When can twilight towers be used for 5G? FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly was asked that question during a Connect (X) panel Tuesday.
He hopes the issue of some 4,000 to 5,000 towers “stuck in limbo” will be resolved soon. The FCC took action in 2017 to exempt the so-called twilight towers from routine historic preservation review. These towers, built between 2001 to 2005, couldn’t accept co-location because either they were built without historic preservation review or don’t have documentation that such a review occurred.
The item is now pending at the federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, according to the Commissioner. He hopes now that the council “is up to a full roster” of personnel the item will go forward.
The towers represent “some 15,000 potential co-locations” for 5G. However, they’ve been “stuck in this no man’s land. The towers exist but you can’t do anything with them,” O’Rielly said. “We have a sound proposal before ACHP that puts this entire mess behind us and lets these towers be used for new co-locations. I’d like to see this move forward at the ACHP in the very near future.”
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