More than 21,000 AT&T wireless workers may go on strike this coming weekend if their union can’t reach a deal on a new contract by Friday at 3 P.M. ET. Workers from 36 different states have been working without a contract since February. “Going on strike is a decision that is not made lightly. Your bargaining team has worked countless …
AT&T’s disaster drill sets stage for providing connectivity during emergencies
Hurricane season officially kicks off on June 1, and the National Weather Service says an average of three hurricanes hit the U.S. coastline every two years. But each one carries with it different catastrophic results and AT&T says it wants to be prepared for all scenarios, and goes through a number of exercises that put their Network Discovery (NDR) team …
Verizon wins with its superior $3.1 billion offer for Straight Path
Update: May 11, 2017 -Straight Path Communications Inc. announced this morning that it will sign today a definitive merger agreement under which Verizon Communications Inc. will acquire Straight Path for $184.00 per share, reflecting an enterprise value of approximately $3.1 billion, in an all-stock transaction. Concurrently therewith, Verizon will pay on behalf of Straight Path a termination fee of $38 …
Son’s love for the un-carrier blossoms again after ending their quiet period
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son said today that his first pick for a merger with Sprint would be T-Mobile, but the billionaire and founder of SoftBank said at a news conference in Tokyo that all comers are welcome. ““Our top choice remains T-Mobile. We will be open and sincere as we aim to launch negotiations. We’re basically open to anything. If …
Broadband investment heads south, 5G Michigan trials soar successfully
Samsung, Cisco deliver multivendor end-to-end 5G trial with Verizon Samsung Electronics America, Inc. and Cisco, in partnership with Verizon, today announced the successful deployment of the first multi-vendor end-to-end 5G trial network in the field, which took place in Ann Arbor, a suburb of metropolitan Detroit, Mich. Earlier this year, Verizon announced plans for customer trials of 5G technology for …
AT&T’s tower-centric drone software could sunset a number of head counts
More than 30 years ago, Art Pregler directed the Air Force’s complex mission of taking full sized multi-million-dollar fighter aircraft, converting them into drones, and then shooting them out of the sky with new advanced weapons systems. Today, as director of AT&T’s National Mobility Systems, Pregler’s role is just the opposite, requiring him to ensure that the carrier’s experimental drones remain …
Straight Path finds its 5G suitor as AT&T picks it up for $1.25 Billion
AT&T has announced plans to acquire Straight Path Communications which holds a nationwide portfolio of millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum, including 39 GHz and 28 GHz licenses. This acquisition complements AT&T’s January acquisition of FiberTower and augments the company’s holdings of mmWave spectrum. The acquisition will support AT&T’s leadership in 5G, which will accelerate the delivery of new experiences for consumers …
FCC appoints WIA members and leaders to broadband deployment committee
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai today announced that members and leaders of the Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA) were selected to serve on the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC), a new federal advisory committee charged with exploring ways to accelerate deployment of high-speed Internet access nationwide and to close the digital divide. WIA members named to the Committee include: Marc Ganzi, Chief …
AT&T exec Kay Kapoor will head new $15B global organization
Kay Kapoor, who has led AT&T’s federal business for four year, and the company’s successful efforts to secure the multi-billion-dollar FirstNet public safety network contract, will now head the company’s new Global Public Sector (GPS) business unit as its president. AT&T is consolidating its federal, state and local public sector operations into GPS. AT&T’s public sector sales in 2016, consisting …
Court agrees, awarding FirstNet contract to Rivada was just too ‘risky’
According to documents released by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, FirstNet’s Source Selection Authority (SSA) said one of the reasons that Rivada Mercury did not make the competitive range for bidding for the nationwide public safety network that was awarded to AT&T on Thursday was because “Rivada’s proposed strategy was risky because it utilized aggressive business assumptions.” The SSA …
Over 70 communities have filed suit over Ohio siting bill enforcement
Maumee, Ohio is the latest community to take action against Ohio’s “Petland Bill” that became effective March 21, that snuck in and set standards for tower siting in the state’s 938 municipalities’ rights of way. Maumee City Council members voted unanimously last night to file a formal complaint and request an injunction against the section of the bill relating to …
FirstNet and AT&T contract is inked creating 10,000 new jobs, $40 billion in spending by the carrier
At an award and signing ceremony this morning at the Department of Commerce, AT&T, although unofficially acknowledged as the winning FirstNet bidder, was officially announced as the winner of the private/public safety network contract by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. “Today is a landmark day for public safety across the Nation and shows the incredible progress we can make …
American Tower’s $100 million amendment is most likely from Verizon
UPDATE: March 29, 2017 – According to two knowledgeable industry insiders, American Tower Corporation’s (ATC) filing on March 21 stating that it had amended a master lease agreement with one of its tenants that will provide the company with an additional $100 million in revenue for the year, was an agreement with Verizon, not AT&T as had been widely speculated. However, they …
Expect a quick AT&T award of FirstNet after court rules against Rivada Mercury
The U.S. Court of Appeals of Federal Claims on Friday ruled against Rivada Mercury in the lawsuit they filed in November alleging that they were unfairly excluded by FirstNet from being in the competitive range for the nationwide broadband network for public safety contract Knowledgeable industry observers have said that if Rivada’s lawsuit was denied, the FirstNet board will most …
AT&T still mum on what caused its 14-state 911 outage
The FCC said on Thursday it will investigate why AT&T wireless subscribers in several states could not make emergency 911 calls late Wednesday that spanned at least 14 states. “Every call to 911 must go through,” said Chairman Ajit Pai in a news release. “So when I first learned of yesterday’s outage, I immediately directed FCC staff to contact AT&T …
Industry’s first successful flying COW live test is made by AT&T
By Art Pregler It’s a bird, it’s a plane… it’s a Flying COW. Despite its funny name, we expect our Flying COW will be doing serious, potentially life-saving things for our customers. We’ve used drones to inspect cell sites, measure network strength in sports stadiums, and now we’ve built a Flying COW. A Flying COW – which stands for Cell …
SoftBank spectrum bids and a T-Mobile/Sprint buy are based on suspect sources
SoftBank Group, Inc., Sprint’s parent company, may revive selling the carrier to T-Mobile’s parent company, Deutsche Telekom, according to unnamed sources cited by Reuters. The news agency said that SoftBank is reportedly frustrated with Sprint’s growth and is ready to give up control of the company and take a minority interest in T-Mobile. With limited information provided by Reuters’ sources, …
New Jersey cell tower tax ruling could have a wide-ranging impact
The nation’s most profitable toll road, exceeding over $1 billion annually in revenue, will be slightly less profitable following a New Jersey tax court decision handed down last Friday that will require it to pay city taxes on a cell tower on its property in Elizabeth. The ruling could also have other municipalities assess whether towers located on turnpike property …
CWA’s wireless workers at AT&T turn up the heat by alluding to a strike
Wireless workers at AT&T are planning protests throughout the nation this weekend ahead of their contract expiration on Saturday night. The Communications Workers of America (CWA), representing about 21,000 AT&T wireless workers, is planning to protest in a number of U.S. cities to put pressure on the carrier to have them accept their contract requests. More than 90% of members …
T-Mobile’s Hail Mary pass falls short after Super Bowl data rank tanks
T-Mobile Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray most likely knew that there was no possibility of the carrier sporting high data usage numbers at Super Bowl 51 Sunday, and used the same game play that it did last year. Ray tried to exploit his opponents’ slow speed during the most watched sporting event in America with T-Mobile’s download and upload speeds of …
