A controversial new technology was among the issues discussed at Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E’s monthly meeting Monday at 6:30 pm.
Small cells are growing in popularity among Internet service providers and mobile phone carriers. These low-powered cellular radio access nodes are meant to be used in place of cell towers for existing 4G technology and planned 5G technology.
While ISPs and mobile phone carriers generally support the rollout of small cells, there has been some pushback of the rollout in local communities.
Philadelphia, San Francisco and Chicago are among the cities that have had citizens resist the implementation of small cells, according to the news organization Fierce Wireless.
Shervin Gerami, CEO of TeleWorld Solutions and creator of SmallCellSite.com, came to Monday’s meeting to request ANC 2E Commission’s permission for small cells to be implemented in ANC 2E on poles and roofs.
Gerami put emphasis on small cells’ ability to go on rooftops. Because much of ANC 2E consist of the historic neighborhood of Georgetown, the oldest in D.C., it is important to residents that it be maintained. Small cell poles may disturb the infrastructure of Georgetown.
“The resident and the property owner are the solution to that,” Gerami said to residents attending the meeting. “If [residents] don’t speak out and say, ‘I’m available,’ the carrier is going to find an alternative.”
TeleWorld’s small cells are 27 cubic feet and less of a nuisance than a cell phone tower, Gerami alleged in his pitch at the meeting. Gerami also said that mobile phone carriers are willing to pay property owners who put small cells on their roofs.
“If the property has a rooftop, they ought to look at their rooftop as an asset that generates revenue,” Gerami said. “Small cells can create anywhere from $100 to $300 a month for up to 30 years.”
Despite Gerami’s enthusiasm about the project, one citizen at the meeting, Peggy Sands, was skeptical.
“All these carriers are so eager to get a contract, and it’s lots of money… but 5Gs haven’t even been designed yet,” Sands said.
Sands said she worried about the competition between not only mobile phone carriers, but also citizens who would now want to have a small cell on their rooftop after hearing that they may be paid for it.
“Don’t rush to judgment,” Sands said.
Commissioner and Chair of 2E03 Rick Murphy addressed the matter after Gerami spoke.
“What’s going on with small cells is that everybody and their brother has got them," Murphy said. “And we get a lot of contradictory information, much as we did tonight from the gentleman.”
Murphy drafted a resolution regarding small cells which passed unanimously at Monday’s meeting. While the proposal supports the deployment of 5G technology to ANC 2E, the Commissioners’ main concern in the resolution was maintaining the infrastructure in Old Georgetown.
Since some small cells may require stand-alone poles, that would mean disrupting the “historic character of Old Georgetown,” the resolution said.
“ANC 2E recommends that small cell infrastructure should be deployed on stand-alone poles in Georgetown only as last resort, after all other possible alternatives have been carefully considered and determined to be impractical,” the resolution said. “In that connection, ANC 2E notes that reasonable, but less intrusive, alternatives may be available, such as deployment of small cell infrastructure in manholes, on rooftops or in locations where cellular communications equipment is currently installed.”
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