US regulator the Federal Communications Commission announced plans to “streamline the deployment of mobile broadband infrastructure, such as towers, distributed antenna systems and small cells”.

The watchdog has “defined and clarified” rules related to requests to modify existing towers or base stations, a move it said will “accelerate deployment and delivery” of high-speed mobile broadband across the nation.

This will create “greater certainty and predictability” for a sector which invests “more than US$25 billion” per year in infrastructure.

The FCC is also launching efforts to make it easier to deploy temporary cell towers to expand coverage during special, high-demand events.

Future work will follow to streamline the deployment of distributed antenna systems and small cells; examine whether current site approval processes offer “sufficient clarity to industry and municipalities”; and to develop site rules for localities.

Julius Genachowski, chairman of the FCC, said: “Providing more certainty to industry and municipalities, and more flexibility to carriers to meet extraordinary, short-term service needs will accelerate private and public investment to strengthen our nation’s communications networks.”