No action is required of Council as this presentation is informational only. 

Cellular (or mobile) broadband technology is the wireless industry's marketing term for technology that allows devices to connect to the internet wirelessly using cellular networks.  The latest generation of wireless broadband technology is called "5G" and is generally understood as the fifth-generation cellular network technology that provides internet access with faster and lower-latency (i.e., more responsive) connections. 5G has increased bandwidths; thus, it is considered transformational from 4G (fourth-generation cellular technology) because it allows more wireless devices to be connected at the same time and information retrieval at 100x higher speeds.  As such, 5G wireless networks are expected to be used increasingly for general internet service at home as well as used to advance commercial innovation (e.g., smart cities, autonomous vehicles, remote medical surgeries, virtual energy grids, wearable technology -- all applications from the convenience of a wireless device) and to increase economic and educational expansion. Unlike 4G technology, which is installed on macro cell towers miles apart, 5G technology will require the installation of hundreds of thousands of "small cell" wireless facilities (small cells) densely and closely situated. To best integrate 5G across the nation, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued Declaratory Ruling and Third Report and Order, FCC 18-133 (the "Small Cell Order") (which was predominantly upheld by the 9th Circuit in 2020) which preempts local government requirements prohibiting, or having the effect of prohibiting, the deployment of small cells in the public right-of-way (ROW).  Because the impacts of 5G and its deployment are so different from previous generations of cellular broadband technology, City staff will be discussing this issue with the intent of bringing an ordinance for City's Council's consideration to establish reasonable, uniform, and comprehensive standards and procedures for small cells' deployment in the ROW consistent with federal law (presently, Montana has no state laws governing small cell wireless facilities).

City of Billings, internet/telecommunications service providers

No action is required at this time therefore no alternatives were analyzed.

The FCC has determined that excessive fees by many localities has delayed 5G deployment and issued the Small Cell Order preempting local authorities from charging fees other than those fees that are cost-based and non-discriminatory; in essence, the City may not profit by deployment of 5G technology in the ROW. 

The FCC has issued "safe harbor" fee amounts, as follows: 1) $500 for non-recurring fees, including a single upfront application that includes up to five Small Cell Wireless Facilities (with an additional $100 for each Small Cell Wireless Facility beyond five); 2) $1000 non-recurring fees for a new pole (i.e., not a collocation) intended to support one or more Small Cell Wireless Facilities; and 3) $270 per Small Cell Wireless Facility per year for all recurring fees, including possible ROW access fee or fee for attachment to municipally-owned structures in the ROW.  

The FCC's two principal rationales for limiting fees above these "safe harbor" amounts are: 1) that when local governments charge fees in excess of their costs, they take funds of wireless service providers that would otherwise be used for additional 5G deployment in other jurisdictions; and 2) and that high fees also reduce the availability of service in the jurisdiction charging the fee.