FCC Has Tried, Failed, to Find an Answer for Twilight Towers
Addressing the estimated 4,300 twilight towers in the U.S. has proven elusive for the FCC and illustrates the difficulty of moving forward on infrastructure issues. Commissioner Mike O’Rielly discussed the towers in a Tuesday address to the Wireless Infrastructure Association (see 1705230016). Former FCC officials said the lack of progress wasn’t from lack of trying. Twilight towers, built between March 2001 and March 2005, never went through the FCC Section 106 historic preservation review process and as a result are unavailable for collocation.
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“It defies explanation that we have not resolved an issue that we have known about for 12 years,” O’Rielly told WIA Tuesday. “I was hopeful when I spoke to staff after my last visit with you. The commission was finally ready to act, but action turned into stakeholder discussions and discussions turned into nothing.”
Ex-officials said the Wireless Bureau made a big push to address twilight towers under then-Chairman Tom Wheeler. The bureau made substantial progress but ultimately couldn’t get over a major roadblock -- opposition from tribal governments. The problems point to the difficulties presented by infrastructure issues, the former officials said. The FCC didn't comment. WIA and groups representing the carriers also didn't comment Friday.
Tribal governments oppose a blanket waiver for the sites because they don't know how many twilight towers exist and they're very concerned such towers could be built on sacred ground, said lawyers active on siting issues. Complicating things is that tribal sacred ground is known only within tribes by the elders, not written down, and is passed on generationally, the lawyers said. “Without reviewing each site, they cannot be sure whether sacred ground is impacted,” one lawyer said. “Because the tribes do not know how many sites and where these sites are located, they are very concerned about the time and cost of reviewing them. As tribes are deeply connected to the land, they are unwilling to just give the FCC a pass on this.”
"Commissioner O'Rielly is right, the U.S. is at a critical juncture for paving the way for the speedy construction of badly needed new wireless infrastructure,” said former Commissioner Robert McDowell, now at Cooley and Mobile Future. “If all governments -- federal, state and local -- don't streamline and modernize their siting regulations and eliminate duplication and counterproductive delays, America will lose her leadership in the wireless space. With 5G and the IoT in our doorstep, there's no time to waste."
“The issue of twilight towers needs to be resolved and a Solomonic solution needs to be found,” said Roger Entner, analyst at Recon Analytics. “We should not reward the construction of towers without following the proper rules. On the other hand, they are operating already for more than 10 years, mostly without an issue. We have to find a proper funding mechanism for the review of the twilight towers. I believe this would go a long way to get the tribal governments to agree with a solution to solve this issue.”