FCC Gets Tough On Tower Owners
Must Register Antenna Structures and Post Antenna Structure Registrations

CSAA's Counsel Blooston, Mordkofsky, Dickens, Duffy and Prendergast has notified us that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), through its newly reorganized Enforcement Bureau, has begun investigating compliance with its antenna structure regulations with an eye toward issuing monetary forfeitures. In some cases, the fines have prompted further investigation by the Commission.

Therefore, it is imperative that those owning towers ensure that their towers are registered AND that the registration number is posted at or near the base of the tower. It is also important to re-port changes in ownership of a tower.

Those leasing tower space should likewise ensure that all of these rules are followed, to avoid any secondary liability; and they may want to ensure that their lease indemnifies them against any fines or civil liability due to violations by the owner.

In general, the Enforcement Bureau's actions signal an increase in enforcement actions for all types of tower violations, including failure to maintain painting and lighting, and record outages/repairs in the tower log.

Four recent cases show the Commission's determination to en-force its tower rules and fine those not in compliance.

In January, the Commission issued several Notices of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture to companies regarding rule violations concerning antenna lights, painting and marking. The fines only consisted of $2,000 to $3,000 per violation, but the FCC found multiple violations for each company, and found one company's lack of compliance so egregious that it doubled the fine.

• AT&T Wireless Services received a $18,000 forfeiture for failing to post the Antenna Structure Registration numbers near the base of its antenna structure. Enforcement Bureau field agents inspected AT&T towers at various locations throughout the United States, and on nine different occasions, at nine different locations, found no ASR numbers posted.

• The Commission fined Telecorp Communications, Inc. $80,000 for failing to comply with Commission rules regarding proper lighting of antenna structures. FCC rules say that antenna structures that are located close to airports, or that are greater than 200 feet in height, must comply with painting and lighting rules to ensure air safety. Antenna structure owners are required to monitor their tower lights daily or have an automatic alarm system installed to warn of an outage. If there is a malfunction, the tower owner is required to notify the FAA if the major antenna structure lights are inoperative and cannot be repaired within 30 minutes. This lets the FAA issue a Notice to Airmen ("NOTAM") advising aircraft of the outage and of the location of the tower.

The Commission noted four instances when Telecorp towers did not have lights operating and there was no NOTAM in effect to warn of the problem. In one case, the FCC found that the tower was unlit for 10 days. Because of the seriousness of the violation and due to the potential danger to the public, the Commission fined Telecorp $10,000 for each violation, and because there were four such seri-ous violations, the Commission decided to double the amount of the forfeiture to $80,000.

• In a third case, released the same day, the FCC fined SpectraSite Communications, Inc., $17,000 for violating antenna structures registration rules. Specifically, SpectraSite failed to change tower ownership information with the FCC in three instances, and failed to post Antenna Structure Registration Numbers in four instances. The Commission fined SpectraSite $3,000 for each failure to change ownership information infraction and $2,000 for each failure to post registration numbers for a grand total of $17,000.

• Last, but not least, the Commission fined American Tower Corporation (ATC) a whopping $212,000.00 for an apparent wholesale disregard of the Commission's tower regulations. ATC, according to the Commission, failed to properly register towers, failed to register towers prior to construction, failed to post antenna structure registration numbers, failed to mark and light antenna structures and failed to report antenna ownership changes, during the period of March 1, 2000 through November 9, 2000.

The Commission was apparently alerted to a problem with ATC by another federal agency.

The FAA routinely alerts FCC field offices when tower owners fail to report that lighting outages have been repaired within the 15 day NOTAM window, or if tower owners request that a NOTAM be extended. It was during the FCC's follow-up to the FAA's notification that the Commission became aware of a wide-spread problem.

If the FCC or the FAA contacts you regarding an antenna structure compliance problem, it is important to make sure you respond promptly, and to document your response carefully.

The Commission's staff hates to be ignored, and has a tendency to escalate what might have been a minor matter into a major problem - for you - if they feel that they are not being taken seriously.

More importantly, because tower compliance involves safety, the FCC has always taken such violations very seriously.

Licensees that lease tower space can be held secondarily responsible by the FCC for tower compliance, and can be dragged into civil suits if an accident occurs due to light outages or other problems.

We urge those who own or lease towers to keep abreast of the Commission's tower rules, and to contact John Prendergast, Hal Mordkofsky, Richard Rubino or Kate Kaercher at Blooston, Mordkofsky, Dickens, Duffy and Prendergast at 202-659-0830 if you have any questions or issues.