Article
Utilities, telecom companies in 5G street light fight
Big wireless network operators like AT&T and Verizon are hungrily eying your neighborhood street light as the perfect home for their 5G small cell transmitters. After all, those light poles already offer a reliable source of electricity, and they’re often located in just the right place to push 5G signals into your home or office.
There’s just one big problem: The street light might fall over if the small cell is too heavy.
“The vast majority of street lights are not structurally capable of supporting wireless communications facilities, thus requiring the complete replacement of the street light structure in order to accommodate wireless,” Xcel and Southern Company — two of the nation’s biggest utilities — wrote in a filing to the FCC on the topic.
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