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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 36 / Thursday, February 25, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
this way so as to increase broadband capacity. These smaller antennas meet the OTARD size restriction, but some are excluded from OTARD protection due to their primary function as fixed wireless hub and relay antennas. If these antennas continue to be excluded from OTARD protection, this could prevent fixed wireless service providers from maintaining or expanding service, particularly broadband-only service, as changes in technology require more dense deployments.
10. The Commissions updated rule will help spur the rapid deployment of fixed wireless networks needed for 5G
and other fixed wireless high-speed internet services. This will benefit consumers by offering faster access to advanced communications services and greater competition among service providers. These fixed wireless networks rely on the installation of hub and relay antennas to transmit and receive signals from multiple customer locations to overcome propagation distance limitations and signal obstructions in delivering fixed wireless high-speed internet services. Further, modern fixed wireless antennas are multi-purpose, and can function as receivers, repeaters, and transmitters, thereby eliminating the distinction between fixed wireless hub and relay antennas that the Commission previously relied on in deciding to exclude some of these antennas from OTARD protection. As long as the antennas meet the other requirements of the Commissions rule, its revised rule applies equally to all fixed wireless antennas, no matter whether they operate primarily as receivers, hubs, or relays, or whether they operate on licensed or unlicensed spectrum. There is no longer any reason to maintain the definitional distinction in the Commissions rule between these types of antennas and, accordingly, the Commission eliminates it.3
11. The Commissions revision will increase competitive parity among fixed wireless service providers and other service providers. Specifically, broadband-only fixed wireless service providers that use this equipment will now be on similar footing as service providers whose services and facilities specifically those offering telecommunications services and commingled services qualify for protections under sections 253 and 332.
3 This decision is an extension of long-standing Commission precedent to apply to antennas used to supply unlicensed services so long as the antenna is placed on property within the exclusive use or control of the antenna user where the user has a direct or indirect ownership or leasehold interest in the property.

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And it will facilitate the offering of advanced services to consumers by expanding deployment options and reducing costs for fixed wireless service providers. Without this change, broadband-only fixed wireless service providers will continue to face significant hurdles to siting, perpetuating barriers to new investment and deployment. In taking this action, the Commission embraces its longstanding policy objective of promoting competition among broadband and video providers and giving consumers, including those in rural and remote areas, more choices among wireless providers, products, and services.
12. The record illustrates that fixed wireless service providers face unreasonable barriers to deployment.
The Commission is not persuaded by the claim of Local Governments and Municipal Organizations that there is no evidence that zoning or private restrictive covenants have hindered the deployment of fixed wireless hub and relay antennas, nor by their argument that WISPA has offered only anecdotal examples of zoning restrictions and private restrictive covenants that have impacted the installation of hub and relay antennas. Rather, based on the totality of the record, the Commission finds that local zoning laws and reviews have discouraged the deployment of modern hub and relay antennas and that extending OTARD to cover this equipment will significantly advance deployment.
13. The Commissions expanded application of the OTARD rule to additional fixed wireless hub and relay antennas protects against restrictions that result in unreasonable delays or prevent the installation, maintenance or use of this equipment. Starry, a fixed wireless broadband-only provider, estimates that, if its base stations are covered by OTARD, it can activate 25%
to 30% more sites in the coming year, which should enable it to pass more than one million additional homes.
Starry asserts that across all its markets it takes on average 100 days to complete the permitting process for a single base station, which accounts for about 80%
of the time that it spends in activating a site. Another fixed wireless internet service provider, Wisp.net, initially provided service only to tenants in the building where its antenna was located.
It subsequently was denied a permit to operate a wireless hub and relay facility to provide fixed wireless service to customers outside the range of Wisp.nets original footprint. Many consumers filed comments with the Commission claiming that Wisp.net was
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their only option for receiving service and urging the Commission to grant Wisp.nets petition to expand the OTARD rule for hub and relay antennas.
Similarly, WISPA provides several examples of where zoning or private homeowner restrictive covenants have hindered the deployment of fixed wireless hub and relay antennas. By updating OTARD, the Commission provides fixed wireless broadband providers protection from unreasonable delays in the installation of fixed wireless hub and relay antennas or the unreasonable prevention of such installations or deployments.
14. The record also shows that restrictions in the application of the current rule to hub and relay antennas have raised costs for fixed wireless providers, which incur excessive permitting costs. Az Airnet, a wireless internet service provider in Arizona, asserts that in some jurisdictions the same permit fee applies to both a major cellular tower and a small internet relay site. New Wave, a wireless internet service provider operating in rural Illinois, claims that unreasonably high permit fees prohibit it from expanding its service. Az Airnet, New Wave, and other fixed wireless service providers will now be protected from unreasonable fees. Section 1.4000a3ii provides that a law, regulation, or restriction impairs installation, maintenance, or use of fixed wireless hub and relay antennas if it unreasonably increases the cost of installation, maintenance, or use of the equipment. Further, section 1.4000a4
provides that any fee or cost imposed on a user by a rule, law, regulation, or restriction must be reasonable in light of the cost of the equipment or services and the rule, law, regulation or restrictions treatment of comparable devices. The Commissions expanded application of the OTARD rule extends these protections against unreasonable fees to the installation of all covered customer premises equipment, even equipment whose primary purpose is to serve as hub and relay antennas. The expanded application of this rule will allow fixed wireless service providers to install such equipment more quickly, efficiently, and at reduced cost, which should reduce construction timelines.
15. The revised OTARD rule provides fixed wireless service providers with greater certainty and predictability because it prohibits restrictions that impair the installation, maintenance, or use of covered antennas. Google states that municipal zoning laws and community association rules not only have the potential to delay or impede antenna installation, but also have the
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