Lobbying on Wireless Infrastructure Intensifies With Next Big Order Pending
With the FCC set to vote on a major wireless infrastructure item Sept. 26, it saw much activity late in the week, based on filings in docket 17-79. Chairman Ajit Pai Wednesday circulated the draft declaratory ruling and order, crafted…
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by Commissioner Brendan Carr (see 1809050029). CTIA fired back at a NATOA petition for reconsideration of a March infrastructure order (see 1806060039). That order was “a proper, lawful exercise of the Commission’s authority under the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act, was consistent with those statutes, and was solidly grounded in the factual record,” CTIA said: The FCC “addressed a serious and growing problem -- the long delays and costs resulting from the Commission’s and Tribal authorities’ prior implementations of NEPA and NHPA.” Sprint agreed, saying the order offers “much-needed relief from the unnecessary and ineffective regulatory burdens created by the prior regime.” NTCA agrees with Crown Castle complaints railroads can slow wireless deployment (see 1807050022). “Unfettered monopoly control of certain tracts of land by railroads may have made sense a century or more ago,” not now, NTCA said. Officials with NATOA, the National League of Cities, the Smart Communities Coalition and the U.S. Conference of Mayors said Carr contacted each before the pending order premiered "to provide the organizations with his understanding and intent of the Item,” the groups said.