5G nodes grow to exponentially increase wireless capacity

Technology continues to evolve as advancements and demand grow. Fifth generation mobile network, or 5G, nodes continue making their way into the county.

Miami-Dade Commissioner Anthony Rodriguez shared a statement to his social media account addressing concerns of residents about 5G towers. The post stated, “I have been hearing from residents of District 10 about the 5G towers being built in our area and their concerns regarding them.

Unfortunately, Florida statute requires the county to permit these types of wireless facilities in the public rights-of-way, and it limits the county’s ability to regulate them or intervene in this process. The statute also does not allow the county to deny an installation based on its proximity to homes nor does it allow us to enforce FCC [Federal Communications Commission] requirements.”

“I promise you that I hear your concerns, but unfortunately, even though this is in our district, this is not an issue that I, or the county commission, can intervene in,” he stated. “With this in mind, we are aware of your concerns and are sharing them with state and federal officials.”

Mitch Bierman, partner and chair of airports and aviation services with Weiss Serota Helfman Cole + Bierman law firm, concurs with the commissioner that “the federal and state law has largely preempted local government regulation of the infrastructure in the public right of way.”

“As a general rule and as a lawyer that represents local government,” Mr. Bierman said, “I don’t like preemptions. At the same time, other countries are way ahead of the United States in developing their wireless infrastructure, and it’s because they don’t have local objections slowing down that development. That makes a big difference in economic development.”

The presence of 5G nodes can be a deciding factor when it comes to businesses establishing their roots in the county, said Mr. Bierman. “All of this infrastructure is essential, not only to our own consumption, and the efficient functioning of government, but to the economic development, which we want. Everybody needs fast and efficient wireless capacity,” he said. “Ultimately, I think the federal and state governments realize that and preempted local decision making so that local governments wouldn’t be in the position of having to make the choice between fast and efficient service and individual local objection to the location of equipment.”

Residents’ concerns about 5G nodes have grown as their placement and proximity to homes is a decision out of reach by the local government.

However, the nodes’ presence is in correlation to different factors.

“The reason that the industry is going to 5G is that they need to exponentially increase the amount of wireless capacity to keep up with the extreme demand,” said Mr. Bierman. “The demand is not only from the sort of individual consumer, like you and me, who need it for our cellphones and streaming devices, but [the] government and industry, which consume huge amounts of that capacity for things that you don’t even really see for the sort of smart government solutions that are all around that monitor … the needs of the water capacity and monitor the transportation system and … even solid waste and are essential for … public safety.”

The expansion of 5G nodes has led to complaints from residents. Some have voiced aesthetic concerns and prefer not to have hardware within view of their property, said Mr. Bierman.

Additionally, infrastructure builders, in order to respond to local government and other interests that are concerned about the aesthetics of the nodes and the other infrastructures, have disguised nodes and allowed them to serve additional purposes, said Mr. Bierman. “One of my clients that builds a lot of nodes is able to … put it in streetlights … they serve the primary purpose of lighting the streets at night, but at the same time they disguise these very necessary telecommunications cellular nodes within them and they don’t look any different than the normal cobra-style streetlights that you see.”
Despite these advancements, setbacks are being faced. With the upgrade to 5G, some of the old smart technology is not compatible with it, said Mr. Bierman.

This, he said, will require old technology to be upgraded and will essentially be “forcing an upgrade of certain kinds of smart city technology that isn’t compatible with 5G. That will be an impact and potential cost impact, but at the same time, it’ll be a positive impact in the level of service.”