Motivated by Sprint caving in to demands in California to remove a school cell tower, a South Jordan, Utah resident protesting the existence of two towers at the Jordan Ridge Elementary School has prompted a school board member to ask the community whether all 35 towers at school sites should be removed. Armed with recent inaccurate testing at an elementary school …
AT&T seeks to kayo Sprint’s ‘fake’ 5G Evolution lawsuit since consumers don’t understand 5G standards
AT&T has asked a New York federal court to dismiss a false advertising lawsuit filed by Sprint on Feb. 7, 2019 that alleges AT&T is deceptively marketing its upgraded 4G service as “5G Evolution,” arguing that Sprint can’t prove that their 5G Evolution ads make an express claim and “by attaching ‘Evolution’ to the term ‘5G’ the ads invoke the …
Free Press: FCC broadband gains overstated leads Fast Forward Friday news
Article Media Free Press: FCC broadband gains overstated B+C Huawei sues U.S. as ‘last resort’ to fight government ban UPI Was a cell tower illegally built in an Atlanta neighborhood AJC South Korea delays commercial 5G service over phone and carrier issues VB AT&T expects to hit second FirstNet buildout Milestone by year-end Missiona Critical Interoperability debate dominates carrier-selection panel …
ExteNet sues Crown and NY DOT over shot clock violation, wants Crown’s contract revoked
In a be careful what you wish for reality incident, a subsidiary of Crown Castle is being sued for violating an FCC’s shot clock deadline as set forth by Congress in the Telecommunications Act of 1996, an action that carriers, Crown Castle and other vertical realtors petitioned the FCC to adopt. ExteNet Systems, Inc. filed its complaint on Monday against …
FCC given green light to start enforcing its new small cell regs on Monday
At the eleventh hour, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit yesterday denied a motion to stay the enforcement of the FCC’s September 27, 2018 Declaratory Ruling and Third Report and Order led by FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr. The new federal siting rules for small cells became effective Jan. 14, 2019, according to the order. A group of cities led by …
Broadband provider is suing the DOJ and FCC for foreclosure action from prison and wants $50+ million for slander
The FCC on Thursday reaffirmed its earlier decision that Hawaii-based Sandwich Isles Communications (SIC) knowingly defrauded the Universal Service Fund (USF) of more than $27 million for reimbursements it was not entitled to receive. In its order for reconsideration, the FCC said between 2002 and 2015, the USF provided nearly $250 million of funds to SIC to provide service to …
Motorola wins bid to send Hytera’s monopoly lawsuit to its backyard
Motorola Solutions Inc. (MSI) has won its bid to transfer from New Jersey to Illinois a federal antitrust lawsuit by Hytera Communications Corp. alleging the company of unlawfully monopolizing the land- mobile-radio market, with a U.S. District Court New Jersey judge finding that the claims would be better-served being tried in the Prairie State. MSI had asked the court to …
Mayor and FCC commish could be rumbling if Ninth Circuit gets broadband rule petition
The City of San Jose, Calif. joined by cities and municipalities within the state as well as in Washington state, Nevada, Oregon and Arizona, have filed a petition in the Tenth Circuit to move their petition to review court case over the FCC’s September ruling to deregulate small cell deployment, from Denver to San Francisco’s Ninth Circuit known for interpreting …
T-Mobile asking for ruling as to the legality of an additional insured certificate
In a Nov. 9, 2018 filing, the Ninth Circuit has asked Washington state’s Supreme Court to consider whether an insurer must cover a carrier’s costs in a lawsuit alleging its subcontractor’s rooftop antenna installation caused damage to an apartment building in the Bronx, N.Y., stating that Washington state law is uncertain on a critical issue in the case. The Ninth …
Concrete seen as a culprit in Corning’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium DAS design failure in IBM lawsuit
Successfully teaming with Corning Optical Communications Wireless, Inc. to build a strong fiber-based WiFi and DAS network for Texas A&M’s Kyle Field in 2015, IBM again partnered with Corning to provide a DAS and WiFi system in the new 71,000-seat Atlanta Falcons Mercedes-Benz Stadium that opened Aug. 26, 2017. But the short-lived relationship began to unravel following the inking of a …
Sinclair/Tribune deal given life support after court nixes ownership rule petition
In a two-page decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has refused to overturn the FCC’s restoration of the UHF discount on the grounds that the parties challenging it did not have standing to bring the petition. However, its impact may not be beneficial to the Sinclair/Tribune acquisition which might already be doomed. The UHF discount means …
Indian Tribes team up to halt 5G ‘desecration’ expected from FCC’s exemptions
American Indian tribes are pressing the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to halt a March 22, 2018 order from the FCC exempting small-cell 5G network structures from certain regulatory reviews, arguing that the order would allow for the “desecration of historic sites just because it cannot supervise effectively.” In consolidated complaints, the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma, …
Appeals court rejects ‘wrong license’ ruling, reviving subcontractor’s $18.1 million lawsuit
License only becomes a concern in a ploy to not pay for millions of dollars of work, plaintiff says UPDATE: October 26, 2018 – MP Nexlevel of California, Inc., and defendant and counter and cross-claimant CVIN, LLC, dba Vast Networks, filed a stipulation to dismiss the entire action with prejudice. In light of the stipulation, and the previous dismissal of claims against …
Vertical Bridge’s collection chances increase with iHeartMedia bankruptcy court action
Vertical Bridge, one of bankrupt iHeartMedia’s largest unsecured creditors, might have a better chance at securing its past due lease revenues following a filing from iHeartMedia’s unsecured creditors to a Texas bankruptcy judge on Monday that could affect the media giant’s creditors’ Chapter 11 recoveries. The committee of unsecured creditors want to prosecute and settle claims based upon allegations that many …
Massachusetts town stands on five feet as its prime too-close T-Mobile lawsuit defense
A Massachusetts town north of Boston yesterday asked a federal judge to end a Feb. 2017 lawsuit accusing its zoning board of appeals of wrongly denying T-Mobile and another company the right to build a 120-foot monopole, arguing that officials’ determination that the project was too close to residential neighborhoods was evidence-based. Lawyers for the town of Wilmington told the …
AT&T takes American Tower to court in widening lease rates rift
In a lawsuit made public on Monday by AT&T Mobility LLC in Delaware Chancery Court, the carrier is alleging that American Towers LLC is not complying with amendments to leasing agreements for many thousands of towers that AT&T co-locates upon. In the complaint, AT&T is requesting the court to enforce what it believes is a binding agreement, that ATC disagrees …
Politics and alleged propriety software theft unveiled in lawsuit against American Tower
A small Massachusetts software developer is alleging that through their proprietary analytical tools they identified in proof of concept testing that ATC’s Brazilian subsidiary (ATB) was missing the opportunity to capture millions of dollars’ worth of additional annual cash flow, and according to a complaint filed in Massachusetts U.S. District Court by CellInfo, they said they also found “safety shortcomings, …
Verizon exploring legal action against ATC in using contractors as hostages
American Tower Corp.’s demand letter to contractors stating that if they assist in the building of a macro tower site within one-half mile of one of their existing towers that they will no longer be able to do any work for ATC, and possibly be excluded from working for other carriers on an ATC site, has raised the ire of Verizon …
Tower techs settle ‘drive time’ overtime lawsuit with Illinois contractor for $333,000
A Yorkville, Ill. wireless contractor agreed to pay $333,000 to settle a class action lawsuit by tower technicians who claimed they weren’t paid overtime for the time they spent traveling between job sites. Illinois U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey Gilbert gave final approval Tuesday to the settlement between Heights Tower Service, Inc. and 65 employees (listed below), but in the agreement, …
Settlement of $4.25 million to a first responder’s family after telecom tower collapse
The family of a Nutter Fort, W. Virg. firefighter was awarded a $4.25 million settlement agreed to by the Harrison County Court System yesterday. The resolved lawsuit and details from the defendant’s bankruptcy also bring into question whether better vetting of a contractor could have prevented his death. Michael Garrett was responding to a tower collapse on Feb. 1, 2014 when the …
