{"id":12791,"date":"2018-03-21T20:10:04","date_gmt":"2018-03-22T03:10:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?p=12791"},"modified":"2018-03-21T20:52:32","modified_gmt":"2018-03-22T03:52:32","slug":"fcc-ruling-on-5g-infrastructure-may-hurt-cities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?p=12791","title":{"rendered":"FCC Ruling on 5G Infrastructure May Hurt Cities"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"gt_nodes\"<\/a><\/h1>\n

San Jose, Calif., and Lincoln, Neb., cry foul over the FCC’s plan to cut red tape for small cell antenna deployment rules.<\/h3>\n

BY\u00a0ELIZABETH ZIMA<\/a>\u00a0\/\u00a0MARCH 19, 2018<\/h5>\n

The Federal Communications Commission is poised to make a directive on 5G, the next-generation, high-speed wireless standard, that could significantly affect local government control of infrastructure. Two cities, San Jose, Calif., which lies in the heart of Silicon Valley, and Lincoln, Neb., an innovative university and capitol city, both could be profoundly affected if the FCC decides to \u201ccut red tape\u201d with modifications to small cell antenna deployment rules.<\/p>\n

On March 22, the FCC will meet to eliminate unnecessary regulations to \u201cprovide better broadband, connect underserved areas and create jobs,\u201d according to FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr. This move by the federal agency is supposed to save Americans $1.56 billion and create more than 17,000 jobs, according to industry\u00a0statistics<\/a>.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cOur infrastructure rules were written for the hundred-foot 3G and 4G towers, not backpack-sized 5G deployments,\u201d said Carr\u00a0in a speech at the Consumer Technology Association in February. \u201cIt\u2019s the regulatory equivalent of requiring a commercial pilot license to fly a paper airplane. The result? Small cell deployments cost too much, and the regulatory approval process takes too long. Left unchecked, this will be the bottleneck that prevents us from leading the world in 5G \u2014 that prevents the investments, innovation, and jobs associated with 5G from being realized here in the U.S.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
But local officials argue the regulatory process serves an important purpose. \u201cBy removing the historic and environmental review, and taking away local control, it won\u2019t allow cities to make sure that 5G is deployed in an equitable manner for citizens,\u201d said Shireen Santosham, the chief innovation officer for the city of San Jose.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
San Jose is the tenth largest city in the U.S., the largest in Silicon Valley and has a median income that is over $90,000, but has approximately 9.5 percent of the city\u2019s\u00a01 million\u00a0residents\u00a0living below the poverty line. \u201cCurrently there are more than 100,000 people in our city who do not have broadband,\u201d she said.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cSmall (5G) cells will not solve the digital divide; we need to know that there will be service to rural and low-income areas,\u201d she said.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Santosham sees the FCC moves as a cynical way of taking away local control of the infrastructure deployment while promising to cover those who do not already have connectivity. \u201cIt is important that we have the conversation about those people who are not already wired and do not have access at home,\u201d she said. \u201cWe need a holistic conversation on digital access for all Americans.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The city currently has a partnership with Facebook called Terragraph, which will bring free gigabit-speed Internet to the city\u2019s downtown public sometime this year. \u201cThis year, we launched an effort to bring autonomous vehicles to San Jose \u2014 our initial call for proposals garnered 30 submissions from leading companies around the world. We are currently evaluating a short list of companies,\u201d she said. This technology will require 5G capability as well.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
David Young, fiber infrastructure and right of way manager for the city of Lincoln (pop 277,346 and home of the state\u2019s largest university), has a similar view of the FCC\u2019s directive.\u00a0The city began its journey to 5G coverage in 2012 when Mayor Chris Beutler invested $700,000 in a conduit system for fiber optics that has since grown to over 300 miles. Because the state has banned local governments from offering municipal services such as electricity or telecommunications, Lincoln has worked hard to put together some very innovative ideas to attract private-sector investment.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cThe plan is to make our process fast, easy to understand and repeatable to attract investment,\u201d he said. They have been so successful the city has managed to partner with 12 private-sector companies to keep them connected.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Early in the process, Young began working with\u00a0Valmont Industries<\/a>, a city pole designer, to construct a functional pole that would make it easy for private companies to deploy 5G hardware. \u201cThey developed a pole that will deploy for 95 percent of their users (in other towns),\u201d he said. The city also developed a master license agreement with the manufacturer. \u201cIt was important to get in on the ground floor with the pole company to set a standard for 5G infrastructure throughout the city,\u201d he said.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
In the Internet service provider (ISP) industry, time is valuable. \u201cIf you can shrink time for the carrier, it helps the city\u2019s partnerships,\u201d said Young. The design process also saved the city money. \u201cThe poles cost us nothing, except my salary,\u201d he said. \u201cThe manufacturer is selling my design to other cities.\u201d Lincoln has a licensing agreement for 100 poles downtown and expects to install 400 in the next few years.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
While this is only part of the enterprising development Young has made, he says all of this will be for naught if the FCC rules bypass city control. \u201cIf the FCC takes away control and assets bought by the local taxpayers,\u201d he said, \u201cit will be very challenging.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Young said the city has worked very hard to streamline services for wireless providers. \u201cWe are business friendly. We have a 10-day permitting process,\u201d he said. All standards are already online, and if the FCC rules to take away local control, it would cause deployment of the infrastructure to stop. The city has worked 100 percent with private partners in its infrastructure build-out. \u201cWhy are we not at the table with the FCC?\u201d he asked.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Like Lincoln, San Jose has embraced 5G and what it will allow the public to do in the future. \u201cUshering in a gigabit future will no doubt have wide-ranging benefits \u2014 from enabling new advances like connected and autonomous vehicles, unlocking augmented and virtual reality and creating other new markets,\u201d Santosham said.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
But, two critical issues need addressing. The technology is in its infancy, and how it will be deployed matters to citizens. \u201cWe still will need to see proof points around the technology,\u201d she said. \u201cWhile it delivers lightning fast speed in labs and early trials, there are real-world problems of scale still to overcome.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Making drastic changes to how a city historically manages its public rights-of-way to accommodate one, yet unproven technology may not be a smart move, according to Santosham. \u201cA piecemeal approach where service providers can pick and choose where they service a city also has another unintended consequence,\u201d she said. \u201cIt results in the wealthier, denser and more profitable areas getting service first, and more traditionally digitally excluded neighborhoods serviced last if they have services at all.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
If city government is not going to be allowed to control, permit and charge fees for access to the public right of way, this will also take away the ability to incentivize companies to build out into low-income or marginalized areas, argues Santosham.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cMost of the legislation today is unfortunately too one-sided with the industry asking for the benefits of a public utility without the obligations,\u201d she said. \u201cAesthetic concerns matter to local communities and bills that are overly permissive in equipment size and scale are shortsighted. No community will want thousands of refrigerator-sized equipment placed throughout their city with no say in the process.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Finally, private companies will not act on, nor know the communities\u2019 interest, according to Santosham. \u201cNo one company or industry will act in the overall interest of the community in the way a local government can act \u2014 and rightfully so. Companies are incentivized to maximize shareholder value, not public value.\u201d<\/div>\n
\n

RELATED<\/h3>\n

Local Control Debate Pauses Illinois Small Cell Wireless Bill<\/a>Local Control at Heart of \u2018Small Cell\u2019 Debate<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Residents in Santa Rosa, Calif., Push Back Against Small Cell Deployments<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n
\n

by Elizabeth Zima who has written in depth on topics including health care, clinical science, physician relations and hospital communications.<\/p>\n

source :<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.govtech.com\/network\/Coming-FCC-Ruling-on-Small-Cell-Infrastructure-May-Hurt-Cities-Already-Out-Ahead-of-the-Curve-on-5G.html<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

San Jose, Calif., and Lincoln, Neb., cry foul over the FCC’s plan to cut red tape for small cell antenna deployment rules. BY\u00a0ELIZABETH ZIMA\u00a0\/\u00a0MARCH 19, 2018 The Federal Communications Commission is poised to make a directive on 5G, the next-generation, high-speed wireless standard, that could significantly affect local government control of infrastructure. Two cities, San […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[346,357,291,28,344,3,325,369,434,439,500,426,326,289,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-5g","category-5g-antenna","category-california-usa-2","category-cell-tower","category-fcc","category-health_and_safety","category-microcell","category-microcell-telus","category-millimeter-wave","category-new-jersey","category-rollout","category-small-cell","category-small-cells","category-usa-2","category-wireless_devices"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12791"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12795,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12791\/revisions\/12795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}