Dear editor,

Tifton and Tift County have often been recognized for our community’s ability to attract and grow businesses. We have an amazing concentration of world-renowned research facilities and leading scientists, a skilled workforce and a prime southeastern location.

As we continue our efforts to be competitive in Georgia and the global marketplace, our community must have access to the critical resources, such as wireless infrastructure, our residents and businesses need to thrive.

To date, 21 states have enacted small cell legislation, and, unfortunately, Georgia is not one of them. We continue to lag behind in deploying modern wireless infrastructure. Our North Carolina and Florida neighbors rely on statewide standards to streamline and spur investment throughout their communities, and Georgia should too.

Our state needs a statewide standard framework for wireless infrastructure permit approvals, timelines and standardized fees. A standard framework will help improve our wireless experiences, spur wireless investment and support increased deployment of next generation technologies that will deliver superior speeds, benefitting all of our Georgia communities – regardless of size.

A recent Wall Street Journal editorial highlighted some barriers to deploying modern wireless infrastructure and how complicated rules and bureaucratic issues delay broadband improvements, especially to the more rural communities like ours.

Life in Tift County is great. To keep us and Georgia moving forward, we should encourage our state lawmakers to enact statewide wireless guidelines.

Let’s remove barriers to investment and bring modern wireless infrastructure to Tift County and all of Georgia.