FCC Chairman Ajit Pai last week chided carriers for their slow progress in restoring wireless service in areas close to where Hurricane Michael made landfall. He called it “completely unacceptable.” Yesterday, he complimented broadcasters for their stellar job. “Another familiar aspect is local radio and TV broadcasters were unsung heroes in their first informer roles and in the aftermath,” Pai …
FCC wants input on tower and other costs to be incurred by repacking
The FCC released their “catalog of potential expenses and estimated costs” yesterday for LPTV stations and TV translator facilities, and for FM radio stations, expected to be incurred as a result of broadcaster repacking, and is asking for public comments. “While we believe the catalog is relatively comprehensive, it does not cover every possible expense for every situation, nor is it …
Verizon taking lion’s share of blame for continuing Hurricane Michael site outages
Hard-hit Bay County, Fla. is showing, according to FCC data, that 30% of its cell sites are still down as of Oct. 22, 2018 from Hurricane Michael. A week ago, that percentage was at 62%. (See data below.) Recent news reports indicate that Verizon, a key carrier for Panama City and outlying suburbs in Bay County is still struggling to …
Leaving cell sites far below, FCC Commissioner Carr breaks through the clouds at 2,000’
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr on Friday conducted a site visit to the KDLT TV broadcast tower located near Rowena, S.D. and climbed the top portion of the 2,000-foot tower. On Thursday, it was an almost balmy – for South Dakota – 50 degrees. But when Carr arrived on site it was 30 degrees and snowing. During his site visit, …
‘Hallelujah’ heard from Mexico Beach Mayor as Verizon service is restored on his phone
Hard-hit by Hurricane Michael’s devastating winds and cut fiber lines, Bay County, Fla. saw little improvement yesterday in the number of cell sites that were down, going from 216 the day before to just 214, but this afternoon there was a marked improvement in service as the dominant carrier in Panama City and Mexico Beach, Verizon, brought service back to …
Industry’s first-ever influential contractor survey’s deadline is October 10
Make your company’s concerns count As wireless contractors are acutely aware, contractor firms in the industry have experienced trends that have seen payment terms go from 30 days to 60 days, and now are settling in at 90 to 120 days, placing an undue financial burden on contractor companies. It’s not whether these terms could potentially compromise safety and hinder …
Repack cuts commercial UHF broadcast stations to below 1,000
According to newly released statistics by the FCC, the nation saw an addition of 110 broadcast stations added to its ranks during the third quarter, with the total number of commercially licensed UHF stations dipping below 1,000. In addition, there are fewer AM radio stations and far more FM translators and boosters. (VIEW BROADCAST CATEGORY COUNTS BELOW) Translator stations are primarily not new stations, …
Sprint paints a terribly bleak survival picture for the FCC if merger is nixed
Earlier this month the FCC, which is reviewing the planned merger of T-Mobile and Sprint Corp, said it had paused its 180-day review clock to give the agency time to analyze a large, complex submission on benefits that the proposed merger would create. On Wednesday, Sprint took a different path to grease approval by the agency – providing a presentation …
FCC’s rules passage will serve to put the U.S. as a leader in the race to 5G
As expected, the FCC voted this morning to approve rules, available here, designed to speed up the deployment of small cells and other 5G network equipment by regulating in part the fees and timelines cities and states can impose on wireless network operators and other wireless players. Although Democrat FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel voted for the rules, she dissented in …
Carriers’ post-hurricane snow job promos beginning to flood the media
Carriers are trying to outdo each other in presenting how well their network faired following Hurricane Florence’s slow destructive dance across the Carolinas. Now a tropical depression, Florence is still a life-threatening storm as widespread flooding continues to destroy homes and cut off communities from resources and cell service. Yesterday, in a press release, Verizon said their “network continues to withstand …
North Carolina’s cell sites on the mend, but Onslow County gets hammered
Hurricane Florence restoration efforts in North Carolina in the past 24 hours brought the total of sites out of service to 11.8%, a 13% improvement over yesterday’s outages, according to the FCC’s Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) report for Sept. 17, 2018. However, Onslow County saw a 31 % increase in new sites out of service, raising the county’s total …
Some N.C. counties’ cell site outages continue to increase as Florence’s flood levels rise
According to the FCC’s Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) report for Sept. 16, 2018, 13.6% of North Carolina’s cell sites are out of service as a result of Hurricane Florence, down from Saturday’s 18.4%, but rising flood waters are seeing some counties’ outages rising. Although the agency’s out of service cell site numbers are the best information available, they don’t …
Hurricane Florence’s ‘ground zero’ cell tower starts to be battered by storm’s outer rain bands
There was no collective sigh of relief from wireless infrastructure technicians and management as Hurricane Florence was downgraded from a Category 4 to a Category 2 storm early this morning. Instead, news that the storm has widened and may stay over the coast of the Carolinas for a longer period of time, causing extensive flooding and cell site fuel resupply …
Fictional ‘Hurricane Cora’ cripples hundreds of cell towers
A fictional “Hurricane Cora” crippled numerous states on the East Coast in a simulated narrative created by FEMA and Argonne National Laboratory in May that is similar to the real-world scenario that is unfolding as Hurricane Florence, now a Category 4 storm, is ready to devastate the Carolinas. Senior leaders from the White House, along with more than 91 federal …
Infrared LED obstruction lighting is not required: FAA Obstruction Evaluation Manager
An ambiguous recent change to the FAA’s Obstruction Marking and Lighting bible left some obstruction lighting managers with the impression that the Advisory Circular (AC) now requires towers with a new FAA determination to include infrared (IR) LEDs in the L-810 and L-864 systems to make the red lamping more visible to Night Vision Imaging Systems (NVIS) and Night Vision …
Florence’s aftermath will see how hardened networks actually were
As the country’s wireless workforce marshals logistic resupply bases, for the next two days the nation’s carriers will extol the virtues of their hurricane preparedness capabilities’ public relations campaigns as to why they – and only they – can ensure a strong and reliable network when Hurricane Florence decimates the East Coast. As if they all used the same Word …
Not power, but tower structures will be put to the test as Hurricane Florence devastates the East Coast
It is now expected that Hurricane Florence will hit the East Coast Thursday as a powerhouse Category 4 storm, and possibly a Category 5, and the damage could be extensive – and long-lasting, especially for cell towers. A Category 4 hurricane has winds of 130 to 156 mph on the Saffir-Simpson Scale of Hurricane Intensity Initial winds of up to …
Contractor cash flow could be the real culprit in the US’s inability to quickly roll out 5G
It’s the delayed payments, stupid! Commentary – Although we’re treated to almost a daily dose of news about how macro and small cell siting issue delays could adversely impact a successful 5G buildout in America, initial data from Wireless Estimator’s industry-supported Terms of Payment Survey indicates that carrier-generated cash flow problems of contractors could be 5G’s Achilles heel. To draw …
Two key organizations release an alternative to the FCC-directed small cell model code
In 2017, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai established the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC) to draft a model code for municipalities that would provide guidance and assist local communities in authorizing wireless and wireline broadband deployment in the public rights of way. The 41-page draft – still a work in progress – was introduced July 19, 2018, while the National League …
FCC’s newly minted plan will clear the way for cheaper and faster 5G deployments
The FCC will vote in three weeks on a plan to accelerate next-generation 5G wireless networks around the U.S. by overriding some local rules that they believe will hold up deployment. FCC Commissioner Brendar Carr announced at a press conference today in Indianapolis that the plan is targeting deployment of small cell transmitters that are oftentimes subject to local delay …
