(a)  An authority may not prohibit, regulate, or charge for the collocation of small wireless facilities on poles or structures other than authority poles and authority structures.

Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 39-32-6

  • Authority: means a city, town, or any other state or municipal government subdivision, agency, or entity that is authorized by law to regulate or control the use of the public rights-of-way or the construction or installation of poles or wireless facilities or that owns or controls property suitable for collocating small wireless facilities. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-32-1
  • Collocate: means to install, mount, maintain, modify, operate, or replace wireless facilities on a pole, including an authority pole, or on a building, water tower, or other structure, including an authority structure. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-32-1
  • wireless facilities: includes small wireless facilities but does not include the structure or improvements on, under, or within which the equipment is collocated; wireline backhaul facilities; coaxial or fiber-optic cable that is between wireless support structures or poles; or coaxial or fiber-optic cable that is otherwise not immediately adjacent to, or directly associated with, an antenna. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-32-1
  • Wireless service: means any services using licensed or unlicensed wireless spectrum, whether at a fixed location or mobile, provided using wireless facilities. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-32-1

(b)  A wireless service provider may install poles in the public rights-of-way in order to collocate small wireless facilities, subject to request and authority approval. An authority shall receive, process, and approve such requests on a nondiscriminatory basis and in substantially the same manner and on substantially the same terms and conditions as the authority applies to similar requests by other persons seeking to place poles in the public ways.

History of Section.
P.L. 2017, ch. 309, § 2; P.L. 2017, ch. 331, § 2.