Florida’s Future Depends On Connectivity
by Jessica Fernandez, Crown Castle, Senior Manager, External Affairs, Florida and Puerto Rico
Florida is growing exponentially. So is our demand for connectivity. At Crown Castle, one of the nation's largest providers of shared communications infrastructure, we are doing our part to collaborate with government partners, innovate, and invest in Florida.
Florida is now home to four of the top five fastest growing metro areas in America. Unlike the traditional retiree pipeline growth, the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows a major portion of Florida’s new residents are 20 to 49 years old. The reasons for this younger mass migration are many: no state income tax, warm winters, a business-friendly environment, and the dramatic expansion of remote work opportunities that has allowed many Americans to move to more affordable cities without having to change jobs.
While we certainly welcome our new neighbors, it’s important to recognize that more people in Florida means more resources are needed to support our increasing population. This includes housing, schools, roads, and services such as solid waste and police and fire protection.
One critical resource that’s often overlooked is connectivity:
Connectivity is central to our safety: In many areas, more than 80 percent of 911 calls come from wireless devices, and emergency operators rely on location information from phones to help precisely locate callers in an emergency.
Connectivity is central to our economic vitality: Connectivity is the backbone of our emerging 21st century economy that allows entrepreneurs to start and grow small businesses, expands our state’s ability to attract new companies and quality careers, and provides opportunities for digital labor, jobs in the gig economy and remote work.
Connectivity is central to enhancing our quality of life: Wireless connection is vital to closing the “digital divide” that often limits underserved residents from accessing all manner of opportunities and expanding technologies that have the potential to make our lives easier such as autonomous vehicles, smart homes, and “internet of things” type devices.
But, the connectivity we all desire and depend on will not happen without the installation of new communications infrastructure, especially next generation wireless infrastructure and “small cells.”
While traditional cell towers provide broad wireless coverage, small wireless facilities, or “small cells,” enhance connectivity by increasing capacity of the wireless network through low-powered facilities in locations closer to consumers and their devices. Small cells bring about more reliable cell phone coverage, faster downloads and better connectivity for residents and businesses, especially as demand for these services continues to grow. In addition, small cell and fiber network upgrades will provide more reliable access to police, fire and emergency medical teams serving a given area.
Right now, communications services providers are in a race to deploy the infrastructure necessary to meet the insatiable demand for connectivity from Florida’s residents, businesses, and emergency managers. When you consider how important winning this race is to Florida’s future, it’s obvious that we must prioritize pathways to deploy more infrastructure at a faster rate. There are two paths by which we can accomplish this important goal.
First, we must continue to work with our partners at the local and state levels of government to prioritize communications infrastructure deployment by simplifying permitting processes. The Governor and Florida Legislature were one of the first to recognize the importance of this by passing the Advanced Wireless Infrastructure Deployment Act of 2017 and 2019, which has been a valuable tool to help Florida realize connectivity upgrades and attract communications investments into our communities.
Second, we must innovate in terms of how fiber and other shared communications infrastructure elements are deployed. Simply put, the traditional ways of construction inhibit our ability to meet the growing demand for data. The current standard for deploying the fiber that feeds a network of small cells may involve disruptive, noisy and complicated underground construction, such as open trenching or boring, that require extended traffic disruptions and street / sidewalk closures. Meanwhile, there are new and innovative fiber construction methods utilizing shallow and trenchless methods of construction that are safer, simpler, quieter, and significantly less disruptive.
This “one-two-punch” of modernizing the permitting process and speeding up the way in which vital communications infrastructure is deployed will ensure Florida is able to meet the connectivity demands of its growing population while also staying ahead of the curve when it comes to economic competitiveness.
Said another way: Faster and more advanced permitting + faster and more advanced deployment = greater connectivity for all in the Sunshine State.