Mahwah approves T-Mobile as third carrier to boost service at cell tower

The Mahwah Township Council approved a bid Monday for a $42,000 annual contract with T-Mobile as a third carrier on its Fire Station 3 monopole.

T-Mobile will join AT&T and Verizon as carriers, although Business Administrator Ben Kezmarsky said Tuesday that "the T-Mobile lease and agreement will still take time to go into effect."

Kezmarsky said during Monday's meeting that the project manager, the carriers and Orange & Rockland Electric will meet later this week to agree on a timeline to "splice" power from the 130-foot temporary tower to the 183-foot permanent tower.

"In the meantime we are looking at final approvals from Orange & Rockland on running poles," Kezmarsky said. "We were originally going to trench underground. Unfortunately, with the spacing of the utilities, Orange & Rockland did not agree to that plan. So we're going to be using poles. We're going to be walking the site to make sure the poles are in the exact correct place, make sure they're on our property and no one else's. And to ensure that any tree-trimming that occurs is only on our property."

Among the many delays experienced by the township was a halt called by a Masonicus Road resident in April 2021 when the power company began trimming trees and running power lines for the temporary tower across his property before agreement terms had been finalized.

"The current mayor, council and administration have continued to show a commitment to solving this issue and have delivered results for the affected residents," Councilman Robert Ferguson said Tuesday. "We look forward to now adding a third major carrier, T-Mobile, to the cell tower at Company 3."

The township approved the controversial tower to address a 2-mile-wide dead zone on its northern border in September 2019 after 14 years of debate.

Although a temporary tower was activated in May 2021, it has not resolved all the area's reception issues for an estimated 5,300 residents. The permanent tower was constructed beginning in January. Residents have continued to express optimism that the taller tower will more adequately cover the area and attract more carriers.

Orange & Rockland spokesman Mike Donovan confirmed that the utility will be meeting with township officials later this week "to work through technical design issues that have contributed to a delay in the installation of electric service to the Fire Company 3 cell tower."

The meeting’s goal is to support Mahwah’s efforts to install the service, clarify the Rockland Electric specifications and safety requirements, and resolve any open questions about the process.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Mahwah NJ approves T-Mobile as carrier at cell tower