Ohio Litigation Forces Wireless Industry to Work Locally

The wireless industry is deploying infrastructure in Ohio despite legal uncertainty created by Cleveland and other localities’ lawsuits against the Ohio small-cells law, a Mobilitie official said in New York Thursday at the New York State Wireless Association Wireless Forum. Working with communities is speeding deployment in Ohio and other states, he and another industry panelist said.

More city challenges to state small-cells laws are likely, so industry should work locally to resolve issues, said Mobilitie Senior Vice President-Network Strategy Jason Caliento. Earlier this month, the Ohio Municipal League said litigation froze local compliance with the Ohio law (see 1706060048). Ongoing Ohio litigation is causing confusion in the state, but deployment continues, Caliento said. “We continue to come in and build every day in Ohio in no small part because we go and meet with the individual cities.” That approach worked especially well in Cleveland, he said.

The Ohio litigation “underscores the importance of sitting down with the local municipal league when these bills are introduced or prior to introduction,” agreed Wireless Infrastructure Association Senior Government Affairs Counsel Van Bloys. “We don’t want litigation. It’s not helping anybody to be in court.”

Sprint seeks state legislation to ease local processes seen as holding up small cells needed for 5G deployment, said Government Affairs Director Ken Schifman. Nine states enacted small-cells laws, and industry is waiting for governors to sign two more bills passed by Delaware and Florida legislatures, he said. Next targets are Missouri, which introduced a bill that got slowed by legislative procedure, then Michigan and Pennsylvania, which don’t yet have bills, Schifman said. Industry is doing outreach in New York to lay groundwork for legislation later, he said.

Industry should get credit for talking to local leagues about state bills, producing different bills in different states, said NATOA Executive Director Steve Traylor. The bills are passing with strong bipartisan votes, so local governments “must accept what’s going on in the world” and negotiate, he said. Even if a league supports a bill, there’s going to be pushback from some localities, he said. Locals and industry are friendlier at the FCC, too, Traylor said. Over the past few years, “rhetoric ratcheted down a lot," with more opportunities to talk with industry, he said.

Localities gripe about industry pushing for quick action to change local rules and approve applications but afterward waiting to deploy infrastructure, said Traylor. It comes across to some as a “land grab,” he said. Kansas localities reported little deployment months after the state’s small-cells law took effect (see 1706190051). Traylor said industry must educate localities about 5G and clarify the actual size of small cells. Industry says they're the size of pizza boxes, but subsequent legislation permits larger equipment, he said.

On small-cell aesthetics, Caliento said it’s important to look at the context of where they’re deployed. Small cells don’t stand out against the larger scene, he said. WIA members strive to ensure deployment is “congruent with what’s currently in the right of way,” Bloys said.

The FCC may finish its wireless infrastructure rulemaking in December or January but is unlikely to make rules before getting recommendations from the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee, said Bloys. The agency may resolve statutory interpretation issues in the separate proceeding responding to a Mobilitie petition for declaratory ruling but make policy rules in the broader rulemaking, he said.

Carriers must attach equipment to public infrastructure to roll out 5G and make cities smart, but are held back by local rules and processes that haven’t kept up with technology, said Jane Builder, T-Mobile northeast ‎principal manager of site advocacy, on a later panel. New York City has manpower and silo issues and is closed to new siting applications on rights of way needed for small cells due to voluminous backlogs, she said. The city processes half a million requests to use public infrastructure yearly and not just from telecom companies, said city Department of Transportation Chief Technology Officer Cordell Schachter. New York wants to be a smart city but must balance technological aspirations against public safety and other concerns, he said.

“Respect local authority,” New York City Broadband Director Joshua Breitbart said on another panel. New York is eager for broadband, he said. Industry may focus on densifying networks to serve high-demand areas, but the city has an interest in bringing access to low-demand areas and bridging the digital divide, he said. Breitbart said he agreed the city needs to “accelerate getting to the table” to convey concerns, but wants to do so in “an environment of regulatory stability.” He said he hopes the FCC will value local authority in its infrastructure rulemaking, not throw out rules that aren’t inhibiting deployment or go backward on previously unanimous commission decisions.

NYSWA Notebook

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai wants to hear local and state voices on its infrastructure rulemaking, Pai aide Rachael Bender said in a closing keynote speech. “We need you to help inform us on what to do next.” The FCC is gathering a record to learn what it can do and if there is a middle ground or if some problems are bigger than others. Pai believes a competitive free market drives the internet, mobile broadband is critical to serve communities on the “wrong side of the digital divide,” and promoting 5G deployment will drive IoT and other innovations, she said. Pai thinks it takes more than unleashing spectrum to spur mobile, also requiring removing regulatory barriers to small-cell and fiber deployment, and hopes to find ways to accomplish that through the BDAC and infrastructure rulemakings, Bender said. On spectrum, Pai is following an “all-of-the-above spectrum strategy” looking at what low-, medium- and high-band spectrum can be made available to support 5G, Bender said.

The fifth generation of wireless pits mobile carriers against cable and fixed broadband companies, said VerticalBridge CEO Alexander Gellman in a keynote. That's a “profound” change because it’s much cheaper to reach customers wirelessly, he said. Wireless means no truck rolls to residences, which are bothersome to customers and expensive for companies, he said. Cable companies see the threat and “that’s why” they’re launching mobile plans like Comcast Xfinity Mobile, he said. Gellman warned wireless industry attendees to watch out for edge companies like Google and Facebook to join the contest.