Santa Fe aims to improve broadband, cell coverage

A wave of new telecom infrastructure is en route, and in a city where famously spotty cellular and internet service has long bedeviled 21st century businesses, residents and tourists alike, there’s optimism Santa Fe (NM) will soon turn the great connectivity corner. A raft of telecommunication franchise agreements are coming down the city’s legislative pike; the resulting network expansions in the city’s public rights of way could eventually provide Santa Feans with faster speeds, broader coverage and additional retail competition — and thus lower costs, according to city fiscal analyses.  Around the signal, however, there will be noise, as the outspoken cadre of local residents who say cellular radiation poses a grave health risk are likely to protest the proposed agreements when they appear before the City Council in early May. “If they pass this, we will lose control of our streets and sidewalks,” said Arthur Firstenberg, the outspoken local advocate against electromagnetic radiation. “To us, this is a mortal threat. It will injure people. It will kill people. We will have no more honeybees. We will have no more birds.”