Cities nationwide are suddenly seeing requests to place small wireless devices in public rights-of-way. Most of the requests today are for placing mini-cell sites, but in the near future there are going to be a plethora of other outdoor wireless devices to support 5G broadband and wireless loops.

Many cities are struggling with how to handle these requests. I think that once they understand the potential magnitude of future requests it’s going to become even more of an issue. Following are some of the many issues involved with outdoor wireless electronics placement:

Franchising. One of the tools cities have always used to control and monitor placement of things in rights-of-way is through the use of franchise agreements that specifically spell out how any given company can use the right-of-way. But FCC rules have prohibited franchises for cellular carriers for decades – rules that were first put into place to promote the expansion of cellular networks. Those rules made some sense when cities only had to deal with large cellular towers that are largely located outside of rights-of-way, but make a lot less sense for devices that can be placed anywhere in a city.

Aesthetics. These new wireless devices are not going to be placed in the traditional locations like large cellular towers, water towers and rooftops of buildings. Instead the wireless providers will want to place them on existing telephone poles and light poles. Further, I’ve heard of requests for the placement of new, taller poles as tall as 100 feet that would be used just for the wireless network.

The devices that will be used are going to vary widely in size and requirements, making it difficult to come up with any one-size-fits-all new rules. The devices might vary in sizes ranging from a laptop computer up to a small dorm refrigerator. And some of the devices will be accompanied by support struts and other devices that together make for a fairly large new structure. The vast majority of these devices will need an external power feed (some might be solar powered) and many are also going to need a fiber feed.

It’s also expected that 5G devices are going to want relatively clear line-of-sight and this means a lot more tree-trimming, including trimming at greater heights than in the past. I can picture this creating big issues in residential neighborhoods.

Proliferation. I doubt that any city is prepared for the possible proliferation of wireless devices. Not only are there four major cellular companies, but these devices are going to be deployed by the cable companies that are now entering the cellular market along with a host of ISPs that want to deliver wireless broadband. There will also be significant demand for placement for connecting private networks as well as for the uses by the cities themselves. I remember towns fifty years ago that had unsightly masses of telephone wires. Over the next decade or two it’s likely that we will see wireless devices everywhere.

Safety. One of the concerns for any city and the existing utilities that use poles and rights-of-way is the safety of technicians that work on poles. Adding devices to poles always makes it more complicated to work on a pole. But adding live electric feeds to devices (something that is fairly rare on poles) and new fiber wires and the complexity increases again – particularly for technicians trying to make repairs in storm conditions.

Possible Preemption of City Rights. Even after considering all these issues, it’s possible that the choice might soon be moot for cities. At the federal level both the FCC and Congress are contemplating rules that make it easier for cellular companies to deploy these devices. There are also numerous bills currently in state legislatures that are looking at the same issues. In both cases most of the rules being contemplated would override local control and would institute the same rules everywhere. And as you might imagine, almost all of these laws are being pushed by the big cellular companies and largely favor them over cities.

It’s easy to understand why the cellular companies want universal rules. It would be costly for them to negotiate this city by city. But local control of rights-of-way has been an effective tool for cities to use to control haphazard proliferation of devices in their rights-of-way. This is gearing up to be a big battle – and one that will probably come to a head fairly soon.