MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – The City of Myrtle Beach is looking at plans that would improve cell service, but it may not be pretty.
News13 was inside city hall two weeks ago when city leaders met in executive session on the issue. City Spokesperson Mark Kruea says that meeting was to look at the need for more cell towers to handle an influx of technology and people in Myrtle Beach.
“New technology is coming and the demand is growing. As more devices become wireless, we’ll need more capacity in the wireless system,” said Kruea.
Every summer, Kruea says the population grows a great deal. With tourists, there can be hundreds of thousands of people in the city at one time, and with everyone on cell phones and other devices, the city will have to make changes.
“I think we have to grow to accommodate new technology. Certainly, our visitors expect connectivity when they get here. When you have 300,000 people in town, they are competing for space,” said Kruea.
Kruea says the biggest challenge is the way the towers look, and city leaders will be left with a big question.
“Where do you put the new cell technology because it’s got to be above ground in order for it to work? How do you incorporate that into the landscape so that it’s not an eyesore?” questioned Kruea.
In the past, cell phone towers were hidden on top of buildings like the Sheraton Hotel and water towers around the city. Right now, Kruea says there’s no real plan for where the towers will go, but he expects the locations to be up for discussion in 2018.
According to the presentation given to city leaders, AT&T expects 21 billion people to be connected to wireless devices in 2020 and smartphone traffic alone to be 10 times what it was in 2014.
Myrtle Beach isn’t the only one facing this balancing act with technology and aesthetics. Major cities and counties all over the United States are also making the same decisions as technology evolves.