New York City Tries to Even Out Access to Wireless Networks

Companies hunting for space to place wireless equipment in New York City snapped up the rights to street lamps and traffic lights dotting Fifth Avenue in the heart of Manhattan in 2013. They didn’t stake claims to large clusters of sites in less affluent areas until three years later. City officials are now trying to change that trend, pushing companies that lease public space for telecom-equipment installations to move more aggressively beyond the city’s core, to improve wireless services more quickly for a broader swath of residents. The city limited the number of poles those companies could claim within the core area of Manhattan in its most recent round of leasing, in an effort to get the companies to allocate money that they would have spent there to poles that were available elsewhere. New York’s efforts underscore questions of digital access and economic inequality that municipalities across the country are grappling with as they determine how to lease public space to facilitate the buildout of 5G networks.