Subject: [NEXTEL-1] NY Times - "Cellphone Antennas to Sprout Atop Light Poles and Signs"

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2004 12:41:50 -0400

July 30, 2004

Cellphone Antennas to Sprout Atop Light Poles and Signs
By IAN URBINA

At more than $6,000 a month for a few square feet, it may be the most 
expensive real estate in New York.

  The thin sliver of space on top of lampposts, traffic signals and 
highway signs is where the city plans to allow telecommunications 
companies to put cellphone antennas and Internet transmitters.

  The plan, which will add about $21.3 million to city coffers, will 
improve spotty cellphone reception - and turn many intersections into 
wireless Internet "hot spots." But, city officials say, it will also 
help those who cannot afford regular telephone service, by providing a 
cheaper option, through wireless Internet-based access, in 
neighborhoods with the fewest connections to the phone network.

  Opponents of the plan say that the only thing the antennas will bring 
is an increased health risk. "We have no idea what dangers are posed by 
the concentration of these devices," said Councilman Peter F. Vallone 
Jr. of Queens, explaining that the city does not keep records of the 
numbers or locations of the antennas already in the city. "They keep 
saying that these things are less dangerous than microwave ovens,'' Mr. 
Vallone said, "but no one has a microwave running 24/7, right next to 
their bedroom window."

  City officials say the plan is needed to keep pace with the rapidly 
growing use of cellphones and wireless Internet connections. The 
antennas and Internet relay boxes will start appearing on city poles 
before the end of the summer, said Gino P. Menchini, the city's 
commissioner of information technology and telecommunications. About 
18,000 spots will be leased.

The pole-mounted antennas will allow the city to shift away from the 
larger cellular base stations that emit higher radiation and are 
located on many rooftops, Mr. Menchini explained. And since one of the 
franchise companies will install universal antennas, which can be used 
by all cellphone providers, the new setup will actually lower the 
overall number of antennas needed.

"We see this as a win-win situation," Mr. Menchini said.

Evie Hantzopoulos of the Astoria Neighborhood Coalition, which opposes 
the unchecked spread of antennas in the city, sees it otherwise.

  "There has been a complete lack of public input on this and the city 
has given the telecommunications industry carte blanche access," Ms. 
Hantzopoulos said. "It's not just dangerous, it's irresponsible."

  While there has been widespread concern about radiation from cellphone 
towers posing a risk of cancer and infertility, most scientific studies 
have not found a link.

The six companies granted access to the poles include two cellular 
providers, Nextel and T-Mobile, and three non-cellular companies, 
ClearLinx Network Corp., Crown Castle Solutions and Dianet 
Communications. The sixth company, IDT Business Services, will offer 
telephone service via the Internet. Each company will be allowed to use 
a maximum of 3,000 poles citywide for a term of 15 years.

The current plan offers access to poles in three separate zones for 
different prices. Zone A includes Manhattan south of 96th Street. Zone 
B is everywhere in the city not included in the other two zones. Zone C 
consists of a patchwork of neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Manhattan and the 
Bronx where five percent or more of the houses do not have telephone 
service.

  Agostino Cangemi, deputy commissioner of information technology and 
telecommunications, said a big advantage of the franchise plan is that 
it will provide phone access via the Internet in Zone C, areas 
typically home to lower-income and immigrant families that rely on 
public pay phones and high-priced phone cards.

  IDT Business Services, a company based in Newark, will provide 
customers in Zone C Internet phone devices and accounts to which they 
can add pre-paid minutes, Mr. Cangemi said. The Internet phones will 
cost less than most cellphones, and there will be no credit checks, he 
said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/30/nyregion/30cellular.html

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