Ahead of FCC vote, wireless industry tallies ‘excessive’ small cell deployment fees

The Federal Communications Commission is scheduled later in March to vote on new rules designed to smooth the deployment of small cells for LTE and 5G, primarily by reducing fees local governments and other entities can levy against those buildouts. And, according to a variety of wireless players, those fees are “excessive,” to say the least.

“CTIA’s member companies and others in the wireless industry have put forth various examples of the significant costs associated with compliance with the NEPA [National Environmental Policy Act] and NHPA [National Historic Preservation Act] requirements imposed under the Commission’s rules,” wrote wireless industry trade group CTIA in a recent filing to the FCC on the topic. “For example, Sprint recently reported that the total costs it incurred for Tribal review of small cells over the last two years exceeded $23 million. Verizon estimated that NEPA and NHPA reviews, including Tribal reviews, comprised, on average, 26 percent of its total small cell deployment costs in 2017. And AT&T recently predicted that it will spend roughly $45 million this year on NEPA and NHPA compliance—resources that could otherwise have been directed toward broadband deployment.”