Angered by the FCC's recent passage of an order capping the fees and times municipalities can set for 5G tower approvals, Boston and neighboring towns may sue the commission -- a step that could delay the rollout of 5G in some parts of the United States.
Massachusetts municipalities see the FCC order as creating a windfall for cellular companies, the Boston Globe reports, as the commission acknowledged up front that it would save companies around $2 billion per year. The FCC says that those dollars will be pushed into earlier deployments elsewhere.
Boston currently charges as much as $2,500 per pole per year to install a cell, but the FCC caps the fee at $500 for installation on an existing pole and $270 per year thereafter, unless a city can show exceptional costs justifying higher fees. Regardless, that's a major drop in fees, especially for bigger cities: New York City charges around $4,500 per pole annually.
Carriers and the FCC have both argued that the prior fees were too high, particularly as new "small cells" will multiply the number of deployments by at least a factor of ten, creating both a windfall for municipalities and a gigantic number of approvals for local officials to wade through. To avoid delays, the FCC also capped the local review time at 90 days after a carrier's filing, a drop from the 120 days typically required in Massachusetts.
The Globe's report says that the Massachusetts Municipal Organization is predicting that local governments will sue to block enforcement of the FCC order, claiming that the public is effectively subsidizing 5G buildouts. Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh similarly suggests that a "benefit from private companies should not come at a cost to the taxpayers of Boston and should not strip local municipalities of their ability to oversee public rights of way."
Municipalities have previously treated cellular hardware installations as an opportunity to generate revenues and offset essentially unrelated costs. Even though cellular towers have no physical impact on adjacent infrastructure, Boston has apparently used pole fees to pay for street repairs.
Viewed from a wider perspective, the actual national impact on total fees paid to cities and towns remains uncertain. FCC Commissioner Brandon Carr has said that the reduced fees will spur "a lot more 5G deployment," and are supported by dozens of smaller communities.