Morrisville Wireless Telecommunication Facilities Master Plan - 2013

Wireless Telecommunication Facilities Master Plan - Town of Morrisville, NC – Adopted July 23, 2013

Wireless industry stakeholders Prior to the granting of the cellular licenses in 1980 for the first phase of deployment, the United States was divided into 51 regions by Rand McNally and Company. These regions are described as Metropolitan Trading Areas (MTA). The spectrum auction conducted by the Federal Government for the 1900 MHz bands for 2G (PCS), further divided the United States into 493 geographic areas called Basic Trading Areas (BTA). The Town of Morrisville is located in the “Charlotte-Greensboro-Greenville-Raleigh” MTA (a.k.a. MTA 6) and the “Raleigh-Durham, NC” BTA (a.k.a. BTA 368). The following service providers have purchased licenses to offer more advanced services in the 700 MHz frequencies: AT&T Wireless; BPC Spectrum; Echostar; US Cellular and Verizon Wireless. Presently Verizon Wireless is licensed to operate in the 800 MHz band. Personal Communications Services (PCS) licensees and service providers for wireless phone and broadband operating in the 1800 and 1900 MHz bands include: AT&T Wireless; Leap; Sprint Nextel; T-Mobile; and Verizon Wireless. Clearwire is operating in the 2400-2600 operating frequencies. The recent transition to digital broadcasting (DTV) from the 700 MHz frequency has enabled the FCC to reassign the 700 MHz band for public safety radio communications and licensed wireless service providers. Public safety entities include police, fire, ambulance, rescue, and other emergency responders will use the spectrum to improve public safety networks. Licensed service providers and local and regional providers of wireless voice and/or data services will use 700 MHz to improve in-building network coverage. Per Section 704 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, all service providers will require uninterrupted and continuous handoff service throughout the CBJ. Combined there are eight known service providers that will each want to compete for the subscriber base in and around Morrisville. Each of these wireless voice and data providers will need towers and/or above ground antenna mounting locations to improve network coverage and capacity equating to an ongoing need to deploy more infrastructure, especially in areas of greater residential density. Existing antenna locations Mapping the existing antenna sites creates a base map from which observations and analysis are derived relative to current and future deployment patterns. The Town provided existing facility locations to CityScape and other locations were attained from tower owners and the Federal Communications Commission database. Multiple facilities were found through various antenna locater search engines or found in the field during the site assessment process. Once these sites were mapped CityScape assessed each of the existing antenna locations throughout the Town to identify the following: 1) the location of existing telecommunications facilities currently within the Town; and 2) the availability of future potential collocations on the existing structures.

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