To realize the vision of 5G, the IoT and smart cities, site acquisition regulations needs to be streamlined
Aside from the promise of fundamentally changing the way we live and work, the enabling technology for 5G, the internet of things and use cases like smart cities have something else in common: the need for extensive deployment of wireless infrastructure.
But, as it stands, a combination of inconsistent regulatory regimes–many that treat tiny small cells or rooftop antennas exactly the same as macro tower builds–and NIMBYism based on the disparate desire for improved telecom services with no aesthetic impact from hardware are working in tandem to slow the pace of builds and driving up capital and operating expenses.
Something has got to give, Wireless Infrastructure Association President Jonathan Adelstein told attendees, many government officials, to the recent Smart Cities Week conference in Washington D.C.
Adelstein said cities and residents want wireless services and “recognize the critical nature of infrastructure. Yet we run into roadblocks in cities across the country that aren’t maybe so on the cutting edge in trying to implement and deploy these networks.”
Check out this video of Adelstein’s comments during a panel discussion on smart cities and attendant issues.
He explained that members of the Wireless Infrastructure Association and its HetNet Forum invest an astonishing $35 billion into infrastructure projects, more than the oil and gas industry, essentially in an effort to connect cities and residents to increasingly robust network services. At the same time, some municipalities are pursuing the highly-complex task of installing proprietary networks.
“What you’d expect is they’d be welcoming in infrastructure,” he said. But, “People throw up roadblocks to the rights-of-way, they throw up roadblocks to the antenna–the fiber might be OK–but all of a sudden you put an antenna up there and it’s a whole nother world.
And what does this regulatory process mean for the vision of smart cities, seen as a key 5G/IoT use case?
“The move to 5G infrastructure, you’re going to require more and more antennas,” he said. “You’re talking about tens of thousands of antennas for each carrier into your cities with fiber connections. It’s an enormous network build that is about to take place and if we don’t streamline the process, it won’t happen fast enough, and all these wonderful applications…won’t be possible. Smart cities require smart regulation.”
Adelstein pointed out that wireless infrastructure for smart cities will be front and center at the upcoming HetNet Expo, set for Oct. 25 and 26 at the Royal Sonesta Houston Galleria. “We’re going to talk a lot actually about smart cities and about the small cell and distributed architecture that is required to enable them.”
HetNet Expo Keynote speakers include Crown Castle CEO Jay Brown, Leandre Johns, external affairs lead for Uber in Texas, Houston Texans President Jamey Rootes, Todd Landry, Corporate VP Product and Market Strategy at JMA, and Chris, Kimbrough, Managing Director at CBRE. For more information and to register for HetNext Expo 2016, click here.
