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Cingular Wireless opposed an application for review by Anne Arund...

Cingular Wireless opposed an application for review by Anne Arundel County, Md., of an FCC Wireless Bureau decision that found federal law preempted parts of a county zoning ordinance that covered radio frequency interference (RFI). Last month, the bureau…

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concluded federal law preempted parts of the local rules, which require that before receiving a county zoning ordinance certificate, wireless tower owners must demonstrate a tower didn’t interfere with a county’s public safety operation. If interference were demonstrated, the county could revoke a zoning certificate. Cingular challenged the ordinance and the county sought dismissal of the petition, saying the courts, rather than the FCC, had exclusive purview over local govt. zoning actions involving wireless facilities. The bureau disagreed with the county’s arguments, granting Cingular’s petition for a declaratory ruling. In its latest filing, Cingular opposed the county’s request that the Commission review that decision. Citing the Communications Act, Cingular said: (1) The FCC has “exclusive jurisdiction” to regulate radio frequency interference. (2) The adoption of zoning amendments designed to authorize the county to regulate radio frequency interference is precluded by a field preemption in the Constitution’s supremacy clause. Cingular contended that the county’s petition was “premised on the incorrect notion that the FCC is powerless to remedy RFI.”