As president and CEO of PCIA – the Wireless Infrastructure Association, Michael Fitch is charged with overseeing the group’s mission of supporting the infrastructure necessary to make wireless communications and information available at all times and in all places. While the task may seem straightforward, anyone who has ever been involved in tower siting, knows about the technical, regulatory and ideological challenges that are part of the process. With a background rooted in federal government as well as business, Fitch is well-suited to work with public agencies and private companies. On the eve of this year’s PCIA annual event, RCR Wireless News asked Fitch about new wireless builds, a new regulatory environment and what it means for infrastructure providers.
RCR Wireless News: While 2008 seemed to be characterized by spectrum auctions, 2009 could be seen as a year of building wireless networks as spectrum winners like the cable companies beginning network builds, Clearwire launching more WiMAX markets, while traditional carriers continue to be aggressive on 3G rollouts and have announced 4G plans. What does that mean to the wireless infrastructure industry?
Michael Fitch: Spectrum auctions, carrier upgrades, new market entrants and the increased use of higher bandwidth applications all fuel the need for wireless infrastructure. Users need and expect wireless service everywhere—where they work, live, play and travel. Increasingly, the bandwidth requirements require that the infrastructure be placed closer to the end user. PCIA is working to help our members meet these deployment challenges.
RCRWN: What’s the regulatory environment like at the federal, state and local levels regarding infrastructure? How does this affect PCIA’s lobbying efforts?
Fitch: PCIA is working for wireless everywhere. We welcome the increased focus on broadband deployments that we see now at all levels of government. A recent study indicates that by the year 2020, the majority of Americans will use wireless devices as their primary broadband access, so one of our most important goals is to ensure that all levels of government understand the importance of wireless infrastructure and to encourage legislative and regulatory solutions that enable timely action on infrastructure authorizations by government. We encourage streamlining of collocation on existing infrastructure, which is the fastest and most cost-effective solution when feasible.
At the federal level, there are new people making policy and regulatory decisions. At the FCC, there are a new chairman and two new commissioners out of the total of five. There is also new leadership at NTIA and the Rural Utilities Service, both of which have large broadband stimulus responsibilities. We are meeting with all of these new leaders as well as with key members of Congress to ensure that they understand the important issues affecting wireless infrastructure. We are also working with policy makers at the state and local levels to help them better address infrastructure needs.
RCRWN: What role did PCIA play in the Broadband Stimulus Package legislation? How do you expect the stimulus package to impact the industry?
Fitch: Immediately after the election, PCIA began working with President Obama’s transition team and congressional leaders and key staff working on the legislation to ensure that it included wireless services and infrastructure in addressing broadband goals. Wireless will be the most practical and effective method of broadband deployment in most rural and remote areas. Wireless is also critical to real service competition in all areas and will ultimately provide consumers and other end users with mobile Internet access. Our efforts resulted in the inclusion of wireless and its underlying infrastructure in the Broadband Stimulus funding as well as private sector eligibility.
The stimulus funding has the potential to enable previously cost-prohibitive wireless service deployments in additional areas of the country. Network operators will reach customers that would have otherwise been inaccessible. Services and infrastructure providers and vendors will all benefit from increased demand. And consumers and their communities will gain access to important services, enjoy expanded economic development opportunities, and receive improved personal and public safety through enhanced 911 services and advanced mobile applications for first responders.
RCRWN: How has the economic downturn impacted the wireless infrastructure business?
Fitch: The economic downturn has shown that a wireless device has become too important to give up. The increased reliance on wireless services has fueled the need for wireless infrastructure. For the most part, the carriers have the necessary capital to fund that work. There is a great deal of emphasis on quality of service and reliability in service marketing, and that has to be backed up with expansion of the networks and throughput.
RCRWN: What should we expect to see from PCIA in the upcoming year?
Fitch: PCIA is all about enhancing business opportunities for our members. We will continue to work at all levels of government to improve the siting approval process and pursue regulation that is reasonable in terms of time, cost and burdens on applicants. We will continue to urge streamlining the process for collocation and educating government officials on the importance of wireless infrastructure as a component of broadband deployment. This includes educational outreach to decision-makers and providing them with balanced models that they can apply to their wireless infrastructure processes.
RCRWN: What short-term and long-term projects are you working on?
Fitch: We will work with the FCC as it develops its National Broadband Plan to ensure that wireless broadband is well represented and that the FCC addresses opportunities to streamline the regulatory process associated with wireless infrastructure.
Together with our partners in the state wireless association program, we will work with state governments to pass legislation to streamline the collocation process so that wireless infrastructure can be deployed quickly and efficiently to meet public demand.
We will continue working with planners and local officials as they rewrite their wireless facility siting ordinances to make sure that they understand the importance of wireless infrastructure to serve their citizens and expand the economy.
Through The DAS Forum, we will work to remove barriers to entry and address the issues and needs of members deploying distributed antenna systems and other forms of distributed infrastructure.
RCRWN: How does the new administration affect the infrastructure business?
Fitch: The new administration has emphatically made nationwide broadband deployment its priority and we share the goal of ubiquitous wireless services. PCIA looks forward to working with them to ensure that regulatory processes are in place to enable swift deployment of wireless services.
RCRWN: What are you looking forward to at the show? What should we keep our eyes out for?
Fitch:
• The opening keynote speech by Tony Melone, CTO of Verizon Wireless;
• View from the Top and Wireless Investors Conference—the CEOs’, CFOs’, and financial analysts’ perspectives on the industry;
• Four packed tracks of the most relevant education in the industry;
• Many new exhibitors on an expanded show floor;
• The inclusion of expert research analysts on multiple panels;
• Unmatched networking opportunities for attendees.
