ExteNet Systems, a company that designs, builds, owns, manages and operates distributed networks to meet growing cellphone demand, presented a proposal to bring its system to Kings Point before the village board at Thursday’s meeting.
Richard Lambert Jr., regional manger, told the board ExteNet had been contacted by Verizon, which saw a need for better service in the village.
ExteNet serves as a middle man between the village and the cell provider. ExteNet rents utility poles, which the cell providers then rent from ExteNet to put up their service boxes to supply service to customers.
In this case, ExteNet would use PSEG utility poles.
ExteNet has not yet come to Long Island, Lambert said, but is extensively used across New York City.
Lambert said the company is currently negotiating with the Village of Lake Success, which will hold a public hearing in March.
The villages of Williston Park, Flower Hill, Plandome and Plandome Manor all approved moratoriums on any cell tower or antenna construction in response to ExteNet’s interest in adding 63 antennas, also called nodes, across the North Shore.
Plandome Manor Mayor Barbara Donno said during a Council of Greater Manhasset Civic Associations meeting this month that the village had also recently been approached with an application for the antennas.
The Village of Old Westbury recently approved 21 cell nodes for Crown Castle International Corp. after five months of discussion and public hearings.
Lambert said that over the last decade or so, since the introduction of smartphones, demand for data has grown exponentially.
The smaller sites are less intrusive, faster and provide more reliable service, Lambert said.
While ExteNet would begin with Verizon, Lambert said once the infrastructure is in place, other cell carriers would likely join quickly.
The installation process would take a few months, but construction would only be about one to two hours at any given point, Lambert said.
Mayor Michael Kalnick adjourned the meeting, and the decision will be made at a later date.
Amelia Camurati contributed reporting.
