BROADBAND PROVIDERS VS. GEORGIA LOCAL AUTHORITIES – 2026 SCORECARD

     Some recent case law developments suggest that broadband providers in Georgia seeking access to local tower-siting facilities and public rights-of-way may face unanticipated hurdles.

     The first is T-Mobile South, LLC v. City of Roswell (rejecting T-Mobile’s multi-year effort to overturn the City of Roswell’s denial of its tower-siting application). See Link. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, whose jurisdiction includes Georgia, has made it more difficult for carriers to overturn individual siting decisions by local authorities.

     The second is a Georgia Supreme Court decision, State v. Dovetel Communication, LLC (holding that the Georgia Department of Transportation could terminate rights-of-way contracts of indefinite duration). Link. The Court applied longstanding Georgia contract-law principles under which a contract calling for continuous performance, but having no definite duration, is terminable at will by either party with notice. The decision thus permitted GDOT to terminate the existing ROW contracts and
apply its revised permit-fee regime unless the broadband providers entered into new agreements.

     Both cases arguably run counter to FCC Chairman Carr’s announced policy of removing state and local barriers that impede deployment of next-generation communications infrastructure. See the FCC’s Build America Agenda and, especially, its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Build America: Eliminating Barriers to Wireless Deployments, FCC 25-67, which seeks comment on reforms that would preempt certain state and local barriers to deployment of towers and other wireless infrastructure. https://www.fcc.gov/chairman-carr-highlights-wins-delivered-2025

     That effort, however, presents an interesting tension. Broad federal administrative preemption of state and local authority may itself invite closer judicial scrutiny in the post-Loper Bright era, with the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority emphasizing independent judicial interpretation of statutory authority and imposing greater limits on administrative-agency discretion. See Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, 603 U.S. 369 (2024).

     We will see what happens next.