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Despite a recent decline in Verizon’s cell phone service, Cherokee County apparently is not in line to get a new tower to ease the problems for at least 18 months.
Murphy Mayor Tim Radford hopes that doesn’t have to mean another year and a half or more of deteriorating coverage.
Radford said he has had talks with Robert Davis, Verizon’s vice president of state government affairs, about the possibility of the company placing new equipment on a town water tower.
“We have his ear, at least,” Radford said. “If they were to build a new tower in Cherokee County, it would be at least 18 months before they would get started on it.”
Radford added that there are six water towers around the area. Andrews Mayor James Reid said there are four more around his town, where service has been described as even less reliable.
“The biggest problem is not even in Murphy,” Radford said. “Even though I’m here to represent Murphy, anytime I’m in Andrews it is really a struggle to get any kind of call to come through.”
Reid said he also has spoken with Davis about the possibility of using water towers to host Verizon’s equipment. He is more pessimistic about the timetable for any type of solution and sees the water tower proposal as more of a temporary fix.
“The only problem is (Davis) said is it’s not anything that’s going to happen quickly,” Reid said. “That’s more down the road and that’s what worries me.
“We get put on the back burner way too much around here. I know a lot of people are switching carriers because of this with fairly good results, but I don’t think anybody is going to have good service until we get new towers.”
County Manager Randy Wiggins said in January that he has observed a reduction in the quality of Verizon service for at least six months. The Cherokee County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a motion during on Jan. 10 that allowed Wiggins to send a letter to state Rep. Karl Gillespie and state Sen. Kevin Corbin (both R-Franklin) formally requesting their help in attempting to resolve the issues.
“It’s going to take a little harder conversation (with Verizon) before we get some results,” Reid said.
Radford organized the meeting that spawned the county’s resolution after he unsuccessfully attempted to make contact with key Verizon representatives. The mayor said he was contacted by Davis shortly afterward.
“We’ve just outgrown their network and their capacity here locally,” Radford said. “My goal is to increase capacity by working with Verizon.”
Hosting cellular equipment on a water tower would not only improve wireless coverage, it can also mean a boost in revenue for a town.
Municipalities have, in recent years, made a relatively common practice of leasing water towers to cellular service providers. The town council of Elizabeth City approved a five-year, $30,000 a year agreement with Verizon in 2017 to allow the company to place equipment on one of its water towers.
Verizon is the largest wireless carrier in the United States, servicing more than 121 million subscribers nationwide as of second quarter 2021, according to online sources.