Small Cells: Coming to a Utility Pole Near You

In the constant need to stay connected, cellular and wireless companies are seeing an increase in demand on their infrastructure they are scrambling to keep up with. AT&T experienced a 100,000% increase in data traffic from 2007 to 2015, and carriers overall expect to see a 57% year over year increase in wireless data consumption. To meet demand, wireless companies are not building their traditional facilities, the large cellular antennas that are hundreds of feet of tall that require leasing land and constructing buildings. Instead, wireless companies are look small, targeting utilities poles as the place where their new infrastructure will be built. So what is going on with these types of facilities?

Currently there is a sort of land rush occurring among third party companies to grab space as fast as possible to place their facilities, which they in turn will lease to the large carriers. Electric utilities, particularly municipal ones serving the dense areas where additional wireless capacity is needed, are the biggest targets for these companies. The third party companies are wanting to bring a new type of attachment to a utility’s poles, which most utilities do not have requirements, policies, rates or contracts in place to deal with them. 

There are two types of new wireless facilities. DAS facilities are the larger of the two types, able to serve multiple carriers, with power-supplied antennas connected by fiber to a master headend located in a small building. Small cells have smaller antennas with lower power, with each antenna serving a smaller area than a DAS facility and likely only one wireless carrier. Equipment for these facilities could be placed on any part of a utility pole, from antenna potentially on the top of the pole to a cabinet placed at the bottom of the pole. According to the FCC, this need for infrastructure will possibly mean 37 million small cell installations will be in place nationwide by 2017, and 16 million distributed antenna system (DAS) nodes may be deployed by 2018.

As these new facilities are entering the marketplace, federal, state and local laws and regulations are struggling to keep pace. Congress and the FCC are considering several potential actions, with both wanting to drive 5G wireless deployment. A handful of states have seen legislation introduced on this topic in 2016, with more expected in 2017. Locally, most electric utilities and their local governments only have regulations in place for traditional large cell towers or wired pole attachments. Zoning, right of way permits, franchising and worker safety are just some of the issues local electric utilities and governments are having to address with these new facilities. By far, local electric utilities and local governments are dealing with the brunt of how to handle this explosion in new wireless facilities. 

As local governments look to address this explosive growth, they must chart a careful course. Rushing to decide how to handle these facilities is discouraged so long-lasting precedents are not established that could hamstring future decision making. Utilities and local governments must work together to determine how to handle these facilities as the both poles and the right of way itself are targets. Staff and employees must get up to speed quickly as these companies can only be kept at bay for so long. While these facilities may not have federal pole attachment rights on municipal electric poles, wireless providers could claim denial of access or burdensome restrictions are a barrier to entry which is prohibited by federal law. Electric utilities and local governments can determine what are their priorities to protect, such as no facilities in the power space or no new poles or equipment to clutter the right of way. Once priorities are established, workable trade offs with the wireless companies can emerge.

Each of us are using our phones and wireless devices more every day, and companies are pushing new ways to use wireless connectivity from new apps to driverless cars. This demand in more wireless connectivity can only be met with more wireless infrastructure, and electric utilities must begin to determine now how they will handle these new facilities, or else it will be determined for them.