Carriers captured high grades for competitiveness, according to the FCC’s Twentieth Mobile Wireless Competition Report, an annual analysis of whether there is effective rate rivalry with wireless operators Although the 34-page report provides a wealth of additional information to support competitiveness, according to Jonathan Adelstein, President and CEO of the Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA), anybody who has turned on a …
Puerto Rico’s horrendous cell site outages complicated by generator/fuel theft concerns
Puerto Rico’s cell service is still devastated today with over 91% of its sites out of service, basically the same as yesterday. The horrific outages caused by Hurricane Maria are also being felt in the U.S. Virgin Islands where 60.4% of cell sites are out of service, slightly down from yesterday’s 61.3%. In San Juan, P.R., subscribers saw a poor, …
T-Mobile and Sprint marriage announcement is imminent according to romance reports
In February, Reuters broke the news that Deutsche Telekom subsidiary T-Mobile U.S. was reportedly planning a renewed bid to acquire rival Sprint after a previous reverse attempt was thwarted by regulators. Joined by CNBC, Reuters is again reporting that the romance has fired up again and a deal could be expected by the end of next month. But it’s not …
Carriers’ cell site outages to the FCC will not match their marketing hype
Commentary Although the nation’s four major carriers are reporting cell site outages in affected areas of Hurricane Irma to the FCC, and the Commission is providing daily compilations for a snapshot in time, such as today’s outages in Florida of 13.4%, carrier public relations officials are beginning to spin their hardened site assets at speeds off the Saffir-Simpson scale. On …
NWSA begins development of Telecommunications Tower Foreman worker certification
The National Wireless Safety Alliance (NWSA) today announced that a group of nearly 40 subject matter experts, representing a broad cross-section of the telecommunications industry, are convening in Dallas, Tex. this week to begin the development process for the Telecommunications Tower Foreman certification program. NWSA made the announcement at the 2017 GSMA-CTIA Mobile World Congress Americas event in San Francisco, …
Rivada teams up with U.S. Cellular to entice New Hampshire to opt-out of FirstNet
Rivada Networks announced this morning that New Hampshire’s first responders “deserve a dedicated, purpose-built and statewide public-safety broadband network, and Rivada has teamed up with U.S. Cellular to ensure that mission is accomplished.” In Sept. 2016, Rivada Networks, Herndon, Virg., signed a no-cost, no-obligation contract with the state of New Hampshire to develop an alternative radio access network plan for …
One third of the nation has now signed on with FirstNet
More than a third of the country has moved to modernize communications for the fire, police, emergency medical services (EMS) and other public safety personnel who bravely protect and serve their communities. Alaska, Hawaii, Nebraska, Puerto Rico and Tennessee are the latest to announce decisions to opt-in. Twenty states and territories have announced their decision to opt-in to the FirstNet network – America’s …
AT&T and FirstNet are keeping a low profile as Verizon touts its public safety network
Verizon’s announcement yesterday that it would build a core network to support the nation’s public safety users, putting it toe-to-toe with AT&T which won the FirstNet contract to build a nationwide public safety network, has communications officials questioning whether Verizon’s network will meet the FirstNet interoperability requirements set by the FCC for states or territories deciding to opt-out and build …
Verizon takes on AT&T with its dedicated first responders network
Verizon Wireless, the largest wireless network operator in the U.S. announced today that it going to build and operate its own private network core to serve first responders, jumping into the ring with AT&T who has the contract to build out the opt-in FirstNet network. SVP, Public Sector for Verizon Mike Maiorana discussed the carrier’s commitment to public safety communications …
Firstnet’s progress lauded at APCO as Arizona and Kansas join the public safety network
UPDATE August 15, 2017: Kansas is also transforming public safety communications by opting in to FirstNet. This afternoon, Governor Sam Brownback announced his decision to accept the FirstNet and AT&T plan to deliver a wireless broadband network to the state’s public safety community. This will make Kansas the 14th state or territory to bring advanced technologies that will help first responders save lives and protect communities. FirstNet Chairwoman Sue Swenson extolled …
AT&T heralds ‘one climb’ to get three units of spectrum in service
At last week’s Oppenheimer’s 20th Annual Technology, Internet & Communications Conference, AT&T CFO John Stephens said that he expects the carrier’s overall capex to increase as a result its FirstNet build over the next three to four years with work beginning this year with the states that have opted in. “What we expect is that it will be one of …
AT&T’s FirstNet chief mum on new tower builds, questions ‘public safety grade’ towers
A two-hour progress hearing on FirstNet yesterday by the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation and the Internet provided scant details on AT&T’s plans for new tower builds throughout the country, especially in rural areas, other than a brief mention there was an aggressive program in place to accomplish it. Michael Poth, CEO of FirstNet and Chris Sambar, Senior Vice President, …
Tech’s condition is stable after he allegedly rode guy wire down from an ATC Texas tower
Update: July 11, 2017 – According to reliable sources, the company that the injured worker was employed by was Advanced Data Technology of Pearsall, Tex. Established in 1995, Advanced Data is a systems integrator of voice, data, and video solutions in rural markets. The company did not respond to a request for additional information regarding the incident. The injured technician has …
AT&T’s fixed wireless footprint expands to 70,000 rural locations
AT&T Fixed Wireless Internet for rural and underserved locations is now available in eight new states. These are in addition to the initial launch that took place in Georgia in April. More than 70,000 locations can now access Fixed Wireless Internet in underserved or unserved areas across these nine states. This is part of the FCC Connect America Fund commitment. …
Carrier CEOs chew on Trump’s ear to clear the path and speed up small cell installations
President Donald Trump offered backing for emerging technologies such as next-generation wireless and unmanned aerial vehicles in a meeting yesterday with the heads of telecom giants AT&T, Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile, and drone companies such as Trumbull Unmanned as well as venture capitalists and health care providers. Wireless makes some strange bedfellows During the meetings in the East Wing, Trump …
FCC investigating unlawful transactions after contractor takes ownership of 40-plus towers
A Wisconsin wireless contractor discovered a flaw in the FCC’s Antenna Structure Registration (ASR) database, and changed the ownership of more than 40 towers from multiple carriers and tower owners into his company’s name during the past five months without the rightful owners being notified by the agency, according to FCC documents and sources knowledgeable of the illegal transfers. Sprint, …
FirstNet and AT&T deliver state plans three months ahead of schedule
FirstNet and AT&T are taking an important step to deliver the first nationwide high-speed data and voice network for America’s first responders. Today, the two will provide U.S. states and territories with individual State Plans to enable the rapid deployment of this first-of-its-kind FirstNet network. The network buildout proposed in the State Plans will create thousands of new jobs nationwide …
Calculating the job risk online, cell tower technicians are ‘doomed’ – but it’s unlikely
A study that has been kicking around since it was published by researchers at Oxford University in 2013, has gained a second life in the last few months after two online entrepreneurs made it easy to find out how susceptible 702 occupations were to being replaced by machines. The university report by Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael A. Osborne was created …
CCA slams AT&T again, this time asking FCC to reject FiberTower spectrum buy
The Competitive Carriers Association (CCA) believes that AT&T will not allow their carrier members to remain competitive if the FCC allows AT&T to acquire bankrupt FiberTower’s 650 terminated licenses. In a filing with the FCC Wednesday, CCA said that instead of the planned acquisition, the FCC should recover and re-auction the unconstructed spectrum in the 39 GHz band, and potentially …
FCC chief chides AT&T for 911 outage that could have been prevented
Ajit Pai said today that AT&T’s 911 outage in March could have been prevented if the carrier had implemented network reliability best practices. On March 8, 12,539 Americans who were AT&T customers tried to call 911. But they couldn’t reach emergency services because of a nationwide outage of AT&T’s VoLTE 911 network. When they placed that call, they heard fast …
