Municipalities across the country are making it more difficult for wireless providers to gain access to public rights-of-way to site infrastructure; some have even enacted bans and/or are charging exorbitant permitting rates, industry experts have told Congress and the FCC, appealing for help.
AT&T, Sprint and Verizon are lobbying state legislatures and the FCC to ease small cell infrastructure siting and local permitting, working through trade groups like the Wireless Infrastructure Association, reports Morning Consult. Local officials are worried such regulations would preempt local oversight.
Carriers want market-based rates for permitting small cell infrastructure to ensure rural areas get broadband too. “If we’re simply a pass-through we’re only going to see the digital divide exacerbated,” said Montgomery County, MD Council member Hans Riemer. He said his constituents are upset by the prospect of new poles going up that are needed to connect small cell units to underground utilities. County residents have access to broadband through Comcast and Verizon but it’s expensive; and opening up competition to more providers like Google Fiber could potentially improve access, he told Morning Consult.
CTC Technology & Energy consults localities on how to increase and improve their broadband access. These struggles at the local level are too often overlooked among industry incumbents, according to company President Joanne Hovis. “The conversation tends to be: ‘What are localities doing wrong?’ And it is frankly insulting to assume that [local leaders] are either ignorant of the benefits of broadband or they’re just greedy and seeking rents.”
June 15, 2017
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