NASHVILLE, Tenn.-For Mike Fitch, well into his second year as head of a trade group for which reinvention has become a survival mechanism, the planets appear to be lining up for PCIA and its wireless infrastructure members.
Mobile-phone carriers need fatter pipes to carry data-rich multimedia content at high speeds to existing, new and hard-to-reach geographic areas. That requires more frequencies-like the 90 megahertz of spectrum the government finished auctioning last week-and additional infrastructure. With continued demand growing for wireless voice and data services-indeed, with wireline applications increasingly migrating to wireless-the importance of wireless infrastructure has been heightened.
Fitch, with a rich background in wireless policy as a former official at the Federal Communications Commission and State Department, and a firm grounding in the private sector, is attempting to put PCIA back on the map and return it to being an industry force. PCIA is competing with cell phone trade association CTIA, to become an FCC-certified clearinghouse for relocating users from the 2 GHz AWS band to other frequencies. PCIA recommended both associations be permitted to compete for relocation business.
In addition to fighting for antenna-siting relief at the state level and grappling with a host of other issues endemic to the tower industry, Fitch and his members launched a new membership unit, the DAS (distributed antenna systems) Forum. “This will be an additional section that really tries to promote DAS as a solution,” said Fitch in an interview at last week’s PCIA show. “It’s going to go beyond the work we normally we do in an area. It’s going to add resources. The real purpose of this is to make DAS more understandable to potential users, to government officials and regulatory authorities. … So you bring the experts into the room, write white papers, do on-site conferences where people can go out and look at a successful facility that’s been installed. But it’s all about promoting and understanding, and through that promoting and understanding, accelerating and expanding the market for this technology.”
Fitch said DAS is not a technology issue, though a few minor glitches may have to be worked out. Rather, Fitch explained, DAS is about getting standards in place and educating policy-makers-particularly those with local zoning powers-about a technology that could become a mainstay in the wireless industry. “It’s not a question of whether, it’s a question of when,” said Fitch.
While DAS technology is operating in some locales, the technology is pricey to install and local officials unfamiliar with it could make an already bureaucratic siting application process worse by requiring separate considerations of clustered antennas that operate as an aggregate.
Meantime, Fitch said PCIA will continue fighting for streamlined antenna co-location rules, the kind embraced in Tennessee, Florida and in legislation awaiting California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s signature. Fitch said PCIA activism at the state level has proven more effective than on the federal front, owing in part to the FCC’s full agenda and the likelihood the commission is not apt to intervene unless an egregious situation arises.
“We’re looking at that as a good path to go down. It’s much more efficient than trying to deal with every single local jurisdiction in the country,” said Fitch, referring to state co-location advocacy. “And so far as legislation that’s aimed at co-location, this ought to be an easy case for everybody. Everybody understands it.”
