Light Poles and 5G

There is a lot of regulatory activity right now concerning wireless providers adding small cell site and 5G electronic to poles. A few states have adopted legislation setting low prices for such connections and similar bills are moving through many state legislatures. There is discussion at the FCC for mandating nationwide rules on some of the issues, and one of the FCC’s BDAC advisory groups was created to look at these specific issues.

One topic I haven’t seen covered in any of these efforts is how to deal with light poles – that is poles that don’t carry wires. I think this is a germane issue for many reasons. There are many poles that have been built solely for the purpose of providing street lights and I don’t think these poles are automatically covered by any of these regulatory or legislative efforts.

I’ve recently looked again at the various pole attachment rules to see if I’m right. One of the primary laws affecting pole attachments was the Pole Attachment Act of 1978 that determined a price structure for pole attachments and that authorized the FCC to develop specific rules for pole make-ready which included in Section 224 of the FCC rules. The right for carriers to use poles was bolstered significantly by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 that granted carriers the ability to use the poles, conduits and rights-of-way of existing utilities. That act defined poles as structures that carry telecommunications wires.

In many cases light poles fall naturally into this definition. In my neighborhood the streetlights are placed at the top of existing utility poles that carry wires for the various utilities. Clearly such light poles are covered by the FCC rules. One has to wonder how useful these poles are for 5G since light fixtures occupy the coveted top space on the poles that wireless carriers want to use, but from a regulatory perspective such poles are covered.

There are a lot of light poles that don’t fit into the current regulatory regime. A lot of light poles have been erected in neighborhoods where the other utilities are buried. These poles are not designed to carry wires. They are connected to the buried power lines to provide electricity for the street lights, but otherwise have no connection to other utility wires. A similar class of poles are ornamental ones. The last neighborhood I lived in had street lights that looked like they came straight out of a Sherlock Holmes story – metal poles with a big light globe at the top.

I’ve read the FCC rules several times this week and I can’t see where poles that aren’t intended to carry wires fall under FCC jurisdiction. Such poles often can’t even easily accommodate pole connections and might be made out of metal or concrete.

Cities of all sizes have required utilities to bury wires. The regulatory question is if the FCC will try to claim jurisdiction over poles that were built in such neighborhoods to only support street lights? This would pull millions of light poles under FCC jurisdiction, something that shouldn’t be done without deliberation.

The 5G legislation I’ve seen doesn’t recognize these issues. Some of these laws grant carte blanc authority to wireless carriers to deploy 5G networks without regard to local oversight. This could results in 5G transmitters being added to ornamental poles. It might mean constructing new poles in neighborhoods where the other utilities are buried. It could even allow wireless carriers to string fiber between such new poles, even though other utilities are buried. 5G networks are also going to want an unobstructed line-of-sight to buildings and wireless carriers might use aggressive tree trimming to get the paths they want. Such deployments are going to be wildly unpopular to homeowners and local governments.

None of this is going to happen without a big fight. Current federal pole attachment rules derive from acts of Congress, and anything short of a new federal law on the issues can’t easily change what has been done in the past. It’s questionable if the FCC can preempt state and local laws concerning pole attachments without a new federal law since earlier legislation granted states to optionally claim jurisdiction over pole issues.

One thing that is clear to me is that any new laws need to carefully consider all of the issues. A law that just gives carte blanc authority for wireless carriers to do whatever they want to going to be widely unpopular and will eventually get huge pushback. Even the idea of expanding regulatory authority over standalone light poles would likely be challenged as a state versus federal issue, meaning big court fights. I’m seeing a mad regulatory rush to give wireless carriers the ability to deploy 5G, but there are numerous issues involved that demand careful deliberation if we want to do this right.

This article originally ran on potsandpansbyccg.com.