5G In Denver: More Than 120 Cell Poles Already Up

DENVER (CBS4) -- Denver is one of the few cities leading the nation in the revolutionary new technology called 5G. It will vastly improve the way you access data on your cell phone. Your phones will operate much faster -- for example, you could download a movie in seconds. 5G could connect us in ways we have never seen before like seeing data transferred from phones to vehicles to streetlights.

In order to get 5G going in Denver carriers like Verizon are planting cell poles across the city. There are 122 so far in Denver. Some neighbors are bugged by this, but do they have any legal recourse?

Ken Fellman is a partner in the Denver Law Firm Kissinger and Fellman, PC. He joined CBS4's morning anchor Britt Moreno live on CBS4 This Morning to discuss some of the downsides and what neighbors can do to ward off the implementation of these poles.

"One concern is the wireless industry and the FCC have said there will be a need for hundreds of thousands of new sites because this technology requires antennas to be closer together and at lower heights which means people will see them more in residential neighborhoods," Fellman said.

He says people might see them as a nuisance or eye sore. Also at issue is public health. Fellman says some people say radio frequency emissions from 5G antennas are concerning.

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"In the United States the congress has dictated that only the FCC can adopt regulations governing health issues and the level of emissions that are safe, so that local governments don't have a role there."

He gives a nod to Denver, saying the city has done a great job of getting ahead of the curve and drafting regulations for carriers to follow when setting up this cell poles. He says other cities in Colorado are now scrambling to try and set their own rules. The local government apparently doesn't have a lot of authority after the "federal and state governments have regulated [5G]."

As for neighbors, there is "no way legally people can get city government or county government to say no to poles," Fellman said.