One of the primary tasks of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is to encourage the deployment of broadband throughout the United States. Broadband technology is now available over a wide array of delivery systems including cable, wireless, telephone, and fiber optic networks. The FCC moved, in recent years, to ease some of the regulatory burdens inherent in erecting new broadband facilities within the current legal framework. Congress has also taken steps to encourage the deployment of wireless facilities. This report will discuss some of the important legal developments related to broadband facilities deployment. Section 704 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 governs federal, state, and local regulation of the siting of "personal wireless service facilities" or cellular communication towers. Under the 1996 act, state and local governments are prohibited from unreasonably discriminating among "providers of functionally equivalent services." This prohibition has been interpreted to provide state and local governments with the "flexibility to treat facilities that create different visual, aesthetic, or safety concerns differently to the extent permitted under generally applicable zoning requirements even if those facilities provide functionally equivalent services." However, state and local governments cannot adopt policies that prohibit or have the effect of prohibiting the provision of personal wireless services. This provision not only applies to outright bans on tower siting, but also to situations where a state or local government's "criteria or their administration effectively preclude towers no matter what the carrier does." In these cases, the carrier must show "not just that this application has been rejected but that further reasonable efforts are so likely to be fruitless that it is a waste of time even to try." The act also prescribes certain procedures that a state or local government must follow when reviewing a request to place, construct, or modify personal wireless service facilities. The state or local government must "act on any request for authorization to place, construct or modify personal wireless service facilities within a reasonable period of time after the request is duly filed." If the state or local government denies the request, the denial must be in writing and supported by "substantial evidence contained in a written record." Substantial evidence has been defined as "such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion." Recently, Section 6409(a) of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 contained a provision that appears intended to streamline the local approval process by easing restrictions on what is known as "collocation." State and local governments now must grant the requests for modifications of existing wireless towers or base stations if the request would not substantially change the physical dimensions of the tower or base station. No definition is provided in the statute for the terms "tower" or "base station." Furthermore, no definition is provided for what it might mean to "substantially change the physical dimensions" of a tower. These ambiguities may cause difficulty in applying the new provision to future collocation requests. However, ambiguities may be resolved either by federal courts or by the FCC in a rulemaking to define the terms. Assuming that the new exception does not apply to an application to site a new tower, courts have found that aesthetics may constitute a valid basis for the denial of a wireless permit so long as there is substantial evidence of the adverse visual impact of the proposed tower. In fact, according to one court, "nothing in the Telecommunications Act forbids local authorities from applying general and nondiscriminatory standards derived from their zoning codes, and ... aesthetic harmony is a prominent goal underlying almost every such code." Federal courts therefore have routinely upheld the denials of applications to construct wireless towers where the decisions of local entities were in writing and based on evidence that the tower would diminish property values, reduce the ability of property owners in the vicinity of the proposed tower to enjoy their property, or damage the scenic qualities of the proposed location. However, generalized aesthetic concerns will not be considered "substantial evidence" to support the denial of a permit. For example, the Seventh Circuit upheld the reversal of a denial of a petition based on aesthetic concerns where the only evidence that the proposed tower would be unsightly was the testimony of a few residents that they did not like poles in general, and those residents admitted that they had no objection to flagpoles, the proposed disguise for the wireless tower. Blanket opposition to poles could not constitute "substantial evidence," in the opinion of the court. Many community groups also oppose the siting of towers based on health and environmental concerns. However, the Telecommunications Act of 1996 prohibits state and local governments from regulating the placement of personal wireless service facilities on the basis of the effects of radio frequency emissions if the facility in question complies with the Federal Communications Commission's regulations concerning such emissions. "As written, the purpose of the requirement is to prevent telecommunications siting decisions from being based upon unscientific or irrational fears that emissions from the telecommunications sites may cause undesirable health effects." Courts have enforced this provision of the act and have noted that "concerns of health risks due to the emissions may not constitute substantial evidence in support of denial." The FCC announced that it would be reviewing its regulations concerning radio frequency emissions in the coming months. The act also provides for the appeal of a state or local government's denial of a request to place, construct, or modify a facility. Section 704(c) of the Telecommunications Act provided that within 180 days of the enactment of the act, "the President or his designee shall prescribe procedures by which Federal departments and agencies may make available on a fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory basis, property, rights-of-way, and easements under their control for the placement of new telecommunications services." President Clinton issued a memorandum on August 10, 1995, directing the Administrator of General Services, "in consultation with the Secretaries of Agriculture, Interior, Defense, and the heads of such other agencies as the Administrator may determine, to develop procedures necessary to facilitate appropriate access to Federal property for the siting of mobile services antennas." The General Services Administration published procedures for the placement of commercial antennas on federal property in the Federal Register on March 29, 1996. On March 14, 2007, the General Services Administration published updated procedures for the placement of commercial antennas on federal property in the Federal Register. The agency also declared that these replacement procedures should remain in effect indefinitely. However, in 2012, Congress required the Administrator of General Services to refine the process for granting easements for wireless infrastructure on federal property. Section 6409 of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 contained provisions intended to standardize and facilitate the placement of towers on federal property. First Section 6409(b) granted the authority for placing towers on buildings controlled by federal agencies to the agencies controlling that building or property. The Administrator of General Services is required to develop a standard application for easements related to siting wireless towers on federally controlled property, which can be used for submission to the agency that controls that property and will be in charge of granting the easement. The General Services Administration is also required by Section 6409(c) to develop master contracts for wireless facilities siting. The contracts will govern the placement of wireless antenna structures on buildings and other property owned by the federal government. In developing the contracts, the GSA is required to standardize the treatment of the placement of wireless antennae on federal property, among other considerations. In 2008, The Wireless Association (CTIA) asked the FCC to issue a declaratory ruling to define the length of time that local authorities had, under federal law, to permit or to deny an application to site a new wireless tower. To that end, CTIA filed a petition with the Commission requesting a declaratory ruling clarifying the provisions of the Communications Act that apply to the siting of wireless facilities, particularly 47 U.S.C. §332(c)(7). CTIA, and other commenters in the proceeding, expressed concern that when applying to construct wireless facilities wireless services providers were encountering unreasonably long delays, some that stretched beyond two years. The Communications Act grants applicants seeking to construct wireless facilities the right to file suit in court when a state or local government authority fails to act upon a tower siting application. CTIA argued that, without guidance on the subject from the FCC, it was unclear when a state or local authority had failed to act. CTIA further alleged that some states and localities were denying applications to place towers in certain areas solely on the basis of the presence of another wireless service provider in that area. CTIA asked the FCC to declare that such denials were the equivalent of an effective prohibition on the provision of personal wireless services in violation of the Communications Act. As corporations that won recent large spectrum auctions begin to build out new facilities, new towers may need to be constructed. These industry participants expressed concern to the Commission over the length of time frequently taken for action on tower siting applications. On November 18, 2009, the FCC issued a declaratory ruling to clarify certain portions of Section 332 of the Communications Act. This decision may be significant because it could streamline the tower siting application process across the country. The ruling defines a reasonable time period in which state and local governments should act upon tower siting requests as 90 days for the review of collocation applications and 150 days for the review of applications other than those for collocation. Also, the FCC held that the denial of a tower siting application solely because "one or more carriers serve a given geographic market" is an action that prohibits or has the effect of prohibiting the provision of personal wireless services and is a violation of the Communications Act. The FCC found that the evidence in the record supported CTIA's allegations that there were unreasonable delays in the review and final action upon applications for the siting of wireless facilities. In the FCC's estimation, these delays are inhibiting the deployment of next generation wireless technologies to an unacceptable degree. Consequently, the Commission adopted the presumption that state and local governments should act on applications for collocation within 90 days, and that applications other than those for collocation should be acted upon within 150 days.