FCC Shot Clocks: Deadlines, Triggers, and Deemed-Granted Rules

Under the FCC shot clocks for wireless applications, a local government has between 60 and 150 days to act on a wireless facility siting request, with the exact deadline set by federal rule based on the size of the equipment and whether it goes on an existing structure or a new one. Miss the deadline and the applicant has real leverage: some applications are deemed granted automatically, and others open the door to an expedited lawsuit the local government is unlikely to win.

The Five Federal Deadlines

The FCC’s rules at 47 C.F.R. § 1.6003 set four presumptively reasonable review periods for wireless siting applications, plus a separate deadline for minor modifications under Section 6409(a) of the Spectrum Act.¹

Small wireless facility on an existing structure: 60 days.
Small wireless facility on a new structure: 90 days.
Larger (non-small) facility collocated on an existing structure: 90 days.
Larger facility on a new tower: 150 days.
Eligible facilities request under Section 6409(a) — a modification to an existing tower that doesn’t substantially change its dimensions: 60 days.²

These deadlines apply regardless of what a local zoning ordinance says about timelines. Federal law controls.

Whether Your Project Is a “Small Wireless Facility”

The classification matters because it decides which deadline applies. The FCC’s definition at 47 C.F.R. § 1.6002 requires the installation to satisfy every one of these limits:³

The structure is no taller than 50 feet including the antenna, or no more than 10 percent taller than nearby structures, and the installation does not extend an existing structure beyond 50 feet or by more than 10 percent of its original height, whichever is greater.
Each antenna is no more than three cubic feet in volume.
All wireless equipment on the structure, counting pre-existing gear, totals no more than 28 cubic feet.
The facility does not require FAA antenna structure registration, is not on Tribal lands, and complies with FCC radiofrequency safety standards.

Fail any single test and the installation is a non-small facility, subject to the longer 90- or 150-day clock.

When the Clock Starts, Pauses, and Resets

The shot clock starts when the applicant files a complete application. The local government’s chance to challenge completeness is narrow, and the rules for what happens next differ by application type in a way that trips up local officials regularly.

The Completeness Notice Window

For a small wireless facility application, the local government has 10 days from filing to send a written notice identifying every missing document and citing the local code that requires it. A vague “your application is incomplete” letter doesn’t work — the notice must be specific.⁴

For all other wireless applications, including eligible facilities requests, the window is 30 days.¹²

Reset Versus Resume

This is the trap. When a small wireless facility application is flagged as incomplete within the 10-day window, the shot clock resets to zero once the applicant cures the deficiency. The full 60 or 90 days starts over.

For every other application type, the clock only pauses. Days already used still count. If a local government burns 25 of its 150 days before sending a completeness notice on a new tower application, only 125 days remain when the applicant resubmits.

Second-Round Notices

If the applicant’s resubmission still falls short, the local government has 10 days to say so, regardless of application type. That second notice can only reference the same deficiencies raised the first time. New objections that were available earlier but not raised are forfeited.¹

Written Extensions

The applicant and local government can agree in writing to extend any deadline. A mutual agreement is the only way to push a deadline beyond what incompleteness tolling provides.⁵

Batched Applications

Local governments cannot refuse to accept batched filings covering multiple sites at once, and volume does not extend the deadline. A batch of small wireless collocations on existing structures still gets 60 days total; a mixed batch of collocations and new poles gets 90 days.⁶ The FCC has said only that in extraordinary cases, a local authority might argue a massive batch legitimately overwhelmed its resources.

What Happens When the Deadline Passes

The remedy depends on which shot clock ran out.

Eligible Facilities Requests: Deemed Granted

A missed 60-day deadline on a Section 6409(a) request is the strongest remedy in the framework. The application is approved by operation of law. The applicant sends written notice to the local authority that the review period has expired and the deemed grant has taken effect, and the project can proceed without waiting for explicit approval.² The local government’s only path to challenge the grant is to file its own court action arguing the modification didn’t actually qualify under Section 6409(a) — for example, because it substantially changed the tower’s dimensions.

Small Wireless Facilities: Deemed Granted, With a Caveat

The FCC’s 2018 Small Cell Order created a similar deemed grant remedy for small wireless facility applications: written notice from the applicant treats the application as approved.⁷ Portions of that order were challenged in the Ninth Circuit’s 2020 City of Portland v. United States decision, which vacated certain provisions, and the FCC has proposed further rulemaking to address the resulting uncertainty.⁸ Applicants relying on the deemed grant remedy for small wireless facilities should check current case law in their circuit.

Larger Facilities and New Towers: Sue Within 30 Days

For non-small wireless facilities, there is no automatic remedy. Section 332(c)(7)(B)(v) of the Communications Act gives an adversely affected person the right to file suit in any court of competent jurisdiction, but only within 30 days of the missed deadline. Miss the 30-day window and the right to sue on that failure to act is gone.⁹¹⁰

Congress required courts to decide these cases on an expedited basis. A missed shot clock creates a presumption that the local government acted unreasonably, and courts regularly issue orders compelling immediate permit approval.

What the Shot Clock Does Not Do

The shot clock governs timing, not everything else about a wireless application. A few boundaries are worth knowing, because they shape what a local government can actually do inside the deadline.

A local government can deny an application on the merits, but the denial must be in writing and supported by substantial evidence in a written record. It cannot rest on the environmental effects of radiofrequency emissions if the facility complies with FCC safety limits — that ground is entirely preempted. And a pattern of denials that effectively prohibits wireless service can itself violate federal law, even when each individual denial cites a facially legitimate zoning reason.⁹

Application fees and recurring right-of-way fees must reasonably approximate the government’s actual costs; the FCC’s 2018 order set safe-harbor amounts presumed to comply.⁷ Aesthetic and design standards remain within local authority but must be reasonable and published in advance, and the exact contours of that requirement are the subject of pending FCC rulemaking following the Ninth Circuit’s partial vacatur.⁸

One thing a local government cannot do is buy time. A blanket moratorium on wireless applications violates Section 253(a) of the Communications Act, and the eligible-facilities regulations state directly that the review period “is not tolled by a moratorium on the review of applications.”² The clock keeps running. When it expires, the remedies above kick in.

1
eCFR. 47 CFR 1.6003 – Reasonable Periods of Time to Act on Siting Applications
2
eCFR. 47 CFR 1.6100 – Wireless Facility Modifications
3
eCFR. 47 CFR 1.6002 – Definitions
4
eCFR. 47 CFR Part 1 Subpart U – State and Local Government Regulation of the Placement, Construction, and Modification of Personal Wireless Service Facilities
5
Federal Communications Commission. Implementation of State and Local Governments’ Obligation to Approve Certain Wireless Facility Modification Requests Under Section 6409(a)
6
Federal Register. Accelerating Wireless and Wireline Broadband Deployment by Removing Barriers to Infrastructure Investment
7
Federal Communications Commission. Accelerating Wireless Broadband Deployment by Removing Barriers to Infrastructure Investment – FCC 18-133
8
Federal Communications Commission. Build America – Eliminating Barriers to Wireless Deployments – Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 47 USC 332 – Mobile Services
10
Federal Communications Commission. Declaratory Ruling – Petition for Declaratory Ruling to Clarify Provisions of Section 332(c)(7)(B)