribal interest requests have escalated to an additional three-to-four per site, as compared to just a year ago, according to Berry. “In a three-to-six-month timeframe, a Wyoming carrier spends nearly $20,000 solely in [National Historic Preservation Act/National Environmental Policy Act] fees for each wireless tower deployment. In 2017, this same carrier faced a staggering $19,550 in Tribal review costs for a new tower in Wyoming, which included Tribal fees from 38 Tribes ranging from $200 to $1,500 per Tribe.” That compares to 2016, when the same carrier built a similar tower in the same Wyoming town costing $13,075 in Tribal fees; “The jump in Tribal fees from $13,075 to $19,550 over one year in the same general deployment area has never been explained,” states Berry.
He continues: “Responding to a Tribe’s request, one CCA member in Montana received a Stop Work Order (SWO) from the FCC in November 2016, which prohibited the company from constructing towers where Tribal authorities had demanded payment to monitor tower construction in the event there was an ‘unanticipated discovery’ of artifacts. As of March 2018, the SWO remains in effect and has stalled deployment of broadband networks in this area of Montana for over 15 months. What’s more, the carrier was asked to pay $500/day per person, and this fee continues to escalate, resulting in about $250,000 in lost revenue since November 2016, solely for expenses related to site monitors.”
Several Tribes, meanwhile, oppose the FCC’s proposal. “It is not within the authority of the federal agency to dictate to Tribes how much to charge for their services or to dictate that they cannot charge fees, as they have no oversight over a sovereign nation,” says the Thlopthlocco Tribal Town. “In an industry that profits billions annually as a direct result of erecting more towers,” the Tribe says, it has “no sympathy to industry cries of historic preservation costing too much. The cost to out Tribal history in the form of damage and destruction to our irreplaceable historic properties…far outweighs any slight monetary decrease on industry’s bottom line,” writes the Thlopthlocco Tribal Town.
The Jena Band of Choctaw Indians and the Thlopthlocco Tribal Town, told the agency it has a legal obligation to consult with Tribes and has not done so. “The rules and actions proposed by the FCC have the potential to affect properties of religious and cultural significance despite FCC claims to the contrary,” said the latter. Three teleconferences and one meeting in New Mexico this year “were conducted in what can only be viewed as a rush to conduct any type of consultation with Tribes before issuing the latest Report and Order,” states the Thlopthlocco Tribal Town.
By Leslie Stimson, Washington Bureau Chief, Inside Towers
March 21, 2018
Reader Interactions