In February, Fidelity Towers Inc. received approval to construct a monopine cell phone tower at Falcon Fire Protection Districtís station 2. The tower, designed to blend into the forested surroundings, will benefit the fire district and Falcon School District 49, as well as cell phone users in the northeastern part of the county.Jeff Petersma, FFPD battalion chief, said the district had previously sought out cellular service providers because of coverage issues in the area, but it was Fidelity Towers that contacted FFPD.ìFalcon Fire station No. 2 was the only non-residential lot located within our search ring,î said Neil Wiser, founder of Fidelity Towers. ìThis location also allowed us to consolidate the needs of multiple users, including Falcon Fire District and Falcon School District. It was very important to be located on high ground in the vicinity of Meridian and Murphy roads, so that we can hand off subscribers to the existing cellular sites to the west and south of the fire station.îIn addition to receiving a $750 monthly lease fee, FFPD will use the tower to improve its own radio communications. ìWe have budgeted to put in a VHF repeater system for Falcon fire departmentís use,î Petersma said. He added that D 49, which already has a repeater for their transportation department located at FFPD station 2, will move the equipment to the new tower to increase coverage.Depending on the service provider, some cell phone users will see improved service in the area. While the project was initiated to support the AT&T Mobility cellular network, Wiser said, ìThis monopine will support at least three more broadband wireless carriers in addition to AT&T. Our company owns towers all across the western U.S., and we will welcome our other customers to use this site, including Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, Clearwire, Skybeam and other government users.îAccording to its website, Fidelity Towers has been in business since 2002 and has communication towers in 16 states, including Colorado. All towers are engineered and constructed to ìexceed building code and industry standards for safety, workmanship and quality.îFidelity Towers has a 50-year total lease term with FFPD, but Wiser said the tower could be removed sometime in the future if it is not needed. ìAs long as these wireless technologies are in use, we expect to be here.î
