WASHINGTON-A Government Accounting Office report says the U.S. Postal Service has “put on hold” plans to expand an antenna-siting program, which could have significant impacts on efforts to get antenna-siting and enhanced 911 legislation passed next year.
UniSite Inc., an independent tower company partnered with the postal service for tower siting, said it has stalled its buildout plans.
The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, which strongly supports antenna-siting and E911 legislation, has touted the USPS siting program as a success that should be copied on other federal buildings. The legislation would encourage such sites.
GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, said in a November report that “through a strategic alliance between [USPS] and UniSite Inc., 150 communications towers are to be built on postal property and then leased to wireless carriers … The first antenna constructed under the UniSite antenna program became operational in June 1996. Constructing antennas on postal sites led to unexpected public criticism of the program. Because of this, [USPS] put its plans on hold to expand the program beyond the original 150 sites. At the end of 1997, 15 antenna sites were operational.”
UniSite sees the situation a little differently. “I am not sure where the GAO got the information that the project was on hold,” said Terry Peters, UniSite vice president of sales and marketing. The program was scheduled for a review after 150 sites were operational, Peters said, but that does not mean the program is or will be put on hold.
“[The USPS tower program] was supposed to be God’s gift to the wireless industry, but it hasn’t worked out that way,” said Peters. “It has slowed down but it is not accurate to say it is on hold.”
The slowing down was a result of local opposition, Peters acknowledged. USPS said it is proceeding with the towers on a case-by-case basis depending on local opposition or support. “We are not pursuing it as aggressively as in the past,” said USPS spokeswoman Sandra Harding.
Additionally, GAO reported USPS has not gained any revenue from the antenna-siting program and actually has lost $1.6 million.
The GAO findings were published in a larger report on USPS new products. The report, “U.S. Postal Service: Development and Inventory of New Products,” said USPS lost $84.7 million on new products. Only one of the product lines- merchandise carrying stamps-is profitable, GAO said.
CTIA blamed the lack of intervention and involvement by the Federal Communications Commission for the apparent failure of the USPS tower program. “We have worked with [the General Services Administration] for quite some time to facilitate tower sitings. However, what we continue to butt up against is an FCC that has been unable to assist in the timely siting of antennas,” said CTIA spokesman Jeffrey Nelson. “[USPS] is being held captive to local activists. We wish the FCC would encourage strongly federal agency cooperation with the industry to site antennas,” he added.
The FCC encourages other federal agencies to site towers “wherever feasible,” said a spokesman for the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. “We are on the record as consistently encouraging sister agencies to, wherever feasible, lease federal property to wireless licensees. Where specific matters are brought to the [wireless] bureau’s attention, we work with the parties to facilitate that result.”
