Sprint Sides With FCC, CTIA in Small Cell Exemption Fight

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UPDATE Sprint asked to intervene on behalf of the FCC, against challenges in D.C. Circuit Court by Native American Tribes and environmentalists opposing the agency’s March rule change to exempt small cell deployment on non-Tribal lands from environmental and historic review.

Sprint told the court it “actively participated” in the Commission proceeding because the order eases barriers to broadband infrastructure deployment. Sprint’s “interests will be substantially affected by this court’s review,” the carrier told the court, reports Law360. Sprint noted the agency has taken several steps towards modernizing the costs of “outdated review processes” that have become a “significant barrier” to expanding access to wireless services.


CTIA — The Wireless Association, also seeks to defend the rule against cases filed from 10 Tribes and the Natural Resources Defense Council (see related story below.) The FCC declined comment, and representatives for the NRDC, Sprint and CTIA could not immediately comment.

The lead case is United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma et al. v. FCC et al., case number 18-1129 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

June 21, 2018

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