FCC Gets Tough on Tower Siting Delays

The FCC has acted on a petition filed by the CTIA-the Wireless Association, requesting clarification of provisions in the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, which cover state and local review of wireless facility siting applications.

The Commission issued a Declaratory Ruling which establishes timeframes of 90 days for review of co-location applications, and 150 days for review of all other tower siting applications. The ruling also establishes that it is a violation of the Communications Act for a state or local government to deny a wireless service facility siting application based on service being available from another provider.

As far as I can tell, this ruling will not apply to any wireless facilities licensed to broadcasters. Section 332(c)(7) of the Communications Act, addresses state or local government "decisions regarding the placement, construction and modification of personal wireless service facilities." Personal wireless service facilities are defined in Section 332(c)(7)(C)(ii) as "facilities for the provision of personal wireless services" and personal wireless services are defined in Section 332(c)(7)(C)(i) as "commercial mobile services, unlicensed wireless services, and common carrier wireless exchange access services."

Doug Lung

Doug Lung is one of America's foremost authorities on broadcast RF technology. As vice president of Broadcast Technology for NBCUniversal Local, H. Douglas Lung leads NBC and Telemundo-owned stations’ RF and transmission affairs, including microwave, radars, satellite uplinks, and FCC technical filings. Beginning his career in 1976 at KSCI in Los Angeles, Lung has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast television engineering. Beginning in 1985, he led the engineering department for what was to become the Telemundo network and station group, assisting in the design, construction and installation of the company’s broadcast and cable facilities. Other projects include work on the launch of Hawaii’s first UHF TV station, the rollout and testing of the ATSC mobile-handheld standard, and software development related to the incentive auction TV spectrum repack. A longtime columnist for TV Technology, Doug is also a regular contributor to IEEE Broadcast Technology. He is the recipient of the 2023 NAB Television Engineering Award. He also received a Tech Leadership Award from TV Tech publisher Future plc in 2021 and is a member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.