September 30, 2025

Greetings All. 



In this newsletter we give an update on the 5G "small cell" tower rollout in Tucson plus announce some big news: the City of Tucson is launching a Fiber-To-The-Premises (FTTP) program with the goal of reaching all homes and businesses by 2029. Finally, the MAHA "strategy report" has been released and includes additional research on Electromagnetic Radiation in the long list of proposed initiatives to address the childhood chronic disease crisis. Read on ...  



Note: This is an amended version of the September 28th newsletter with minor changes to the documention of small cells installed in Tucson for accurate record.

Thank you for all the interest and feedback so far. Please forward this email to others who may be interested!

Halt of 5G small cells and the rise of Fixed Wireless Internet Access in Tucson 

No 5G “small cell” towers installed since mid-2023


According to the City of Tucson small cell database, the last 5G cell tower was installed in Tucson in July 2023. City staff confirm this halt in permit applications and tower installations. 

How would you like this tower in front of your home with no say in the matter?

Safe Tech Tucson volunteers and other wireless safety advocates from across Tucson and Pima County have worked hard to stop these towers. Our activities ranged from educating the public at local events about the harm to public health, privacy and property values, to helping with Notices to the City of Tucson and full-on protests in the streets (see this photo story from Peter Howell). It’s unclear why the installation halt has occurred, but hopefully our efforts made a difference. 

The nearly 500 existing small cell towers continue to needlessly emit unsafe Radio Frequency (RF) radiation 24/7 for blocks into the surrounding areas, some now emitting millimeter wave radiation.  

Rise of Fixed Wireless Internet Access


When the 5G cell tower rollout began, the word was that the telecoms were installing small cells to meet the rising needs for "5G" cell phone service. From the League of Arizona Cities and Towns:

“In an effort to increase network capacity to support this demand for wireless connectivity, wireless companies have been deploying small cells on city-owned infrastructure, such as street lights and traffic signals, to increase cell coverage in areas that are not being served or are underserved by traditional macro cell towers."

AZ State Bill 2365 was passed almost unanimously (Rep Pamela Powers Hannley was the sole no vote) to fast track this “urgent” need. 

However, it appears that rather than meeting greater demand for cell service, the primary purpose of the small cells has been to provide in-home internet service through Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) technology. In this system, homes get their internet access through connections of their non-mobile (fixed) home routers to nearby cell towers or other wireless infrastructure, greatly increasing entire neighborhoods’ exposure to Radio Frequency radiation. 

In a trend across the country, telecom companies have been luring customers away from traditional wired internet service providers with promises of better connections and prices, building towers close to homes and in places that already have good cell coverage. 

According to Kent Chamberlain, PhD of the Environmental Health Trust:

“The aggressive rollout of wireless infrastructure appears to be motivated by corporate greed at the expense of people’s health and security … We were trying to figure out why new towers were being proposed in places that clearly didn’t need them. It’s because the companies want to increase their profits, and extending into the home internet market is one way to achieve that goal.”

Read more in this Sept 2025 article about the impacts of the rise of Fixed Wireless Access across the country.

Big Telecom Wants to Take Over Home Internet Market — It Could Double Kids’ Exposure to Radiation

Cell towers are needed for mobile applications, not for home routers that are fixed in one place. Yet here in Tucson, soon after the small cells were installed in neighborhoods residents began to get advertisements from Verizon and other telecoms in their mailboxes to sign up for their home Wi-Fi services. Now in the greater Tucson area Fixed Wireless Access has surpassed wired internet access (cable and fiber) in geographical coverage, with Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T among the biggest providers. Other providers, such as Simply Bits, use rooftop antennas connecting wirelessly to neighborhood rooftop hubs, which don’t require permits or inspections by the City of Tucson due to the FCC's Over-the-Air Reception Devices (OTARD) rule.

Small cell tower installations have stopped (paused?). But our inundation with wireless radiation has continued with the rise of Fixed Wireless Access and the continued expansion and “upgrades” of cell towers, regardless of need.

Tucson’s new FTTP program is good news. Fiber optic cable -based internet is known to be faster and more reliable, more secure and sustainable than either cable or wireless (read more from Earthlink and “Reinventing Wires” by the National Institute for Science, Law & Public Policy). Fiber optic cable does not use Radio Frequency radiation to transmit data wirelessly through the air. Instead, it sends pulses of light through a physical cable. With no need for a connection from wireless infrastructure to home routers, it should mean lower RF radiation exposure.  

However, as with any major change in technology, there may be costs along with benefits when it comes to public safety. Will Tucson’s fiber build-out spur more wireless infrastructure? What will become of existing small cells? What kind of “smart city” innovations are envisioned? Will it lead to a reduction in our exposure to RF radiation over which we have no control? What does the build-out mean for people’s exposure to EMFs other than RF radiation, such as dirty electricity, aka electromagnetic interference? 

We are still gathering information and hope to have more in the coming months.

New MAHA strategy includes Electromagnetic Radiation

The Make America Healthy Again commission established in February 2025 has been tasked with “investigating and addressing the root causes of America’s escalating health crisis, with an initial focus on childhood chronic diseases.”

Earlier this month the commission released its second report: Strategy Report: Make Our Children Healthy Again giving its strategies to combat childhood chronic disease.  

The report states that:

“HHS, in partnership with other departments and Federal agencies, will undertake a study on electromagnetic radiation and health research to identify gaps in knowledge, including on new technologies, to ensure safety and efficacy” (p. 6). 

While we were hoping some action would be proposed, this is a major victory: electromagnetic radiation exposure has been raised as a Federal government priority for the first time. The strategy also raises additional issues that may bring more attention to wireless radiation safety, including screen time addiction and key health problems linked to RF radiation exposure including infertility, autism and children's and youth's mental health. Although the Federal Communications Commission is not specifically mentioned, it indicates that the commission will also seek to address the issue of agency capture and the need to protect public health from corporate influence.

See the Environmental Health Trust's statement on the strategy report here.

Upcoming

• On October 30th at 5:30 pm, Safe Tech Tucson will join the Electromagnetic Safety Alliance table at the Fall 2025 BoardConnect event hosted by the Community Foundation of Southern Arizona.

• The October issue of Natural Awakenings Tucson will feature an article by Lisa Smith, Electromagnetic Radiation Specialist of EMF Wellness Tucson, on "Protecting the Brain from Electromagnetic Fields".