If environmental preservation is not enough motivation for service providers, they should consider the fringe benefits from those efforts.
Wireless and the environment aren't exactly chummy. Few people want to hear a mobile phone ring while enjoying nature, nor do they want a tower to mar the view. Even fewer people tolerate dropped calls or spotty service. Although it's not as trendy as wireless, concern for the environment represents a critical issue for Americans. A recent American Demographics study found that most people believe that time is running out before irreparable damage is inflicted on the planet. Nine out of 10 people also identified environmental protection as a factor in who gets their vote for the White House.
The public holds a neutral view of wireless' impact on nature, according to both Dana Dorcas, U.S. Cellular area general manager, and Josh Knauer, greenmarketplace.com founder & CEO. It's not hard to figure out, though, that as wireless continues to expand, it will pose environmental challenges.
For most of the industry, meeting Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations constitutes the whole of pro-green efforts. Being a good green corporation, though, is not an extinct thought in wireless. Those exceptions may find what they've always been looking for - more subscribers and less churn - where they never imagined it would be.
Clear-Cutting Regulations
Look at the history of businesses, and you won't find many that were successful by doing only what they had to do. Wireless companies have a responsibility to their stockholders to go beyond EPA regulations, according to Knauer, whose Web site sells more than 600 environmentally friendly products.
"When you just do the minimum necessary to get to the point of meeting regulations, you're always having to leapfrog because regulations are almost always made more stringent," he said.
Knauer related that providers should make regulations irrelevant by making the effort to go well beyond what is simply required. A company making such a commitment would avoid EPA scrutiny, which eliminates the extra expense of reporting-regulation adherence.
"You sometimes have to make a larger up-front financial commitment to it, but in the long run, you end up saving a lot of money, which of course brings shareholder value up," he said.
Providers that merely go though the motions will pay in the end, according to Rona Fried, president of sustainablebusiness.com, a Web site that helps businesses move toward a green economy.
"Companies that don't do that (surpass requirements) are going to find themselves left behind with a pretty expensive bill because compliance is going to get more expensive," said Fried, whose site gets about one million hits a month.
The Few, the Proud, the Green
Mike Bennett, US Unwired vice president & general manager, recognizes a clear division between the many and the few when it comes to pro-environment action.
"I think the separation comes in the companies that are willing to go the extra mile and prove that they are willing to do whatever they need to do to fit into the community," he said.
Such efforts seem more prevalent from smaller members of the industry. The giants of wireless certainly have much more to tackle than their more diminutive counterparts. Perhaps, then, it is easier for the little guys to see the ground beneath their feet.
"A lot of the smaller companies were started by entrepreneurs who were in a business in a smaller community," related Bennett. "I've worked in many of those (larger) companies, and I believe that it's not an intentional thing, but there's a different level of commitment."
US Unwired, a Sprint PCS affiliate, heads to the river to make an impression on new markets. In July, for example, US Unwired employees picked up trash and debris on the Pearl River near Jackson, MS. The effort met with public approval and earned lauds from the city works department.
Other projects from US Unwired help promote local wildlife and develop community parks. The provider is the official sponsor of the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science's "Baby Turtles of the Pascagoula" exhibit. US Unwired also sponsors the Shiver Me Timbers Millennium Park in Lake Charles, LA. The provider contributed funding and volunteers to help build the children's park.
Bennett believes such efforts help US Unwired fulfill its responsibility to become a part of the markets it serves.
"It's important that they know that we are there to be a part of the community, not separate ourselves," he said. "It is a costly commitment, but it's worth it in the long run."
In July 1999, American Tower donated 10 acres of land to Morris Land Conservancy, a non-profit conservation group in Morris County, NJ, dedicated to preserving open spaces. An additional five acres was granted as a conservation easement. One of the company's towers is adjacent to the land grant. The area includes Wildcat Ridge Hawk-watch, a popular site to observe the fall and spring migrations of hawks. The area is also a part of the Farny Highlands, a watershed region that supports millions of New Jersey residents with drinking water.
Rural Cellular Corporation (RCC) plants trees as an olive branch to the residents and new employees of acquired markets. The "Grow With Us" program has donated trees to communities in Alabama, Kansas, Minnesota and Mississippi, with donations in Oregon and Washington forthcoming. As a result of the provider's efforts, the community of Enterprise, AL now has the state's largest arboretum.
RCC also has made an effort to keep remote cell sites remote. Roads were not built to numerous sites in the New England area. The sites are accessible only by an ATV, snow mobile or helicopter. Overall, the environment is a key concern for RCC.
"Whenever possible, RCC strives to lessen the impact of its technology on the environment," said Richard Ekstrand, RCC president & CEO. "We have taken strong measures to balance the demands of an increasingly mobile society with a corporate responsibility for preserving our natural resources."
A 5K run, sponsored by U.S. Cellular, supports the Florida Oceanographic Society. In its sixth year, the run gives all proceeds to the non-profit organization focused on environmental education and awareness. The provider also makes year-round mobile-phone donations for use during nature walks at the Society's Coastal Science Center.
Hassle-Free Battery Recycling
NiCd batteries were the industry standard only three years ago, according to Al Watts, BellSouth senior product manager. If not properly disposed, the NiCd batteries have detrimental effects on the environment. Should they end up in landfills, the batteries eventually will break down and leak their hazardous contents into the soil and water.
In 1996, BellSouth became the first service provider to implement a NiCd recycling program. Supported by the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation (RBRC), BellSouth stores began to accept old NiCd batteries that once powered mobile phones and other products. RBRC makes the program completely worry-free for wireless providers, supplying the boxes, bags (to keep working batteries from contacting and creating a spark) and promotional signs. RBRC picks up the batteries and provides a toll-free number, 1-800-BATTERY, for consumers to use to locate their nearest NiCd recycler. All of that comes at no cost to the service provider.
U.S. Cellular launched a NiCd-recycling program in October. Started in Virginia, the program will spread to the provider's entire market before the end of the year. The provider feels responsible for recycling its former standard battery type.
"We thought that considering that we had used or promoted that product in the past, to help dispose of it properly just made good sense," said Dorcas.
Sustainablebusiness.com's Fried noted that she would like to see greater publicity for the battery-recycling programs because most of the public is unaware of the dangers of NiCd. She also would like to see mandatory recycling when a customer buys a new wireless phone.
Wireless providers and RBRC intend to begin recycling Li-Ion and NiMH, the batteries currently used in wireless phones, in 2001. Providers interested in working with RBRC can contact it at www.rbrc.org.
Fringe Benefits
If protecting mother nature is not enough motivation for the industry to color itself green, the other green stuff might be. Greenmarketplace.com's Knauer related that 80% of Americans would rather give their business to companies that are environmentally friendly.
"There's a national movement afoot to be more environmentally aware," concurred US Unwired's Bennett. "I think people are looking for companies they believe are looking after those interests. Our intent to do that will guide some of them our way, and I do believe there's a loyalty associated with it."
Dorcas said that his motivation for the NiCd recycling program was to protect the environment, but added that "there's going to be fringe benefits that come from it. Things that really make a difference, that are not surface programs, but really have meat to them, (allow) the community to see something that really makes a difference."
Visible efforts to protect nature may attract customers to a given provider, especially those people who are more environmentally conscious. If those efforts are not a flash in the pan, a rooted connection between subscriber and company will foster loyalty and reduce churn.
"A strategic advantage is being a company that has a demonstrated track record of proving that you are concerned about the community," said Bennett. "That will help us in the future to not only get more customers, but also help us have a good image in the community for attracting employees."
Customers currently have several options when it comes to wireless service. With phone and plan prices barely separable, anything could sway a customer toward one particular provider.
"If we could see a cellular company come forward that is the first mover and takes a leadership position when it comes to environmental issues, it will be a point of differentiation," Knauer said. "They would, without a doubt, see an increase in customers."
Even before wireless took off and became the world's fastest-growing industry, service providers were well aware of the eventual conundrum they would face, according to Rick Harden, Littlefeet COO.
"Ever since the beginning of cellular communications, anybody who was a carrier recognized early on that the technology would have to evolve because there's no way you could put a tower on every street corner, nor would you want to," he said.
Although wireless is all the rage, no one expects the not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) sentiment to go the way of the dodo.
"The (NIMBY) trend is going to continue," Harden said. "People now have a greater awareness of wireless; they want the services but they don't want the trappings that go along with it."
Rona Fried, sustainablebusiness.com president, suspects that the industry has stalled development of alternative tower technologies.
"I would guess, like with other technologies, that there are other choices and that they are just taking the cheapest, easiest route," she said.
Enter Littlefeet. Its Small Profile Intelligent Coverage/Capacity Element (SPICE) technology presents providers with a build-out alternative. Working with existing sites, the SPICE units, ideally mounted on light poles, improve the quality and control of the RF signal. Varying in size from that of a skateboard to a surfboard, the individual units help providers work around the clutter that reduces the propagation of the main tower's signal. The forthcoming product works for GSM networks; SPICE systems for the other technologies are in development.
Although the environment was not a motivation for the creation of SPICE, the product can help circumvent future tower conflicts by allowing providers to build out with fewer towers. The benefit to nature comes as a byproduct of the technology, according to Harden.
"There are some areas that are absolutely not going to permit towers ever," he said. "It would just spoil the natural scenery, so you have to go in with a different kind of solution. Environmentally, it (SPICE) gives a very good solution for operators."