For Immediate Release: 
September 5, 2018

NATE Statement on FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr’s 5G Plan

FCC Order a Key Step to Expand 5G Deployment to More Americans

(Washington, D.C.) - NATE today lauded FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr for unveiling his 5G plan to increase small cell deployment and streamline wireless infrastructure siting policies in order to bring broadband to more Americans. Commissioner Carr outlined his plan at the Indiana State Capital in Indianapolis during remarks made before elected officials representing the Hoosier State. This FCC order is anticipated to be voted on by Commissioners later this month. 

“NATE commends Commissioner Brendan Carr for unveiling his 5G plan yesterday in Indianapolis, Indiana,” stated Executive Director Todd Schlekeway. “Over the last 5 months, NATE has played a prominent role providing FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, Commissioner Carr and their respective staff members with tangible opportunities to visit sites and experience first-hand the role that wireless infrastructure and siting policies play in the deployment of macro towers and small cells that are both so critical to 5G. The plan that Commissioner Carr unveiled today takes the successful tenets of small cell deployment legislation that have been passed by some of the states and standardizes them in a manner that will provide a road map moving forward that is necessary to ensure more Americans are in a position to take advantage of broadband and 5G networks in the future. NATE encourages all of the FCC Commissioners to support this important order during their upcoming September meeting,” added Schlekeway.

According to a recent study, Carr’s plan will save $2 billion in unnecessary fees, stimulate $2.5 billion in additional small cell deployments and create more than 27,000 jobs.

The plan contains four main ideas:

1. Implements long-standing federal law that bars municipal rules that have the effect
    of prohibiting deployment of wireless service.

2. Allows municipalities to charge fees for reviewing small cell deployments when
    such fees are limited to recovering the municipalities’ costs, and provides guidance
    on specific fee levels that would comply with this standard.

3. Requires municipalities to approve or disapprove applications to attach small cells
    to existing structures within 60 days and applications to build new small cell poles
    within 90 days.

4. Places modest guardrails on other municipal rules that may prohibit service while
    reaffirming localities’ traditional roles in, for example, reasonable aesthetic reviews.

For more information on Commissioner Carr’s plan, visit HERE. For more information on NATE, visit www.natehome.com.

About National Association of Tower Erectors

National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) is a non-profit trade association in the wireless infrastructure industry providing a unified voice for tower erection, service and maintenance companies. Today the Association boasts over 845 member companies located throughout the United States, Australia, Bahamas, Canada, Ghana, Jamaica, Mauritius, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Trinidad and Tobago and the United Kingdom. For additional information on NATE, please visit www.natehome.com.