Environment: Cellular's New Camouflage

"Can you hear me now?" Not too well if you're using a cell phone near the top of Massachusetts' Mount Watatic. That's because state officials, eager to protect this pristine peak from unsightly antennas, agreed to buy it for $2.5 million last summer. In the town-by-town battle between improving cell-phone coverage and preserving precious skylines, few places have had the resolve--not to mention the resources--of Mount Watatic's neighbors. But such aversion to tower building is becoming the norm in cities and suburbs across the country. From Lakeland, Fla., to Winnetka, Ill., more and more communities are demanding some sort of antenna concealment. Even Microsoft's tech-friendly hometown, Redmond, Wash., requires that new towers be camouflaged in residential areas.

Suburban stonewalling was a hot topic at the wireless industry's recent Tower Summit and Trade Show in New Orleans. "Wireless companies have already paid the Federal Government over $20 billion for licenses that are tied up in local disputes," lamented Laura Altschul, government affairs director for T-Mobile USA. "We need to break the logjam in residential areas." To speed the process, the Bush Administration is trying to give the industry unfettered access to the public right of way. Municipalities could lose control over tower siting along major roads, but it's unlikely that citizens will have no say in what happens along the edges of their yards.

Even if the feds step in, the only way tower builders are moving into cell-phone-rich, aesthetically guarded communities is through camouflage. Sprint PCS recently agreed to pay an estimated $150,000 to fix up--and wire up--a century-old windmill in a ritzy section of Fairfield, Conn. The mansions there have lousy cellular reception because well-heeled neighbors don't want a tower in their backyard. "We've got millionaires sitting in their driveways just so they can use their cell phones," says an exasperated resident.

The number of so-called stealth towers, which have been around for a decade, has doubled since the Telecommunications Act of 1996 first prevented local jurisdictions from shutting out wireless carriers altogether. Of the roughly 128,000 cellular-antenna sites in the U.S., about 75% are mounted on towers in the traditional (read: ugly, obtrusive) sense. The rest have been tucked inside steeples and flagpoles, on rooftops and water towers and in giant fake trees adorning rarefied real estate from Virginia's Mount Vernon to California's Hearst Castle. Even Pebble Beach's hallowed golf course is reportedly considering installing high-tech replicas of gnarled cypress trees.

Although tower building has fallen off more than 70% since the late '90s, business is holding steady at major camouflage shops, with San Diego's TeleFlage enjoying a 75% sales increase this year. Cash-strapped carriers are still willing to cough up the extra 15% to 20% that it costs to hide an antenna in a high-rent neighborhood.