CTIA Presents Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward With 5G Wireless Champion Award

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Aug 29, 2018, 10:50 ET

WASHINGTON, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- CTIA, the wireless industry association, today presented Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward with its 5G Wireless Champion Award. The Award honors Mayor Hayward's leadership in encouraging 5G wireless investment and innovation in Pensacola.

The 5G Wireless Champion is awarded in recognition of Mayor Hayward's partnering with the wireless industry to spur next-generation 5G wireless networks in Pensacola by removing outdated barriers to infrastructure deployments.

"Pensacola wants to lead in unlocking the new opportunities and benefits provided by the next-generation of wireless," said Mayor Ashton Hayward. "I supported the FCC's recent orders to remove cumbersome federal hurdles to broadband because it will open the door to increased investment and innovation in our community."

"Mayor Hayward knows that common-sense infrastructure rules need to be in place in Pensacola for wireless investment to succeed," said Meredith Attwell Baker, President and CEO of CTIA. "Thanks to Mayor Hayward's smart infrastructure policies, Pensacola will be well positioned to benefit from 5G-related investment and jobs."

Small cells are about the size of a backpack and are installed on utility poles, streetlights and the sides of buildings. They can be installed in about an hour, but in areas with rules designed for 200-foot cell towers, can take more than a year to get approval. The wireless industry will need to deploy hundreds of thousands of modern wireless antennas – small cells – in the next few years to keep up with increasing consumer demand for wireless data and to build out new 5G networks.

Under Mayor Hayward's leadership, Pensacola became one of the first cities in Florida to revise local permitting procedures in accordance with Florida House Bill 687. The bill establishes statewide guidelines on wireless infrastructure siting procedures including small cell attachment fees, and timelines for the review of small cell applications.

According to Accenture, the wireless industry will invest $275 billion to deploy 5G networks across the U.S., generating 3 million new jobs and $500 billion in economic growth. Reducing timelines to deploy 5G by 12 months will generate an additional $100 billion in economic growth. In Pensacola, Accenture estimates 5G will bring $43 million in new network investment, create more than $30 million in smart city benefits and add $80 million to the local economy.

About 5G

Next-generation 5G networks will be one hundred times faster than today's 4G networks, connect one hundred times more devices and be five times more responsive. They will bring a range of economic and social benefits and enable a variety of smart city innovations, the Internet of Things, driverless cars and more.

About the 5G Wireless Champion Award

The 5G Wireless Champion Awards honor the state and local officials that best exemplify the leadership and vision needed to bring next-generation 5G networks and innovation to their communities. They are given to officials that champion reforms, policies and practices remove barriers to the deployment of next-generation wireless infrastructure.

About CTIA
CTIA^® (www.ctia.org) represents the U.S. wireless communications industry and the companies throughout the mobile ecosystem that enable Americans to lead a 21st century connected life. The association's members include wireless carriers, device manufacturers, suppliers as well as apps and content companies. CTIA vigorously advocates at all levels of government for policies that foster continued wireless innovation and investment. The association also coordinates the industry's voluntary best practices, hosts educational events that promote the wireless industry and co-produces the industry's leading wireless tradeshow. CTIA was founded in 1984 and is based in Washington, D.C.

SOURCE CTIA