FCC Proposing More Big Boosts for Small Cells

The FCC will vote later this month on a proposal to further streamline the buildout of wireless broadband and the rollout of 5G, via those small cell deployments.

That is according to commissioner Brendan Carr, who has been delegated oversight of those efforts by chair Ajit Pai.

In a speech Tuesday (Sept. 4) to a 5G conference at the Indiana General Assembly in Indianapolis.

The item Carr signaled would be on the agenda for the FCC's Sept. 26 meeting has four main points, said Carr.

It:

1. "reaffirms local control over wireless infrastructure decisions where it is most appropriate, while ensuring that commonsense guardrails apply to outlier conduct."

2. "affirms that local governments may charge wireless providers for the costs associated with reviewing small cell deployment."

3. "tailor the “shot clocks” that have long governed local review of infrastructure deployments to account for the size and scale of small cells."

4. "preserve local governments’ reasonable aesthetic reviews."

Carr called those "commonsense ideas drawn from the hard work of leaders right here in Indiana’s General Assembly and in 19 other state legislatures."

Increasingly, wireless devices are the primary consumer interface for broadband.

The FCC under chairman Pai has made such streamlining moves a priority under the chairman's avowed goal of closing the digital divide and insuring the U.S. is a leader in next-gen wireless broadband.

This article originally ran on multichannel.com.