Nextel Communications Inc. recently offered a farmer in South Coventry, Pa., a new $70,000, 105-foot silo if the wireless phone company could put an antenna inside of it to fill a gap in its coverage.
This is just one example of the extremes companies will go to when locating antenna sites in today’s booming wireless communications market. More communications companies need sites as the demand for wireless communications services grows by leaps and bounds. But at the same time, many wireless communications users do not want to look at the antennas that make wireless service possible.
PageMart Wireless Inc. is one of the players with a stake in locating antenna sites. The nationwide messaging company is negotiating or reworking 2,000 site leases this year alone. About 10 percent of those leases are new. The company’s overlay of a two-way messaging technology onto its existing one-way system requires relocating and enhancing existing antenna sites, as well as finding new sites.
“We work with a large number of suppliers scattered throughout the country to locate and lease sites,” said Sandra Grove, senior manager-site acquisition. “It makes the process easier when the supplier has a centralized system for processing site leases.
“One of our suppliers, Motorola, offers it’s Site Express service to make the acquisition process easier. Site Express offers one number to call no matter what area of the country we’re focused on. And it provides immediate information on what sites are available, a free compatibility analysis and document preparation.”
What’s stimulating the boom?
What phenomena are stimulating the tremendous demand for wireless antenna sites?
“This has always been a good business, and it has grown steadily over the last 10 years,” said Bruce McIntyre, executive vice president of Highpoint Tower Technology Inc. “In recent years, the Federal Communications Commission has put more spectrum on the street, and those who get the spectrum need to produce.”
The auction of higher-frequency spectrum for personal communications services has created a host of new telecommunications companies deploying this new service across the United States. Since PCS systems operate at a higher frequency than cellular, the radio waves are shorter and don’t travel as far. The bottom line is that PCS companies need more sites to provide adequate coverage for their customers.
As PCS companies take over new geographic locations, they often need to activate hundreds of antenna sites simultaneously. Some experts forecast the biggest need for sites is still to come, as service expands outside the big cities to suburbs and more rural areas of the country.
At the same time, the demand for sites from cellular companies also is growing. Many cellular companies are converting to digital technology. Digital cellular signals do not reach as far as analog, meaning cellular companies will require additional cell sites as well.
Other rapid technology developments increase the demand and requirement for sites.
Two-way paging typically requires more sites than one-way does since the return signal from the paging unit to a nearby tower is lower-powered than the outbound signal. High-definition televisions will require very tall towers in major markets, and local multipoint distribution service licensees also will need many sites.
Another metamorphosis sparking the growing demand for sites is the burgeoning increase in subscribers to wireless communications services. Thomas E. Wheeler, president of the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, reports the industry adds more than 36,000 new customers nationwide every day.
According to Wheeler, 22 percent of the entire U.S. population uses wireless phones.
“Over the next decade, wireless communications will become a universal service,” he said. “For many people, the question will not be whether they have a wireless phone; it will be what kind, and how many.”
What’s causing the bottleneck?
Until recently, antenna sites were constructed with little resistance. Many sites were owned and operated by small local and regional tower companies, which provided them for a variety of services from paging to dispatch to ham radios. A sizable number were built by the wireless carriers themselves.
However, while the need for tower sites continues and the demand for wireless communications increases, resistance against communications towers grows.
Complaints about the environmental impact, unsightliness and negative affect on property values have resulted in a hodgepodge of municipal zoning regulations and permit requirements. As a result of the powerful “Not In My Backyard” movement, some municipal governments even have placed moratoria on construction of new towers.
When applying to place an antenna in a specific community location, wireless licensees must comply with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as well as with other federal environmental statutes. The FCC’s environmental regulations mandate each applicant evaluate all the potential environmental effects of the antenna and disclose any significant effects in an environmental assessment.
In addition, the Telecommunications Act of 1996 specifies if the proposed antenna site is in a certain type of location, such as a wildlife preserve or historical site, the wireless licensee must submit an environmental assessment and obtain FCC approval prior to building the antenna.
Meanwhile, to make the process even more complex, site applicants often must consult with citizens, zoning boards, public service commissions and county and municipal authorities.
Just last month, CTIA and the FCC announced a new mediation process for the potential resolution of antenna-siting disputes.
“I’d say that 50 percent of our zoning applications wind up in appeal, costing a lot of money while the phones still don’t work,” said Michael Schmidt, president and CEO of Atlantic Coast Communications Inc. The company builds and maintains radio systems in New Jersey and Delaware and owns 27 towers with space leased to other communications companies.
“The application scenario often goes like this,” said Schmidt. “First we make a presentation about our proposed tower site to the local jurisdiction, referring to the Telecommunications Act and its requirement of cooperation. Our experience is that many local agencies don’t want to hear about federal recommendations. They are focused on their own concerns, which sometimes include competing with us to build and lease their own towers.
“So in many cases, our proposal is denied. We appeal, and then the court often rules against us, citing `home rule.’ It is a very difficult situation,” he explained.
A quick scan of wireless antenna news in the past year emphasizes the difficulties many wireless communications face. Baltimore County, Md., became one of the most populated areas yet to impose a temporary moratorium on antennas sites. The city of Cottleville, Mo., imposed a $6,000 tax on telephone towers. Nine Broome County, N.Y., localities passed legislation for antenna regulation. Ligonier, Pa., township supervisors unanimously approved an ordinance restricting the size of antenna sites. The list goes on and on.
In addition to the menagerie of regulations and increased competition for sites, there is the complication that some types of technologies are not compatible with each other, and may require engineering modifications so they can be co-located. So although the location might be right and the space might be open, careful analysis is required to determine whether the service will interfere with the other services already located at that antenna site.
“This is a very complex business. The technology is still developing, the regulatory requirements are changing, and the competitive demand for immediate satisfaction
of sites is on the rise,” said Joni Glockner, director of operations for Motorola’s Antenna Site Management Division.
Motorola is a full-service provider for antenna site management services across the United States and Canada. “The question is, how much time and expertise can a wireless carrier afford to spend keeping up with this continuous change?”
Helping to ease the problem
The process of locating antenna sites can vary, depending on how much of the job the communications provider is prepared to handle, and how much service the supplier offers.
“I choose a new antenna site based on five key factors,” said PageMart’s Grove. “These factors are: coverage characteristics, price, quality of the facility, how quickly I can complete a lease, and how well the site is maintained.”
ANI is a radio engineering company that markets its sites on the Internet. On its web site, the company says it sees its responsibility as keeping radio transmission sites working smoothly by supervising site construction activities, verifying lease compliance and evaluating insurance policies.
“Considerable work goes into making sure that all new client equipment is compatible with all existing equipment,” says ANI.
Atlantic Coast Communications handles everything from zoning to site construction.
“We’ve been in business since 1976, so most of our leases come by reputation,” said Schmidt.
Motorola offers a national footprint of multi-use sites, and its Site Express provides comprehensive customer service. “Our service is open to any carrier in the industry-from cellular, PCS, paging, two-way radio to LMDS,” said Glockner.
Glockner said Motorola goes beyond simple matchmaking to provide full-service site management. “When carriers call our toll-free Site Express number, we resolve problems and link them directly to field engineers and territory managers.
“We provide one-stop shopping for carriers by conducting engineering compatibility studies at no cost, processing site occupancy requests, engineering the site requirements, maintaining the site, and making sure the carrier is in compliance with all federal, state and local environmental and safety requirements.”
Sometimes, site management takes unusual turns. When the Galaxy IV satellite recently rotated out of its orbit over Kansas, causing 90 percent of the 45 million pagers in the United States to lose service, technicians across the country had to visit rooftops and other locations to redirect thousands of satellite dishes.
Motorola field technician Dave Gartner rode a Snowcat 8,700 feet up California’s Mount Pluto in a snowstorm to install two new satellite dishes and realign a third. “We lease antenna sites from Motorola, and in a number of locations that have difficult access they rotated the dishes for us,” said Stan Wigh, AT&T Wireless technical manager.
Site location and management is an exercise that can include everything from application, negotiation and appeals to ongoing maintenance with Snowcats. As the wireless revolution continues, so will the need to build and expand the infrastructure necessary to satisfy the demand for service while balancing the needs of the community to locate sites in acceptable places or disguise them. Whether it involves building a silo or leasing space on a mountain top, locating antennas sites will continue to be a challenge in the immediate future.
Harriet Meyers is a freelance writer and public relations consultant in Columbia, Md.
