By Phil Veletzos

The FCC continues to consider changing current policies related to apartment communities and other multitenant environments.  What they adopt will have important impacts to private property rights of Owner-Operators, Managers and Developers of multifamily communities, as they construct and manage telecom facilities, and the Service Providers who deliver broadband services to their assets.

Limiting the Use of Telecom Infrastructure?

Among the issues up for consideration, are rules governing telecom infrastructure and if Owners should be prohibited from the current practice of granting limited use of infrastructure to select Service Providers at a property – either on an “exclusive” or “non-exclusive” basis.

Proponents of change argue that discontinuing the current practice of allowing limiting use contracts will spur competition by allowing many more Providers to use existing infrastructure.  How many Providers would depend ultimately on the desires of the resident population.  As conceived within one of the Nation’s first such initiatives (San Francisco Article 52) a resident’s express desire for a Service Provider would start a process where that provider, even over the objection of an Owner, could be granted the right to “install the facilities and equipment necessary to provide communication services or use any existing wiring” to reach the Resident’s […]

In the future (according to “futurists”), we will be served by myriad robotic helpers orchestrating every aspect of our busy lives while we catch up on GOT and other bingeable shows. Seriously, if you listen to trendsetters like Fast Future’s Rohit Talwar, who developed various industry projections with China-based telecommunications company Huawei, there’s no doubt that 5G is the digital future. From entertainment to driverless cars, education and science, 5G, which can be 10 times faster than current 4G LTE, is expected to expand the lifestyle capabilities of every home, workplace and community.

More Towers of Power
One reason that 5G is faster is it requires a much larger investment in signal antennas – some say one every thousand square feet. Which makes law makers leery of the municipal challenges. As Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) observed earlier this year, “The new 5G network will need new antennas to work, adding to the network of antennas our current cell technology already uses. This means we’re well on our way to a dangerous situation in which cities are clogged with 5G antennas on public infrastructure, all with little input from cities themselves.”

But for the multi-family housing operator with roof space to spare, […]