11-26-1997 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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SITE-SHARING. Sharing cell sites —th.ekcy to success The Exploding Demand for Cell Sites In the first dozen years of the US cellular industry, wireless operators of two cellular bands installed some 20,000 cell sites. According to industry estimates, aver the next five years that number will increase to between 100,000 to 160,000 by the expansion of existing cellular services, the operators of the six new PCS bands and the operators of the two ESMR bands. This represents a buildout rate of at least 10 rimes that of the cellular industry in the previous decade. The result is an unprecedented level of pressure on the industry its human, financial and physical resources and the zoning boards who must cope with the increasing requests for sites in their jurisdictions. This increased site demand will have echoes throughout the world, as devel- oped countries deploy PCS and devel- oping countries discover that they can use wireless to "leapfrog' over their chronic wireline building bottlenecks. Responding to requests from PCS and other wireless operators, the federal government has instituted laws, regula- tions and policies designed to satisfy the burgeoning demand for cell sites. The law comprises Section 704 of the Telecommunications Act 1996 which preserves the authority of the country's 18,000 local zoning boards, but clarifies when the exercise of that authority can be preempted. The ruling specified that a zoning board cannot or health concerns if the proposed site conforms with federal regulations. Court review procedures are estab- lished for operators who believe they are being treated unfairly. Finally, the executive branch is instructed by Congress to assist wireless operators in acquiring access to sites by providing. for example. access to feder- al properties, and by working with the states on site acquisition programs. The regulations are amendments to Section 332(c) of the FCC's rules to reflect, amplify and administer the pro- visions of the law as described above. - The policy is the resultant announce- ment from the executive branch. The US President has ordered that Federal buildings be made available for siting of wireless equipment. This includes 35,000 postal facilities nationwide, which are now offered through a joint arrangement for wireless- siting purposes between UniSite, a shared site manager in Richardson, Texas discriminate among operators of essen- tially equivalent services. For example, a zoning board cannot have a policy for PCS operators that is different from its policies for cellular operators. Zoninkboards also cannot either explicitly or by effect, prohibit the placement of cell sites altogether. They must give explicit. written, reasoned arguments in support of any rejection of a siting request. And they cannot deny a request based on environmental 30 E9tOti9 :191 Page 101 by Cr Ray W. Nettleton, UniSite, Inc. and the United States Postal Service. The reaction of local authorities nationwide to the issue of wireless sites varies, from a "not in my back yard" stance to actively facilitating siting at county and city buildings. Some local authorities have declared a moratorium on new sites, requiring that all new installations are on existing sites. Bur Maryland is among several states. along with some county and city gov- ernments, that has issued policies to offer Government awned sites to wire- less operators. Private concerns such as power utili- ties, banks, and convenience stores have followed the government lead by offer- ing their sites for wireless use. Although difficult to pinpoint. it certainly appears that the number of sites now available is approaching the 100,000. The limited supply of cell sites Despite the favorable response of the federal government and others to the opportunity for increased revenue from wireless sites, it is still unclear that the supply is going to meet the demand. The gaps between supply and demand fall into four main categories: - Unsuit- able sites: Some government buildings and convenience stores are not ideal for optimum radio coverage. Some are one storey buildings situated among a middle of a cluster of skyscrapers, or at the bottom of a valley; others are struc- turally incapable of supposing a base station or they have little room for equipment placement. Although an organization may offer 500 buildings as wireless sites. it does not necessarily mean that all of them are suitable sites. In some cases, only a few are suitable for siting. Clustered locations: Wireless base stations must be dispersed correctly over a service area to allow for maxi- mum radio coverage. Often an entity such as a local government authority maintains several buildings clustered in a particular area. Once again, there d'1,1 -..' ;id I Pdi