WASHINGTON-In a major victory for the wireless industry, the Justice Department last week approved an antenna siting collocation plan crafted by the Personal Communications Industry Association.
The PCIA approach includes an information exchange, known as the Site Search Clearinghouse, which will allow wireless carriers to gather information about each other’s antenna siting plans so that they can jointly acquire and construct tower sites.
Today, with more than 2,000 new wireless systems being built around the country, carriers are finding it increasingly difficult to obtain antenna site approvals because of concerns over health, aesthetics and property devaluation.
PCIA, which will begin beta testing of the database and complete testing this summer, sought Justice’s review to make sure it passed antitrust scrutiny.
“The limited nature of the information that would be exchanged through the SSC leads the Department to conclude that such exchanges are not likely, by themselves, to have anticompetitive effects,” said Joel Klein, chief of Justice’s antitrust division.
“Nor do we believe,” Klein added, “that the exchanged information would be likely to lead to or facilitate other ancillary or independent agreements that would subvert competition.”
On the contrary, Klein said that if the antenna siting co-location removes barriers to entry the plan will have a pro-competitive effect on the mobile phone industry.
“The public clearly wants wireless to continue to develop, but at the same time, they want that development to occur in a reasonable manner,” said Jay Kitchen, president of PCIA. “PCIA is dedicated to finding new ways to help the wireless industry strike that critical balance.”
