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Wireless Telecommunication Facilities Master Plan - Town of Morrisville, NC – Adopted July 23, 2013
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Wireless industry stakeholders
Prior to the granting of the cellular licenses in 1980 for the first phase of deployment, the United
States was divided into 51 regions by Rand McNally and Company. These regions are described
as Metropolitan Trading Areas (MTA). The spectrum auction conducted by the Federal
Government for the 1900 MHz bands for 2G (PCS), further divided the United States into 493
geographic areas called Basic Trading Areas (BTA). The Town of Morrisville is located in the
“Charlotte-Greensboro-Greenville-Raleigh” MTA (a.k.a. MTA 6) and the “Raleigh-Durham,
NC” BTA (a.k.a. BTA 368).
The following service providers have purchased licenses to offer more advanced services in the
700 MHz frequencies: AT&T Wireless; BPC Spectrum; Echostar; US Cellular and Verizon
Wireless. Presently Verizon Wireless is licensed to operate in the 800 MHz band. Personal
Communications Services (PCS) licensees and service providers for wireless phone and
broadband operating in the 1800 and 1900 MHz bands include: AT&T Wireless; Leap; Sprint
Nextel; T-Mobile; and Verizon Wireless. Clearwire is operating in the 2400-2600 operating
frequencies.
The recent transition to digital broadcasting (DTV) from the 700 MHz frequency has enabled the
FCC to reassign the 700 MHz band for public safety radio communications and licensed wireless
service providers. Public safety entities include police, fire, ambulance, rescue, and other
emergency responders will use the spectrum to improve public safety networks. Licensed
service providers and local and regional providers of wireless voice and/or data services will use
700 MHz to improve in-building network coverage.
Per Section 704 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, all service providers will require
uninterrupted and continuous handoff service throughout the CBJ.
Combined there are eight known service providers that will each want to compete for the
subscriber base in and around Morrisville. Each of these wireless voice and data providers will
need towers and/or above ground antenna mounting locations to improve network coverage and
capacity equating to an ongoing need to deploy more infrastructure, especially in areas of greater
residential density.
Existing antenna locations
Mapping the existing antenna sites creates a base map from which observations and analysis are
derived relative to current and future deployment patterns. The Town provided existing facility
locations to CityScape and other locations were attained from tower owners and the Federal
Communications Commission database. Multiple facilities were found through various antenna
locater search engines or found in the field during the site assessment process. Once these sites were
mapped CityScape assessed each of the existing antenna locations throughout the Town to identify
the following: 1) the location of existing telecommunications facilities currently within the Town;
and 2) the availability of future potential collocations on the existing structures.