WASHINGTON-The Personal Communications Industry Association last week urged the Federal
Communications Commission to re-visit its rooftop access rules.
The rules adopted in November to implement the
Telecommunications Act of 1996 restrict access only to customers with balconies or patios. FCC regulations extended
its over-the-air reception device rule to allow customers to install TV antennas, small satellite dishes and wireless cable
antennas on areas such as balconies.
The PCIA petition urged the FCC to adopt rules to allow devices other than
those used for public safety to be installed in multitenant buildings. PCIA said the telecom act should be interpreted
broadly so new carriers have the guaranteed access to rooftops, which is necessary for them to be able to reach
customers. PCIA argued line-of-sight technology, such as local multipoint distribution service, cannot be supported by
anything other than rooftop access.
“We need access to rooftops to get the product to the customers,”
said Brent Weingardt, PCIA vice president for government relations. PCIA represents LMDS carriers.
The rules are
important to the LMDS business plan because most commercial buildings that house businesses do not have balconies,
said Weingardt. “We’re talking small businesses. We are not going to go door-to-door in an apartment building.
The economies are not there yet,” he said.
PCIA is likely to have a foe in its fight in the form of the Building
Owners and Managers Association, which did not like the FCC’s original rules let alone any relaxation of
them.
“The FCC does not regulate real estate and we’re not about to let them start,” said Gerard Lederer,
BOMA vice president for government and industry affairs. BOMA has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the District of Columbia challenging the FCC’s original rules.
BOMA is not opposed to the new technologies, just
the mandatory access, said Lederer. “We want to be on the Information Superhighway. If we don’t have these
various technologies, we are not competitive … but we have to bring them [in a manner that is consistent with] the
master plan for the development,” he said.
Another major concern for BOMA is the threat of lawsuits if
something bad happens on the roof. “I don’t know how many times I have to explain it. If one of these [antennas]
falls, I am still going to get sued,” Lederer said.
PCIA hopes to dispel the myth that LMDS and fixed-wireless
carriers will tear up walls and create a mess inside buildings. Weingardt said he expects to submit to the FCC in the
future a white paper disputing the disruption arguments made by some landowners. “It’s the ignorance on the Hill
and at the FCC that hurts us,” he said, noting that many people believe the landowners’ arguments.
Rooftop
access is a relatively new issue in the big battle over local telephone competition because companies such as WinStar
Communications Inc. and Teligent Inc., which also signed onto the PCIA reconsideration petition, just recently began
rolling out service.
