2020 South Carolina Code of Laws
Title 58 - Public Utilities, Services and Carriers
Chapter 11 - Radio Common Carriers
Section 58-11-810. Definitions.
For purposes of this article:
(1) "Antenna" means:
(a) communications equipment that transmits or receives electromagnetic radio frequency signals used in the provision of wireless services; and
(b) similar equipment used for the transmission or reception of surface waves.
(2) "Applicable codes" means uniform building, fire, electrical, plumbing, or mechanical codes adopted by a recognized national code organization, or local amendments to those codes that are of general application, address public safety, and are consistent with this article.
(3) "Applicant" means any person that submits an application.
(4) "Application" means a request submitted by an applicant to an authority:
(a) for a permit to collocate small wireless facilities; or
(b) to approve the installation, modification, or replacement of a pole.
(5) "Authority" means any county, municipality, or consolidated government or any agency, district, subdivision or instrumentality thereof.
(6) "Authority pole" means a pole owned, managed, or operated by or on behalf of an authority, provided however, that an authority pole shall not include any pole, support structure, electric transmission structure, or equipment of any type that is part of a municipally owned or municipally controlled electric plant or system for furnishing of electricity to the public for compensation.
(7) "Collocate or collocation" means to install, mount, maintain, modify, operate, or replace small wireless facilities on or adjacent to a support structure or pole.
(8) "Communications facility" means the set of equipment and network components, including wires, cables, surface wave couplers, and associated facilities used by a cable operator, as defined in 47 U.S.C. Section 522(5); a provider of "video service" as defined in Section 58-12-300(10); a telecommunications carrier, as defined in 47 U.S.C. Section 153(51); a provider of information service, as defined in 47 U.S.C. Section 153(24); or a wireless services provider to provide communications services, including cable service, as defined in 47 U.S.C. Section 522(6); telecommunications service, as defined in 47 U.S.C. Section 153(53); an information service, as defined in 47 U.S.C. Section 153(24); wireless service; surface wave communication, or other one-way or two-way communications service.
(9) "Communications network" means a network used to provide communications service.
(10) "Communications service" means cable service as defined in 47 U.S.C. Section 522(6), information service as defined in 47 U.S.C. Section 153(24), telecommunications service as defined in 47 U.S.C. Section 153(53), or wireless service.
(11) "Communications service provider" means a cable operator, as defined in 47 U.S.C. Section 522(5); a provider of information service, as defined in 47 U.S.C. Section 153(24); a telecommunications carrier, as defined in 47 U.S.C. Section 153(51); or a wireless provider.
(12) "Compliant provision" means a provision or regulation in an enactment applicable to poles, support structures, replacement poles, and small wireless facilities that:
(a) addresses only: aesthetics, design, concealment, or stealth requirements that are technically feasible and technologically neutral; decorative poles; underground districts; design districts; or historical districts;
(b) is reasonable;
(c) is published within thirty days prior to becoming applicable with regard to any wireless provider; and
(d) is not an effective prohibition of service that is prohibited by federal law.
(13) "Decorative pole" means an authority pole that is specially designed and placed for aesthetic purposes and on which no appurtenances or attachments, other than a small wireless facility, public safety devices, or specially designed informational or directional signage or temporary holiday or special event attachments, have been placed or are permitted to be placed according to nondiscriminatory municipal rules or codes.
(14) "Design district" means a discrete area within the jurisdiction of the authority that is clearly defined in an enactment published at least thirty days before it becomes effective, and for which the authority maintains and enforces unique design and aesthetic standards on a uniform and nondiscriminatory basis among all occupants of the ROW, on the grounds that the characteristics of the discrete area warrant design and aesthetic standards that differ from those that apply to the vast majority of the areas within the jurisdiction of the authority.
(15) "Design manual" means a binding measure adopted by an authority that sets forth examples of small wireless facility deployments that the authority deems to comply with this article.
(16) "Enactment" means any ordinance, rule, policy, design manual, or equivalently binding measure adopted by an authority.
(17) "FCC" means the Federal Communications Commission of the United States.
(18) "Fee" means a one-time, nonrecurring charge.
(19) "Historic district" means a group of buildings, properties, or sites that is either:
(a) listed in the National Register of Historic Places or formally determined eligible for listing by the Keeper of the National Register, the individual who has been delegated the authority by the federal agency to list properties and determine their eligibility for the National Register, in accordance with Section VI.D.1.a.i-v of the Nationwide Programmatic Agreement codified at 47 C.F.R. Part 1, Appendix C; or
(b) a registered historic district pursuant to state law at the time the permit for the small wireless facility or pole is submitted; or
(c) an overlay zone, as defined in and limited by Section 6-29-720(C)(5):
(i) that has been established by the authority with regulatory control of zoning within the specified geographic area at least sixty days prior to the relevant application;
(ii) for which the special public interest to be protected is the preservation and protection of historic and architecturally valuable districts and neighborhoods or archaeologically significant resources according to uniform design standards; and
(iii) for which the authority maintains and enforces objective standards that are published in advance and applied on a uniform and nondiscriminatory basis.
(20) "Law" means an enactment or a federal or state law, statute, common law, code, rule, regulation, or order.
(21) "Micro wireless facility" means a small wireless facility that meets the following qualifications:
(a) is not larger in dimension than twenty-four inches in length, fifteen inches in width, and twelve inches in height; and
(b) any exterior antenna that is no longer than eleven inches.
(22) "Network interface device" means the telecommunications demarcation device and cross connect point demarcating the boundary with any wireline backhaul facility and which is on or adjacent to the pole or support structure supporting the small wireless facility.
(23) "Permit" means a written authorization, in electronic or hard copy format, required to be issued by an authority to initiate, continue, or complete the collocation of a small wireless facility or the installation, modification, or replacement of a pole upon which a small wireless facility is to be collocated.
(24) "Person" means an individual, corporation, limited liability company, partnership, association, trust, or other entity or organization, including an authority.
(25) "Pole" means a vertical pole such as a utility, lighting, traffic, or similar pole made of wood, concrete, metal, or other material that is lawfully located or to be located within a right of way including, but not limited to, a replacement pole and an authority pole. A 'pole' shall not include a support structure or electric transmission structure.
(26) "Rate" means a recurring charge.
(27) "Right of way" or "ROW" means the area through, upon, over, or under a road, highway, street, sidewalk, alley, or similar property provided; however, that such term shall apply only to property or any interest therein that is under the ownership or control of an authority and shall not include property or any interest therein acquired for or devoted to a federal interstate highway.
(28) "Small wireless facility" means radio transceivers; surface wave couplers; antennas; coaxial or fiber optic cable located on a pole or support structure, immediately adjacent to a pole or support structure, or directly associated with equipment located on a pole or support structure and within a one hundred-foot radius of the pole or support structure; regular and backup power supplies and rectifiers; and associated ancillary equipment, regardless of technological configuration, at a fixed location or fixed locations that enable communication or surface wave communication between user equipment and a communications network and that meets both of the following qualifications:
(a) each wireless provider's antenna could fit within an enclosure of no more than six cubic feet in volume; and
(b) all other wireless equipment associated with the small wireless facility, whether ground or pole mounted, is cumulatively no more than twenty-eight cubic feet in volume. The following types of associated ancillary equipment are not included in the calculation of the volume of all other wireless equipment associated with any such facility: electric meters, concealment elements, network interface devices, grounding equipment, power transfer switches, cut-off switches, and vertical cable runs for the connection of power and other services. The term "small wireless facility" does not include: the pole, support structure, or improvements on, under, or within which the equipment is located or collocated or to which the equipment is attached; wireline backhaul facilities; or coaxial or fiber optic cable that is between small wireless facilities, poles, or support structures or that is otherwise not immediately adjacent to or directly associated with a particular antenna. For purposes of this subsection, in order to be considered directly associated with equipment located on a pole or support structure, coaxial or fiber optic cable must not extend more than one hundred feet in radial circumference from the base of the pole or support structure to which the small wireless facility antenna is attached. No portion of a small wireless facility as defined in this subsection may be used as a wireline backhaul facility.
(29) "Support structure" means a building, billboard, or any other structure in the ROW to which a small wireless facility is or may be attached. A "support structure" shall not include an electric transmission structure or pole.
(30) "Technically feasible" means that by virtue of engineering or spectrum usage the proposed placement for a small wireless facility, or its design, concealment measures, or site location can be implemented without a material reduction in the functionality of the small wireless facility.
(31) "Underground district" means a group of buildings, properties, or sites:
(a) that has been established by the authority with regulatory control of zoning within the specified geographic area;
(b) in which the authority, at least sixty days prior to the relevant application, has required all communications and electric lines in the specified geographic area to be placed underground; and
(c) for which the authority maintains and enforces objective standards that are published in advance and applied on a uniform and nondiscriminatory basis.
(32) "Wireless communications" means any communications using licensed or unlicensed spectrum, including the use of Wi-Fi, whether at a fixed location or mobile, provided to the public.
(33) "Wireless infrastructure provider" means any person, including a person authorized to provide telecommunications service in the State, acting to build or install wireless communication transmission equipment, wireless facilities or support structures, but that is not a wireless services provider.
(34) "Wireless provider" means a wireless infrastructure provider or a wireless services provider.
(35) "Wireless services" means any services using licensed or unlicensed spectrum, including the use of Wi-Fi, whether at a fixed location or mobile, provided to the public.
(36) "Wireless services provider" means a person who provides wireless services.
(37) "Wireline backhaul facility" means an above-ground or underground wireline facility used to transport communications between a small wireless facility network interface device and a network or another small wireless network interface device.
HISTORY: 2020 Act No. 179 (H.4262), Section 1, eff September 29, 2020.
