Rhode Island § 39-32-1 - Rhode Island Small Cell Siting Act

§ 39-32-1. Definitions.

As used in this chapter:

(1) “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. The term does not include the state courts.

(2) “Authority pole” means a pole owned or controlled by an authority and includes metal, composite, concrete, or wood poles, as well as decorative poles.

(3) “Authority structure” means a building, water tower, or other structure owned or controlled by an authority, but not an authority pole.

(4) “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. “Collocation” has a corresponding meaning.

(5) “Communications service provider” means a cable operator, as defined in 47 U.S.C. § 522(5); a provider of information service, as defined in 47 U.S.C. § 153(24); a telecommunications carrier, as defined in 47 U.S.C. § 153(51); or a wireless service provider.

(6) “Person” means an individual, corporation, limited-liability company, partnership, association, trust, or other entity or organization, including an authority.

(7) “Pole” means a utility pole, light pole, light standard, or similar structure that is used, in whole or in part, for telephone service, wireless service, cable television service, information service, electric service, lighting, traffic control, signage, or similar function.

(8) “Small wireless facility” means a wireless facility with an antenna of no more than six cubic feet (6 cu. ft.) in volume and associated equipment with a cumulative volume no larger than twenty-eight cubic feet (28 cu. ft.). The following types of associated equipment may be located outside the primary enclosure and are not included in the calculation of equipment volume: electric meter, concealment, telecommunications demarcation box, ground-based enclosures, backup power system, grounding equipment, power transfer switch, cut-off switch, and cable and conduit runs for the connection of power and other services. Equipment that is concealed from public view within or behind an existing structure or concealment is not included in the volume calculations.

(9) “Wireless facilities” means equipment at a fixed location that enables wireless communications between user equipment and a communications network, including, but not limited to:

(i) Equipment associated with wireless services, such as private, broadcast, and public safety services, as well as unlicensed wireless services and fixed wireless services, such as microwave backhaul; and

(ii) Radio transceivers, antennas, coaxial or fiber-optic cable, regular and backup power supplies, and comparable equipment, regardless of technological configuration. The term “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.

(10) “Wireless service” means any services using licensed or unlicensed wireless spectrum, whether at a fixed location or mobile, provided using wireless facilities.

(11) “Wireless service provider” means a person who provides wireless service, as well as a person who builds, installs, or maintains wireless communications transmission equipment, wireless facilities, or wireless support structures.