What are those new poles popping up all over Lexington? Hint: They aren’t cameras
A new type of utility pole appearing along Lexington streets in recent weeks will help expand Lexington’s 5G networks, city officials said.
The poles, which have lights and antennas on the top, are being installed next to many street lights in the city’s right-of-way, or the area adjacent to the street where public utilities are located.
The new poles are not traffic cameras or Flock license plate readers, city officials said.
The poles have started to be installed on the city’s south side in the Tates Creek and Lansdowne area. More will likely be built in other areas of the city.
“They are owned by the cell phone providers and network operators (AT&T/Verizon),” said Susan Straub, a spokeswoman for the city.
The Federal Communications Commission regulates cell phone towers. Local governments have limited say or oversight on how and where those towers can go.
“In a typical application in Lexington, they will install the new pole and equipment next to an existing streetlight. That existing streetlight will then be decommissioned when the new small cell is complete and has a functioning replacement light. This way they are aren’t adding a lot of additional poles to the community,” Straub said.
The smaller towers are necessary to build a more robust network, Straub said.
“The 5G services these towers provide use a part of the wireless spectrum which allows for extremely fast connections but only for short distances as the signal is easily blocked by many types of material,” she said. “This is why a typical cell tower can’t be used for 5G service and they have to install more small towers closer to the end users.”
This story was originally published March 5, 2024 at 3:00 PM.
