‘These towers are causing tremendous backlash in our communities’

Responding to a recent dispute over cell tower construction in Calgary, Alta., a city planner says new wireless entrants on the scene do not fully understand the traditional working relationship that has existed between the city and wireless companies. “While we have some good corporate citizens here who are coming to us with most of their proposals, we’ve got some new corporate citizens who don’t understand how the working relationship has proceeded in the past. They are looking at the rules and saying, ‘Hey, the federal rules say we can do this, so that’s what we’re doing,’” Nick Makale, a lead planner with development and building approvals at the City of Calgary, told The Wire Report. “I don’t think it’s being maliciously done, but there’s a lack of knowledge on how things have been done.” Makale referred to a dispute in Calgary over new municipal regulations on new cell phone towers that differ from the national standards set out by Industry Canada. In January 2008, Industry Canada decided that proposed cell sites below 15 metres in height do not require public consultation. In Calgary, however, an amendment was passed late last year that requires consultations for all sites, no matter their height. The controversy erupted after towers began springing up that were 14.9 metres high. “The amendment was that, it didn’t matter where the tower was or how high it was, the requirement would be if it was not involved with a public consultation, the administration would not administer a concurrence letter for that facility,” Makale said. Both Rogers Communications Inc. and Telus Corp. wrote letters to the City of Calgary in March, saying they would bypass the local law and go ahead with Industry Canada’s regulations if the new rules were not changed. “We were informed that applicants can bypass the process under the federal regulations,” Bob Hawkesworth, an alderman on Calgary city council, said in an interview. “They can go directly to Industry Canada if they have towers under 15 metres, and we’re willing to accept that risk,” Hawkesworth said. “This is an issue not just in my community, but across the country, and we have to let Industry Canada know that these towers are causing tremendous backlash in our communities.” On June 7, the city’s land use, planning and transportation committee, of which Hawkesworth is a member, will make recommendations to adjust some of the city’s cell tower rules for towers so that they are in line with national standards. But Hawkesworth said the committee will not make any recommendations to change the consultation rules for towers under 15 metres in height. The committee will propose that consultations for cell sites in commercial and industrial districts be limited to districts 100 metres or less from residential areas, he said. “We’ll still require public consultations for any applications received in residential districts,” Hawkesworth said. The committee will also recommend that council create a new stakeholders committee, with members from industry, government and community groups, to review the city’s cell phone tower policies and recommend some solutions by December, he added. Hawkesworth said the central complaint he receives from constituents about cell phone towers is that they are not visually appealing. He has also received complaints about their potential health risks. He would like to see a strategy that considers new approaches like incorporating antennas into lampposts, which is better aesthetically, he said. New wireless entrants such as Wind Mobile have been aggressively building networks in the city. “This isn’t intended to be a barrier to new entrants, but legacy companies like Rogers and Telus have had many years’ experience with the city and the community around, to find locations that are acceptable,” Hawkesworth said. “Wind is coming in here without that experience. That may be part of the difficulty here. They have a very aggressive business plan that requires them to put up a country-wide network in a very short period of time.” Ken Campbell, the CEO of Wind, told The Wire Report that his company has been very careful to follow local guidelines. “We certainly are moving fast to deploy infrastructure in Calgary and other cities, and we absolutely adhere to all the guidelines by Industry Canada,” Campbell said. “We work with the councils in consultation, whether it’s Calgary, or Ottawa, or wherever we’re building.” Wind Mobile currently has 75 cell sites in Calgary and 12 below 15 metres in height. The company did not hold consultations for those 12 towers, which is in accord with Industry Canada’s guidelines. Shaw Communications Inc. and new entrant Mobilicity also have plans to launch wireless services in Calgary. Campbell suggested the incumbent carriers have resisted site co-location—in which they share towers with the new carriers—forcing Wind to build new towers. “Frankly, our first option is rooftops. Our second option would be co-location. If Bell, Telus and Rogers would actually allow us on their infrastructure and stop playing games, we would be interested in that,” Campbell said “The third is building our own, which can be anything from a larger tower to a lower tower.” Campbell said Wind Mobile does not share any towers with the incumbents right now. Jim Johannsson, a spokesman for Telus, told The Wire Report that, nationally, the company has made 120 offers to share cell towers with other carriers since early 2009. When the company makes an offer for co-location, it must wait for a response to go over technical specifications for the arrangement. “Once those offers are extended, the ball is back in the applicant’s court, to basically complete their engineering studies. After that we’ll extend them a licence,” Johannsson said. Of Telus’ 120 co-location offers, Johannsson said only four have resulted in responses from other carriers. Johannsson didn’t say how many offers the company made to Wind. “It’s not for lack of trying on our part,” Johannsson said. “We’re very frustrated with the amount of effort that we’re putting into this, and the mediocre response to the offers to share that we’ve seen.” Campbell said one way to cut down on the new cell towers would be to adopt a system similar to what exists in the United States. In the U.S. wireless infrastructure is sold to independent companies that rent it to multiple carriers. “You end up with a situation where towers are monetized much more than they are in Canada,” Campbell said. “In Canada, we have a situation where they’re viewed as a strategic asset.” jmigneault@thewirereport.ca

‘These towers are causing tremendous backlash in our communities’

News | May 26, 2010

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