Winter Park, Fla., Considers Upgrading Cell Network With 5G

(TNS) — Winter Park, Fla., commissioners heard a pitch Monday that would upgrade AT&T’s cell phone network in the city to 5G and increase connectivity speeds.

ExteNet, a telecommunications infrastructure company that has a contract with AT&T, wants to install 5G small-cell nodes in 20 locations throughout prominent parts of the city.

A formal agreement between ExteNet and the city will be considered by commissioners next month and if approved, would allow the company to request permits for the nodes.

Multiple wireless carriers have reached out to the city during the past couple of years about installing the equipment, but city officials have expressed aesthetic concerns.

Those comments were reiterated by commissioners at a Monday workshop, with Vice Mayor  Carolyn Cooper  noting to company officials that the city has spent millions to bury its power lines.

Cooper said she was concerned about the equipment on posts along the city’s “most highly prized roadways” of Morse Boulevard, Park Avenue and Interlachen Ave and asked if there was a way to exclude those areas from installation.

“This is a lot of things in the right of way and we’re spending an absolute fortune to remove clutter from our right of way,” she said.

But the city’s attorneys said federal and state laws limit control of municipalities to regulating factors like aesthetics and electrical codes.

“What we’re not allowed to do is to keep them out of the right of way, period,” said city attorney  Lance King .

Eric Lovvorn , external relations director for ExteNet, said the design standards would mimic the city’s existing fluted black metal poles. The company determines the location of nodes based on where to attain the best connectivity.

Cities like Winter Park and Orlando have been approached by 5G carriers because of their “strong pedestrian environment,” Lovvorn said.

“With all those people in the downtown area that are using their phones, congregated in that small of an area, it’s very critical to have this kind of technology down there,” he said.

Commissioner  Todd Weaver  echoed Cooper’s concerns about aesthetics and said city officials have already gotten emails from residents about how the look of 5G nodes would affect Winter Park’s charm.

Weaver also asked ExteNet officials to explain at the workshop that the radio frequencies emitted from 5G do not pose health risks.

Lovvorn said the Federal Communications Commission’s regulations address health and safety aspects of the technology.

“There’s lots of people out there that want to stir up trouble and make all kinds of wild accusations on social media forums, saying how small cell wireless is going to give cancer or cause two-headed babies,” he said, “but the bottom line is the federal government has very strict regulations that are always being reviewed and revised and we follow each and every one of them.”

(c)2020 The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Fla.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.