Forcing mobile carriers to share light poles isn’t a practical possibility

25 November 2020 by Steve Blum
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Mwc la site 21oct2019

One question I often get is can local or state governments require mobile carriers to share cell sites, particularly small ones that can be attached to something like a street light pole?

No.

There are technical issues with carriers sharing big, macro site towers, but those are generally solvable if the tower is big enough, and cities can sometimes pressure or cajole carriers to work together. A major consideration is whether the location of a given tower meets the engineering requirements of a mobile carrier.… More

Federal appeals court says no do over, FCC muni pole ownership preemption stands

23 October 2020 by Steve Blum
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If cities and counties want to continue fighting the Federal Communications Commission’s preemption of local ownership of street light poles and other municipal property planted in the public right of way, they will have to take their case to the federal supreme court. In a ruling issued yesterday, the San Francisco-based ninth circuit court of appeals denied a request for a rehearing of a ruling made earlier this year by a three-judge panel that largely upheld the FCC’s authority to dictate the rates and terms for attaching wireless equipment to city-owned poles.… More

FCC proposes to pat its own back for a net neutrality repeal well done

13 October 2020 by Steve Blum
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In a rush to approve as much of the republican majority’s agenda as possible before next month’s election, the Federal Communications Commission published several draft decisions last week, that will presumably be approved at its next meeting, on 27 October 2020. Included in that batch is a draft of a clean-up ruling that addresses problems a federal appeals court found with its 2017 network neutrality repeal. None of the issues were considered serious enough to nullify the repeal, but the court did tell the FCC to fix them.… More

Cities, counties decide to keep fighting FCC’s pole ownership preemption

29 September 2020 by Steve Blum
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Los angeles streetlight cell 1 23oct2019

Dozens of cities, counties and their associations yesterday asked a federal appeals court to reconsider a decision that blessed the Federal Communications Commission’s preemption of local ownership and control of streetlights and other assets installed in the public right of way.

In August, the cities’ challenge to the FCC’s ruling was mostly rejected by three judges from the San Francisco-based ninth circuit federal appeals court. The next step is to ask all 29 judges on that court to review the decision as a group – en banc, as the jargon goes.… More

A new appeal of FCC’s local pole ownership preemption could come today

28 September 2020 by Steve Blum
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At least some of the cities that challenged the Federal Communications Commission’s preemption of local ownership and control of street lights and other government property installed in the public right of way are considering continuing the fight. Last month, three judges on the federal appeals court based in San Francisco – the ninth circuit, as it’s called – said the preemption is mostly within the FCC’s authority, although they trimmed back restrictions on local aesthetic requirements for wireless facilities.… More

The best way for cities to prepare for 5G is to get 4G right

11 September 2020 by Steve Blum
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Burlingame poles

There are differences between 4G and 5G facilities, but not necessarily meaningful ones from a policy perspective. For most people, the two will look the same, except the 5G facility might be smaller and is likelier to look more integrated, without so many obvious components and visible wires, although there will be no shortage of exceptions. Mostly it’s because 5G technology is newer and they’ve had more time to work on it. In theory (there aren’t a lot of actual small 5G installations to go by yet) 5G facilities should be smaller than 4G, and easier to integrate into a street light or utility pole.… More

FCC preemption of local streetlight pole ownership upheld by federal appeals court

14 August 2020 by Steve Blum
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La small cell

The Federal Communications Commission can preempt local ownership of streetlight poles and other municipal property planted in the public right of way, according to a ruling on Wednesday by a three judge panel of the federal appeals court based in San Francisco. They mostly upheld three decisions made by the FCC in 2018, including one that effectively gave wireless companies freedom to mount equipment on streetlight poles at will, and only reimburse cities or other public agency pole owners for costs incurred.… More

FCC asks for limited net neutrality comments, but Rosenworcel says “make noise”

21 February 2020 by Steve Blum
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The Federal Communications Commission will tweak its network neutrality rules, such as they are, to answer objections made by the federal appeals court based in Washington, D.C. last year. That court – aka the D.C. circuit – largely upheld the FCC’s 2017 repeal of network neutrality rules, but sent a few bits back to the agency for more work and threw out a blanket preemption of state and local regulations.

In a notice issued earlier this week, the FCC asked for comments on the public safety, lifeline and pole attachment issues flagged by the D.C.… More

FCC’s $270 pole rental limit for wireless attachments might be “arbitrary and capricious”, appellate judge says

18 February 2020 by Steve Blum
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Los angeles streetlight cell 1 23oct2019

Federal appeals court judges hearing the challenge brought by local governments to the Federal Communications Commission’s 2018 preemption of ownership and control of street lights tried to get an FCC lawyer to explain how the commission settled on $270 as the allowable annual pole rental limit. The attorney, Scott Noveck, couldn’t oblige judges Jay Bybee and Mary Schroeder…

Bybee: I’d still like you to get to how you get to the $270.

Novek: So your honor, what I believe happened is that the commission took a look at various state small cell bills…

Bybee: It’s interesting, counsel, that you just characterised it as ‘you believe’.

More

FCC’s rural 5G justification for urban wireless preemption is comfort to AT&T but not to Fresno, appeals court told

14 February 2020 by Steve Blum
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Ninth circuit oral argument pole preemption 10feb2020

Federal appellate judges drilled down into arguments made by local governments and the Federal Communications Commission on Monday, as they considered a challenge to the FCC’s 2018 decision to cap rental rates for locally owned street light poles and other assets in the public right of way, and effectively give mobile carriers unfettered use of public property.

One justification for this preemption of local property ownership was that if big cities with big potential for subscriber revenue charge high fees, then carriers like AT&T and Verizon won’t have money left over to spend in less profitable small cities and rural communities.… More