In my previous posting I discussed the CPUC’s investigation into claims that T-Mobile has constructed new sites in Northern California without benefit of, well, local government permits.
In yesterday’s San Francisco Chronicle appeared an article by Seth Rosenfeld titled, “T-Mobile accused of installation violations” which digs into the allegations by five former T-Mobile contractor employees who all assert that they constructed or knew of T-Mobile sites without all proper local government permits.
From yesterday’s article:
Among the subcontractors was Lee Middleton, who said he worked for Irvine’s Delta Groups Engineering Inc. Earlier this year, Middleton was assigned to review records for about 1,033 T-Mobile sites around the Bay Area. “Way more than half” were missing documentation showing that the work had been done properly, he said in an interview.
Local government permitting of wireless sites is intended by Congress to ensure that local codes and other local considerations such as aesthetics are evaluated and approved, subject to some balancing tests created by federal courts.
While the focus is on T-Mobile right now, it’s not a stretch to suspect that the practice of putting up sites without all permits in place is not limited to that one company. This is likely to be just an iceberg tip.
-Jonathan
PS: Thanks to Robert E. Smith of Anvil Parnters, LLC for the pointer to the current SF Chronicle article.
I was the guy mentioned in the 2008 SF Chronicle article by Seth Rosenfeld. I turned T-Mobile into to the CPUC for putting sites on air without local permits and went to the press. I got fired when I told Glotel what the CPUC General Order #159 was all about and that T-Mobile could get into hot water if what they were doing was known to the authorities. What was the outcome?
I don’t know of the outcome, but I’ll check. -Jonathan