Changes to FCC Siting Rules Expected to Headline March 22 Commissioners' Meeting
Commissioner Brendan Carr said FCC members will vote at their March 22 meeting on changes to rules on historic and environmental reviews of small cells and larger macro towers. More details will be available Thursday when Chairman Ajit Pai is expected to release items for the meeting. Carr and industry officials discussed 5G at a CTA event Wednesday. Many industry groups applauded the proposed changes.
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The draft proposal would exclude small wireless facilities from National Environmental Policy Act and National Historic Preservation Act reviews designed for larger towers by finding they're neither “federal undertakings” nor “major federal actions,” Carr said. That change is projected to reduce regulatory costs of small-cell deployment 80 percent, he said.
Pai will also propose to streamline the historic reviews by updating the Section 106 tribal consultation process to “address upfront fees, clarify the consultation process, and adopt a clear timeline within which deployments can commence when a tribe does not respond,” Carr said. Those changes don’t apply to deployments on tribal lands and or inside reservation boundaries. The draft also proposed to change the FCC’s approach to environmental reviews by approving a shot clock for the FCC’s own processing of environmental assessments, Carr said.
Commissioners are also expected to take up an item on cell booster rules and a Further NPRM on the future of the 4.9 GHz band, which was set aside for public safety use in 2002 but has been considered underutilized (see 1211020061). FCC officials said the tentative agenda is additionally expected to include a 911 notice of inquiry on public safety location-based routing that examines how delays from cell tower-based routing can be avoided; a reassigning-numbers NPRM on creating a database related to Telephone Consumer Protection Act issues; and a media modernization NPRM that seeks ways to streamline the reauthorization application process for certain broadcaster "satellite" TV stations.
“Having toured the show floor at CES just last month, the trend towards greater connectivity and innovation is clear,” Carr said. “We see it in everything from wearables to remote health applications, from drones to the connected home.” U.S. wireless networks deserve much of the credit, he said, but industry needs help. The average cost of deploying a small cell is about $35,000, Carr said. “A growing and unsustainable percentage of this cost is going to legacy environmental and historic review procedures developed for large wireless towers.”
Carr said the draft makes clear the FCC engaged in extensive consultations with “dozens and dozens” of tribes. “Those were very helpful, very productive discussions,” he said. Carr cited reports of carriers having to spend millions on tribal reviews. “These are real dollars that could be used to expand 5G coverage,’ he said. “Instead, the money is going to review deployments where everyone involved agrees there’s no impact.”
“We look forward to seeing the full draft of the order when it is released tomorrow, but we are greatly encouraged by Commissioner Carr’s remarks this morning and the direction the FCC is taking in this proceeding,” said Joan Marsh, AT&T executive vice president.
“Wireless infrastructure technology is advancing by leaps and bounds and if regulations don’t catch up, we risk delaying the benefits of 5G for the American economy,” Mobile Future said. Carr “is exactly right that modernizing outdated infrastructure rules is key to the United States winning the global race to 5G,” said CTIA President Meredith Baker. “While much remains to be done at the state and local level, the federal government needs to lead by removing blockades that have long deterred the rollout of vital next generation networks,” said Roslyn Layton, visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
On the CTA panel, Mary Brown, senior director at Cisco, said 5G “isn’t just about the spectrum or the antennas … but the core of the network itself. That core network is having to undergo a radical overhaul to prepare for 5G.” Networks are ready for fifth generation and the proposals discussed should help carriers put infrastructure in place, she said: “All we need now is not just the allocation of spectrum but the delivery of spectrum into the hands of people who are going to use it.”
Spectrum is key to 5G, but the amount available is “dwindling,” said Andrew Clegg, Google spectrum engineering lead. “We’re going to have to find ways to share spectrum and make the most of the spectrum that we have.” Clegg said the spectrum sharing regime in the 3.5 GHz band “is sort of the first stepping stone for how spectrum access for 5G and beyond is going to happen.”
John Godfrey, Samsung senior president-public policy, noted it took five minutes during the discussion for someone to mention 6G: “We have to look to the future.” Samsung is excited about 5G and the U.S. is leading the world, he said: “5G will not just be heterogeneous in spectrum use, in other words a combination of various bands,” but also it will be “heterogeneous in the operator model.”