The FCC deactivated its Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) for Tropical Storm Barry yesterday, issuing it’s final report as of 11:30 a.m. showing that only 25 cell sites were out in Louisiana out of a total of 3,075. Mississippi had no sites out in the affected counties that represented 1,284 sites. Reporting began on Friday. Of interest were the new …
Education will be harmed after contentious vote that opened up 2.5 GHz band: FCC Democrats
In a controversial 3-2 vote yesterday, the FCC agreed to free up the 2.5 GHz band of wireless spectrum for 5G services. Known as the Educational Broadband Service, the band had been used for educational purposes since the 1960s by educational institutions and nonprofits supporting education. The unused and underused mid-band spectrum will now go on the auction block. The only …
Crown sues after New York town says it will tear down 152 of the company’s nodes
Crown Castle filed an action in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York against the Town of Hempstead on June 28, 2019, after officials terminated a license agreement and demanded that Crown Castle remove all of its 152 facilities from the town’s rights-of-way (ROW). Crown is seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against Hempstead’s …
Miranda Allen selected to represent NATE on FCC’s job skills and training opportunities working group
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai today announced his appointments to serve on two Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC) working groups: (1) the Broadband Infrastructure Deployment Job Skills and Training Opportunities working group, and (2) the Increasing Broadband Investment in Low-Income Communities working group. Miranda Allen, CEO of NATE member company RSI Corp of Kowa, Kansas, has been selected to …
CTIA develops a new website to combat RF fear and fake news, but it can’t stop there
Commentary — Recurring headlines purporting that 5G is untested and RF radiation from cell towers could cause cancer is the ammunition being used to close down or prevent the addition of cell sites on school campuses or on adjacent properties throughout the nation. To cool down the heated campaigns, towercos and carriers simply refer opponents to the FCC’s Wireless Devices and …
Cell phones are probably not making us grow horns leads Fast-Forward Friday articles
Article Media Cell phones are probably not making us grow horns Smithsonian Removing Chinese telecommunications equipment from U.S. would cost more than $1 billion Broadban Breakfast Pai re-charters diversity advisory group, FCC seeking new members Inside Radio Researchers sent a fake, unblockable presidential alert to a 50,000-seat stadium Digital Trends Supreme Court leaves unanswered whether District Courts must defer to …
Wireless infrastructure workers are the ‘unsung heroes’: FCC Chairman Pai
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai gave a double-tip of the hardhat to America’s wireless infrastructure companies and their workers during his keynote speech before the New York State Wireless Association on Friday, citing them as the ‘unsung heroes of the digital revolution.’ “Without your work, there would be no app store; no Uber; no 24- hour health monitoring. You not only …
Crown Castle Fiber says ComEd is pole dancing around regs with obscene pricing
Crown Castle Fiber has accused Illinois utility Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) of breaking FCC rules by charging excessive pole attachment fees and denying the company access to hundreds of poles. In its complaints filed with the FCC, Crown Castle alleges that ComEd refuses to recognize that wireless attachments are subject to FCC rules, and as a result, the utility has charged …
5G’s future could literally be full of hot air…and drones leads Fast Forward Friday articles
Article Media 5G’s Future Could Literally Be Full of Hot Air… And Drones LightReading Verizon competing with telecom company to replace Chico water tower Enterprise-Record New network for first responders raises concern among media The Washington Post FCC Chairman cautions India, says 5G can impact national security Inc42 Senators debut bill to boost broadband map accuracy MeriTalk Maine bill to …
Tower Infrastructure Deployment bill introduced by Representatives Walberg and Clarke
Update: June 14, 2019 – Commenting on the bill he co-sponsored with Congresswoman Yvette Clarke to establish a Telecommunications Workforce Development Advisory Council, Congressman Tim Walberg said in a statement today, “As the telecom industry deploys next generation technologies, there are tens of thousands of good-paying, highly-skilled jobs but nobody to fill them. Developing a skilled workforce needs to be …
Small cell deployment highlighted in NATE’s newest Climber Connection video
The National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) today released a video entitled “Small Cells: Here, There and Everywhere” designed to showcase the prominent role next generation technologies and the Association’s member companies are playing to densify networks on the road to 5G. The fast-paced video was unveiled at the American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) Safety 2019 Conference in New Orleans, …
Dems don’t want T-Mobile/Sprint merger, 10 States Attorney Generals state in lawsuit
Late last month Moffett Nathanson Research analysts set the odds of the T-Mobile/Sprint merger going through at 50/50. Today, it’s likely that the smart money is on the $26.5 billion mega deal failing after a lawsuit was filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan by a group of state attorneys general seeking to block the marriage of the third and …
FCC believes bank fraudster turned shock-jock illegally controls four AM radio stations
St. Louis radio shock-jock Robert Romanik is being investigated by the FCC to identify if he has a controlling ownership in radio stations that carry his show which would be a violation of federal law since he had been convicted of felony offenses – more specifically – in 1997 he obstructed justice by lying 150 times to a grand jury …
FCC names winners who spent $2.7 billion in millimeter wave auctions
The FCC has released the names of companies (see full list of Auction 101 and Auction 102 below) that won licenses in the recently completed auction of spectrum suitable for 5G deployments in the 24 GHz and 28 GHz millimeter wave bands. In the $2.7 billion raised, AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Windstream, Starry and U.S. Cellular were the big winners. Each …
Callous disregard for tower lighting regs could result in a $25K-plus fine
A Long Island, NY tower owner is expected to face several fines for violations observed by an FCC investigator of Merdarler Enterprises’ Lake Butler, Fla. tower. The FCC issued a Notice of Violation (NOV) on May 20, 2019 for an obstruction lighting violation claiming that on May 7, 2019 the FCC’s Miami enforcement bureau received information indicating that none of …
Commissioner Starks disses broadband report as ‘fundamentally at odds with reality”
After the FCC revealed its 2019 broadband deployment report yesterday, identifying a healthy accounting that the digital divide has closed by more than 18% from the end of 2016 through 2017, Commissioner Geoffrey Starks called the report “fundamentally at odds with reality,” citing an embarrassing error in the development of the report itself. Starks said the fundamental disconnect between the report …
T-Mobile/Sprint merger heading towards the finish line with open arms from the FCC
Today, T-Mobile US, Inc. and Sprint Corporation committed to the Federal Communications Commission that they would take a series of significant steps if the companies’ merger application is approved. That move caused Chairman Ajit Pai to recommend to his colleagues that the FCC approve the proposed $26 billion deal. Commissioner Brendan Carr agreed, stating: “Approving this combination will help the …
Threatening to kill FCC chief’s family lands caller in jail for 18 months
A California man was sentenced today to more than one and a half years in prison for threatening to kill the family of Ajit Pai, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. “Threatening to actually kill a federal official’s family because of a disagreement over policy is not only inexcusable, it is criminal,” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the …
Commish’s push for rural broadband was scripted 122 years ago
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, the agency’s point man for encouraging why and how the country should unite in order for the US to become the world’s leader in rolling out 5G, retweeted a 122- year-old article (below) from The Daily Northwestern lamenting phone dependency, a “disease from which friends or those afflicted suffer.” Fast-forward to 2020 and the irony of …
NATE industry advocates hit the Hill running at full speed
With new members of the 116th Congress having had the opportunity to settle in, NATE members reached out to them as well as seasoned legislators to inform them of their company’s efforts and roadblocks in building out 5G as well as maintaining the nation’s communications networks. The inaugural fly-in was initiated by NATE Executive Director Todd Schlekeway. Prior to being …
