'Tiki torch' poles in downtown Raleigh to light way for better cell signals

"What is that?" state Rep. Cynthia Ball, D-Wake, asked Wednesday, wondering whether one near the North Carolina Museum of History was a sculpture or a new type of traffic signal. "It was just out there one day. I hadn't seen it before."

The "torch" is actually a small cell tower, the type required for 5G wireless networking. Several went up a couple of weeks ago throughout downtown, during the cold weather, so a lot of people didn't notice them until this week.

Judy Fields and Angel Harvey likewise said they had no clue about the poles as they walked back to their state offices Wednesday, but when Fields heard they might help with her cell service – downtown Raleigh is notorious for dead spots among its tall buildings – she was enthusiastic.

"Our office has dead patches, so we know what that's like. That's awesome," Fields said. "That's not unattractive, not bad."

Neither Crown Castle Fiber, which owns the towers, nor Raleigh officials returned phone calls Wednesday about how many are being put up and where they will be located.

"It's going to be vital as transportation moves into a connected-vehicle status where cars are talking to cars and signals are talking to cars," Torbett said. "We have to have a 5G before we could ever adapt to that, and that's coming faster than we ever expected it to."

Torbett and other bill other sponsors initially didn't realize the tiki torch pole across the street from the Legislative Building was the first phase of what they sought.

"It's, well, I won't say attractive, but it's not as ugly as it could be," Torbett said.