Despite rumours of a 5g tower coming to Golden, the proposed TELUS tower is not planned to have 5G installed, according to a statement from TELUS.
The facility will be 4G enabled, with no confirmed plans to deploy 5G in Golden at this time.
In the statement, TELUS outlines that the new tower is necessary as an 18 metre tower in this particular location will not meet their coverage goals and that a 30 m tower is proposed to improve wireless services and accommodate future growth.
“That said, 5G maybe deployed throughout Canada in the coming years,” read the statement.
“Further to this, it is the Government of Canada’s responsibility to ensure the safety of Canadians related to radiocommunications use. Health Canada has established Safety Cody 6 to ensure public safety and any 5G technology would have to be compliant with it.”
Read more: Residents and pilots see hazards in Telus plan
The tower, which is proposed to be built at 802 9th S N,
Town of Golden staff have prepared and brought forward a briefing note to town council on the subject.
Any Wireless carrier that proposed to build a tower in Golden is required to seek what is known as concurrence.This is a form of endorsement or non-endorsement for a proposed tower provided by local government in the form of a letter.
Despite this, the decision to approve a wireless tower ultimately lies with the Federal Government. However, local governments have the opportunity for comment as a part of the public consultation process that telecom companies must follow.
“Regulating telecommunications is not within the authority of a local government, but rather the Federal Government through Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), formerly known as Industry Canada which is now a branch of ISED,” said Phil Armstrong, managed of development for the town, in a briefing note to council.
“The consultative process provides a municipality the opportunity to negotiate for site improvements such as landscapping and screening in order to mitigate potential neighbourhood and aesthetic impacts.”
The briefing note went on to state that “since the Town was first informed of this proposal, staff have been generally supportive of the proposed location as it is at the rear of the parcel and as such is as far away as possible from the street as well as residential dwellings to the northwest.”
In this case, town staff will be bringing all public comments forward in a report to council at a meeting in June for due consideration, where council may then make a decision regarding concurrence.
The Federal Government is not bound by this decision.
For general cell phone tower inquiries you may wish to contact Industry Canada https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/smt-gst.nsf/eng/sf08777.html and for further info https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/smt-gst.nsf/eng/h_sf11435.html
