“We will all be busy in the next year redecorating the street furniture.” That’s how Stephan Sloan, director at Media Services Group and session moderator, summed up the infrastructure panel at the 7th Annual Americas Spectrum Management Conference yesterday.
The impact of the FCC’s recent order to ease small cell siting on publicly-owned property dominated the discussion.
Matthew Berry, Chief of Staff to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, said estimates show the U.S. needs to add an additional 800,000 cell sites by 2025 to enable 5G. To make this happen, he said, the agency realized its siting rules could no longer be tied to the needs of tall towers. But he made clear, “5G isn’t going to eliminate the need for tall towers.”
The new order “respects local control. All fees must be non-discriminatory and cost-based,” said Berry. Channeling Frank Sinatra, Berry said: “As far as infrastructure policy, I believe we’ll look at 2018 and say it was a very good year.” Continue Reading
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