FCC Plans June Vote on WIA, CTIA Tower Site Requests

UPDATE Expect action on the WIA and CTIA cell tower site petitions at the FCC’s June 9 meeting. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said in a Connect (X): All Access interview with WIA President/CEO Jonathan Adelstein Tuesday the Commission wants to fix “uncertainty” in section 6409(a) of the Spectrum Act in order to speed up the review process state and local governments use to allow wireless infrastructure siting.

“Now it’s up to the FCC to breathe more life into that petition,” said the Chairman, speaking specifically about the WIA request. Siting wireless infrastructure “could be a bottleneck if we don’t reform our rules,” he explained, noting that industry needs “a more consistent, more certain set of rules.”
Also during Connect (X) on Tuesday, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr further explained: “These actions are meant to separate difficult project approvals from the easier ones. One of the keys with this 5G Upgrade Order is that we're addressing existing tower sites. It is about ensuring that swapping out or upgrading existing antennas (say 3G or 4G ones) to 5G antennas can be done quickly as Congress envisioned.” (See story below for details of the order and reaction.) Continue Reading