Wireless Technology to the Rescue?

Bringing broadband access to all of Wisconsin’s residents might happen even faster now that the FCC has finalized their rules regarding the amount of time state and local zoning organizations have to approve a site application for wireless broadband towers.

The rule used to say that authorities had to act within a “reasonable period of time” when considering which sites got approval.

The new rules put a definite time frame on these decisions:

• 90 days to respond to a request
• 150 days to take action

If the zoning authorities do not follow these rules the wireless providers could take legal action and the courts could force a position.

While this ruling addresses some of the hurdles to achieving our coalition goal of 100% broadband access, there are still many challenges to overcome.

Read our Broadband Deployment and Access to Wireless Technologies Issue Statement