Municipal Management of Cellphone Towers, DAS, and Small Cell Deployments

Description

Massive growth in demand for wireless services has precipitated an explosion in the number of wireless deployments of cellphone towers, masts or antennas, LTE and 5G networks, distributed antenna systems (DAS), and small cell deployments. Also, existing cell towers and small cell sites are continually being reconfigured to support new equipment needed to meet increased demand.

Municipalities are increasingly involved in two legally distinct but sometimes overlapping roles: (1) obtaining regulatory approval, and (2) negotiating leases or licenses for placement of wireless equipment on government property, including rooftops, buildings, street lights, and traffic signals, but they must now do so in a world of rental caps and shortened shot clocks for small cells imposed by the FCC in a recent ruling.

For counsel representing local governments, challenges that arise in wireless site leases include lease rates, revenue distribution, and environmental and zoning issues. Regulatory burdens are also changing with the enactment of FCC shot clocks and collocation fast tracks under the FCC's 6409(a) rules and the Commission's new small cell shot clocks and pricing caps.

Moreover, DAS development involving access to rights-of-way creates complicated issues surrounding the intersection of zoning, right-of-way regulations, and proprietary issues. DAS providers and local governments around the country are seeking solutions to these challenges.

Listen as our panel of local government legal advisers discusses best practices for counsel to local governments to prepare for and deal with issues specific to cell towers and site applications and leases in this always changing and increasingly volatile area.