Telecommunications: Enhanced Data Collection Could Help FCC Better Monitor Competition in the Wireless Industry Page: 41 of 57
This report is part of the collection entitled: Government Accountability Office Reports and was provided to UNT Digital Library by the UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Local jurisdictions with whom we spoke noted their obligation to balance
their communities' desire for wireless coverage with aesthetic, historical,
environmental, cultural, and health priorities. While improved wireless
coverage is a desire of many areas, the perceived impacts of wireless
infrastructure and services can be concerns of local residents. Such
concerns can, in some cases, outweigh the benefits of wireless coverage,
particularly when there are other options for locating infrastructure.
Local governments and wireless entities have generally been able to reach
agreements on the conditions of wireless network construction, despite
the challenges noted above. Some local jurisdictions have developed
ordinances specifically for wireless infrastructure in order to make their
preferences and requirements clear to carriers and tower companies.
Carriers have also developed and adopted a variety of disguising or
"stealthing" technologies that help mask towers and other infrastructure.
Figure 14 shows a stealth tower in Eureka, California, where the antennas
were hidden inside a bell tower on church grounds. In San Francisco, to
avoid aesthetic concerns and procedural challenges, wireless carriers have
developed Distributed Antenna Systems in recent years. Instead of using
large towers or antennas on buildings, these systems involve a series of
small antennas, deployed low to the ground, often on utility poles, that
together provide wireless coverage.
Figure 14: Disguised Cellular Tower in Eureka, California
Source: GAO.
Some wireless carriers and tower companies maintained that national
efforts, to date, to facilitate the siting of wireless infrastructure have been
of limited utility. The National Broadband Plan noted that securing rightsGAO-10-779 Telecommunications
Page 37
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This report can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Report.
United States. Government Accountability Office. Telecommunications: Enhanced Data Collection Could Help FCC Better Monitor Competition in the Wireless Industry, report, July 27, 2010; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc300859/m1/41/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.