More than a year has passed since the Federal Communications Commission completed its first ever auction for both narrowband and broadband personal communications services frequencies. The winners are racing to design, acquire and build out their new digital networks. Some of these PCS systems already are operating and attracting a customer base.
Many of these carriers are no doubt coming to the same conclusion those of us who acquire, permit and construct wireless sites for a profession have known for some time. The way we have acquired wireless sites for the past 25 years will no longer work.
We are all aware of the daily obstacles faced in wireless site acquisition due to real estate, aesthetic and perceived health concerns. Problems in obtaining zoning and building permits are compounded by the sheer number of players, often inexperienced, who are competing for the same sites. Reluctance among carriers to cooperate with collocations and new joint facilities is creating contempt with planners and local residents alike.
However the real problem is much more basic. And that is the way we are continuing to design our networks. The traditional art of wireless radio engineering is to have a radio engineer design a frequency grid on paper prior to starting the acquisition of real estate. The design is a model often using the input of site acquisition or permitting consultants to screen for difficult zoning areas. Search “rings” are assembled from U.S. Geological Survey maps and the site acquisition representative or contractor is sent out to acquire the best site within the search ring. Here is where the process breaks down.
1. Radio engineers are using outdated USGS maps that even when photo revised are horribly inaccurate. Often a subdivision or a shopping center will be built where the USGS map shows open land.
2. Radio engineers are generally assigned two to four times as many sites as a site acquisition representative. Delays are caused when several site acquisition representatives are competing for one radio engineer to give attention to their site or group of sites.
3. The radio engineer seldom has time to do field visits on potential sites and work as a “team” with the site acquisition representative and other disciplines to quickly evaluate the feasibility of a site.
4. The radio engineer looks for a “perfect” site from an operational standpoint and, often with good intentions, is unwilling to compromise on system integrity. This is especially true in digital networks.
5. The project management team faces frustration with continual site location changes and redesign of equipment as sites drop out. This often results in a redesign of adjacent sites previously thought to be complete.
6. After sites have been designed and deemed feasible, the wireless company may still be facing uncertainty for approval to construct the site. The reality is some sites can and will take as long as two to three years to receive zoning approvals.
The new PCS carriers are trying to compete with mature cellular, enhanced specialized mobile radio and paging carriers who have a five to 11 year head start. The PCS carriers don’t have five to 11 years to build their networks. If they take more than 24 months to enter the market, many of them may not survive long enough to compete. Therefore we must rethink the site acquisition process or all carriers, new and existing, are going to find themselves in gridlock trying to implement their networks.
The following is a list of recommendations for acquiring and building sites on time and within budget:
1. Allow the site acquisition or zoning contractor to research all available “user friendly” sites first. This should include permitted roof tops and collocation opportunities on every type of existing tower and utility location. This would allow the wireless carrier to push the permitting down to its lowest possible level.
2. Present these “user friendly” sites to your radio engineer and require him or her to “make it work!” A radical step perhaps, but we are talking about financial survival. With each site in a major city having the potential to generate $60,000-$200,000 in monthly revenue, it is critical to get these sites built and operating quickly.
What is acceptable to operate a site? Sixty percent to 90 percent of optimum may be acceptable to get the site on the air and start generating revenue. The perfect site seldom exists and precious time is often lost in trying to acquire it. We can’t lose sight of the big picture. No sites-No Revenue.
3. Stress that “compromise” is paramount among all members of your project management team. This includes all disciplines from top management down to your contractors.
4. Build new facilities with enough structural integrity to offer collocation possibilities to other carriers and actively encourage their use for this purpose.
5. Seek out your competition and promote joint site applications on municipal properties first. It is easier to work with the municipality as a landlord than as an opponent.
6. Promote educational workshops for planners and local residents to explain what it is you are trying to do and how many carriers and sites will operate in that community. Emphasize the benefits of wireless service and stress “public safety” features over profit and loss.
The central opposition to this approach is an inferior radio design from the onset. Arguments are made that the network will be full of holes. My contention is that no matter how you design the network, it will be full of holes. But this approach will get you there quicker. Once you turn up the network you will fill in new sites as needed to improve both quality of service and capacity. This is true even with mature wireless carriers as they proliferate their networks.
With the large amounts of money invested by PCS carriers for licenses and digital networks, many will be short-lived if they can’t deliver wireless service on schedule. Unless we rethink this process immediately, site acquisition will certainly prove to be the “tail that wags the dog.”
