Huge 5G Towers Are Coming To These NYC Corners: MAP

NEW YORK CITY — Heard about the enormous 5G transmitting towers that have been popping up around the five boroughs? Some of them might be coming to your neighborhood.

The 32-foot-tall 5G poles are part of the city's LinkNYC program, which aims to "bridge the digital divide" by expanding high-speed internet service across the five boroughs, including to underserved neighborhoods with low rates of broadband access.

They have been met with fierce pushback in some neighborhoods, however, as residents object to the towers' bulkiness and aesthetic impact.

In response to inquiries from Patch, the city's Office of Technology and Innovation (OTI) confirmed that a public dataset includes the locations of 90 new 5G towers being planned for neighborhoods across the city. Here they are, in map form:

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Spanning all five boroughs, the list includes the 18 poles that recently drew pushback on the Upper East Side, plus other neighborhoods like Brooklyn Heights, SoHo, Parkchester and College Point whose planned towers have not previously been reported.

The towers could be installed relatively soon — in a November letter to an Upper East Side community board, the city said it would "proceed with installation" if it did not receive feedback by mid-January 2023. About half of the upcoming poles list comment periods as being open until Dec. 18, but an OTI spokesperson said those periods may be extended due to the holiday season.

There are also many more likely to follow: the city has said it aims to deploy 2,000 of the towers in the coming years, focusing on the outer boroughs and Manhattan north of 96th Street.

Similar to the first-generation LinkNYC kiosks, the 5G towers will provide access to free Wi-Fi, USB charging, nationwide calling, and 911 and 311, with some also including digital advertising screens.

"We believe that digital connectivity is a human right, necessary to fully participate and access opportunities in modern society," OTI spokesperson Ray Legendre said last week.

The city's partner in LinkNYC is the private consortium CityBridge, which has been beset by problems since not long after the program's inception in 2014. Last year, the city amended its contract with CityBridge to require that 90 percent of 5G poles be built in under-served neighborhoods, after New Yorkers decried the fact that many LinkNYC kiosks had yet to be activated in the areas that needed the most.

Telecom companies may pay CityBridge to put their equipment inside the poles, while everyday New Yorkers will need to already be paying for a mobile plan that includes 5G in order to connect to one, according to THE CITY. (Wi-Fi will remain free, however.)

The new 5G poles began their citywide rollout earlier this year, with Mayor Eric Adams unveiling one of the first such towers in the Bronx in July.