Carr Says Trip to Shenandoah Valley Confirms Need for Infrastructure Reform
With the FCC’s next wireless infrastructure order set for a vote March 22 (see 1803010047), FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said he made visits to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia last week and heard from people there about the need for…
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better broadband. “I got to see first-hand how the FCC’s proposed order will result in more broadband and in turn greater economic opportunity and jobs for communities across the Commonwealth and the country,” Carr blogged. Carr was tasked by Chairman Ajit Pai to lead the FCC on wireless infrastructure. The order set for a vote by commissioners will help, he said. “For traditional large cells, the order streamlines certain federal historic and environmental reviews, while leaving in place appropriate local review,” he said. “For small cells -- deployments that have a much different footprint than those 100-foot towers associated with traditional, macrocell deployments -- the order updates our approach by excluding these types of deployments from those federal historic and environmental review procedures.” Meanwhile, the National Association of Towns and Townships filed a letter at the FCC raising concerns about FCC moves on wireless infrastructure. The group said in a filing in docket 17-79 it told FCC staff that the Telecom Act of 1996 “created a uniform framework for the relationship between local governments and telecommunications providers and that the intent of the Act was to balance protecting local decision-making authority and reducing barriers to deployment of telecommunications services.” It said it “noted that local governments have legitimate concerns with recent legislative and regulatory proposals that could change the public-private relationship to strongly favor telecommunications providers, thereby reducing the ability of local governments to ensure the safety and reliability of facilities located in the public rights-of-way.” The Delaware Tribe of Indians questioned the proposed changes to infrastructure rules. "Under the proposed changes private contractors would not be required to obtain written responses from tribes indicating tribal consultation, they no longer recognize the tribes right to request compensation for services rendered," the tribe said. "This would create an unfunded federal mandate which would place the financial burden on tribes. In other words, we would have the right to consult but we would need to use our tribal resources to consult on federally supported programs that would potentially impact our historic and cultural properties."