HomeMy WebLinkAbout20230439 233 Lake Verizon Antenna TCA Standards with ExcerptDOCUMENTATION OF PERSONAL WIRELESS SERVICE FACILITY STATUS
and
FEDERAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACT OF 1996
In addition to being considered a public utility under New York decisional law, Verizon
Wireless is classified as a provider of “personal wireless services” under the federal
Telecommunications Act of 1996 (the “TCA”).
As stated in the long title of the Act, the goal of the TCA is to “promote competition and
reduce regulation in order to secure lower prices and higher quality services for American
telecommunications consumers and encourage the rapid deployment of new telecommunications
technologies.” Telecommunications Act of 1996, Pub. LA. No. 104-104, 110 Stat. 56 (1996).
The TCA mandates a process designed to achieve competitive telecommunications
markets. In keeping with the central goals of the TCA, the authors specify in Section 253(a) that
“[n]o State or local statute or regulation…may prohibit or have the effect of prohibiting the ability
of any entity to provide any interstate or intrastate telecommunications service.” TCA Section
253(a), emphasis added.
Section 332(c) of the TCA preserves the authority of a State or local government or
instrumentality thereof over decisions regarding the placement, construction and modification of
personal wireless service facilities, subject to several important limitations:
the “regulation of the placement…of personal wireless service facilities by any
State or local government or instrumentality thereof shall not unreasonably
discriminate among providers of functionally equivalent services” (TCA
§332(c)(7)(B)(i)(I));
the “regulation of the placement…of personal wireless service facilities by any
State or local government or instrumentality thereof shall not prohibit or have the
effect of prohibiting the provision of personal wireless services” (TCA
§332(c)(7)(B)(i)(II));
Applications must be processed within a reasonable period of time, and any
decision to deny a request for placement of personal wireless service facilities must
be in writing and supported by substantial evidence contained in a written record
(TCA §§332(c)(7)(B)(ii) and (iii)); and
regulations based upon the perceived environmental effects of radio frequency
emissions are prohibited, so long as the proposed personal wireless service facility
complies with FCC regulations concerning such emissions (TCA
§332(c)(7)(B)(iv)).
A reference copy of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 is included herewith.