How Localities Can Prepare for—and Capitalize on—the Coming Wave of Public Safety Network Construction

In the coming months, localities around the nation can expect to begin receiving a flood of applications to construct the first of hundreds—perhaps thousands—of new telecommunications towers up to 300 feet high, plus applications to attach hundreds of thousands of “small cell” wireless devices on buildings, utility poles, and new structures. A major driver of this activity is FirstNet, the federal organization overseeing the deployment of a Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network (NPSBN). These developments will bring clear public safety benefits. And they will occur at the same time carriers are increasing capacity for their commercial service. As demand for mobile data balloons, the major mobile network operators are investing tens of billions of dollars to enhance their networks by upgrading existing antennas and adding new sites. Properly handling these applications is particularly important because a Federal Communications Commission order sets time limits of 150 days for a locality to act on applications for new wireless facilities or 90 days for modifications (co-locations) to existing facilities. These time limits are often called the “shot clocks”—and if a locality does not properly handle an application, it might lose its ability to influence how new infrastructure is built.