On February 27, unaware that the following day, the US Supreme Court would decide to limit the broad regulatory authority of federal agencies such as the FCC, T-Mobile USA, Inc. filed a petition for review in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, contesting a substantial forfeiture order issued by the agency. The outcome of …
U.S. Cellular to retain tower operations amidst $4.4 billion acquisition by T-Mobile
In a strategic move within the telecom industry, T-Mobile has announced an agreement to purchase U.S. Cellular’s wireless operations and select spectrum assets for $4.4 billion. This deal, which combines cash and up to $2 billion of assumed debt, is a significant step in T-Mobile’s ongoing expansion strategy, bolstering its position in the market following its recent acquisition of Mint …
Analyst Craig Moffett predicts Dish Network could face bankruptcy within six months
Craig Moffett, a senior managing director at MoffettNathanson, has issued a stark forecast for Dish Network, predicting potential bankruptcy within the next four to six months. This marks his first specific timeline following three years of warnings about the company’s financial health. The prediction followed EchoStar’s first-quarter earnings announcement on May 8, where the financial strain on Dish Network, despite …
Forget the filters: In earnings call Viavi CEO Khaykin delivers a dose of harsh reality about infrastructure builds
In a refreshing twist from the typical earnings call script, Viavi Solutions Inc.’s President and CEO, Oleg Khaykin, left analysts and investors buzzing with straightforward commentary during Thursday’s Q3 FY24 earnings discussion. Departing from the usually reserved tone of such calls, Khaykin’s blunt assertion, “Money talks and bullshit walks,” underscored his frustration with the prevailing cautious spending behaviors among Tier …
Maui Files lawsuit against Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T and Spectrum Mobile over failed alerts during deadly fires
Maui County has launched a lawsuit against several major wireless service providers, accusing them of failing to notify emergency management officials of network outages during the devastating wildfires on August 8, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of at least 101 people. The lawsuit was filed in Maui Circuit Court and details how the alleged communication failures hindered evacuation efforts …
Trey Pitts, EH&S manager at T-Mobile and Mike Young, CEO at ANCO, join NWSA’s Board of Governors
The National Wireless Safety Alliance (NWSA) announced today that Trey Pitts, EH&S Program Manager at T-Mobile, and Mike Young, President & CEO at ANCO, have been appointed to the organization’s Board of Governors. In their new roles as a Board member, Pitts and Young will join representatives from a broad cross-section of the industry tasked with developing policy and overseeing …
FCC targets AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon for illegal data sharing, fining them $200 million
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has imposed fines totaling nearly $200 million on leading U.S. wireless carriers AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon for unlawfully sharing customer location data without proper consent and adequately protecting this sensitive information. The fines stem from the carriers’ practices of selling access to this data to aggregators, who subsequently resold it to third-party service providers, …
Legal battle heats up as Bloosurf sues T-Mobile over alleged spectrum interference
In a high-stakes legal battle that could set a precedent for the telecommunications industry, Bloosurf LLC has filed a lawsuit against T-Mobile USA, Inc. and its subsidiary TDI Acquisition Sub, LLC. The lawsuit, lodged in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, accuses T-Mobile of purposefully interfering with Bloosurf’s fixed wireless broadband operations on the Eastern Shore, resulting in …
T-Mobile gets green light to appeal antitrust standing in Sprint class action lawsuit
This week, Illinois U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin has given T-Mobile the green light to appeal a potentially costly class-action lawsuit stemming from its $26 billion merger with Sprint, completed in 2020. The suit, brought forward by subscribers of AT&T and Verizon, alleges that the merger significantly reduced competition in the wireless market, compelling AT&T and Verizon to hike their …
‘Mentally stressed’ RF expert bails on Roswell, GA in the final days of a T-Mobile lawsuit costing $1 million-plus
This week, T-Mobile continued its 14-year battle with Roswell, Georgia, to erect a 108-foot monopine near Lake Charles Drive that was denied multiple times. The ongoing lawsuit is the costliest and most protracted siting litigation in the United States, with both parties shelling out well over a million dollars in legal fees since T-Mobile filed the complaint in 2010. It is also …
New ADA lawsuit tells American Tower, T-Mobile and AT&T to relocate their tower or reconfigure their network with beamforming antennas
After American Tower, AT&T, and T-Mobile did not respond by February 1, 2024, to Duluth, Minnesota resident Marcia Haller’s request to mitigate RF levels that continued to make her ill at her home (as detailed on February 29, 2024, by Wireless Estimator), and caused 51 strokes, her attorneys, being paid by the Children’s Health Defense’s Electromagnetic Radiator & Wireless program, filed …
Four faux T-Mobile contractors arrested after caught in the act of ripping off ‘3G’ cables
A brazen communications cable theft at a West Boylston, Massachusetts, cell tower on Friday afternoon led to the arrest of four New York men accused of posing as subcontractors to steal the cables for their scrap value. The incident, which highlights a troubling trend of cell tower transmission line thefts across New England, unfolded when local police responded to an …
Having to sleep in a Faraday cage, Minnesota couple threatens ATC, T-Mobile and AT&T with a lawsuit
In 2008, Marcia and Jason Haller moved into their newly constructed home with an oversized free-standing garage in a peaceful setting in a rural area just north of Duluth, Minnesota. Within months, Minnesota Tower, Inc. erected a 295-foot guyed tower on leased land approximately 1,300 feet from Haller’s home, which was approved for construction by the FCC in 2007. Although …
T-Mobile’s holiday contractors’ bonus: Up to a 50% cut in pricing because they paid too much in the past
In mid-November, T-Mobile began contacting construction contractors nationwide to submit their pricing for a proposal in 63 markets to agree with catalog pricing, ranging from a sector frame installation in Arkansas at $692 to $1,196 in California, according to documents viewed by Wireless Estimator. The variables in pricing make sense based on states or locations with higher pricing due to …
SpaceX says AT&T and RWA’s opposition to satellite direct to cell is a ‘desperate 11th hour campaign’
AT&T and the Rural Wireless Association (RWA) have coordinated “a desperate, 11th-hour campaign” to prevent SpaceX from testing its mobile coverage from space in partnership with T-Mobile with “baseless procedural claims while offering no substantive reasons” for denying its special temporary authority (STA) approval, SpaceX said in a filing with the FCC. Although Dish isn’t a voting carrier member of RWA …
It’s a big no from T-Mo to Dish’s extension request to lower its interest rates for spectrum funding
T-Mobile US and parent Deutsche Telecom told the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that Dish Network can’t shove off its requirement to finance a $3.6 billion divestiture of T-Mobile simply because interest rates are considerably higher today than they were three years ago, T-Mobile informed the federal court Friday. Dish had asked the court to amend the …
Cell tower fires did not cause Maui’s communications outages, power was the problem
According to Hawaii Governor Josh Green, residents will be allowed to return to the devastated town of Lahaina in Maui today, stating, “They will see destruction like they have never seen in their lives.” Authorities said that most of the flames were contained. Currently, the death toll is estimated at 55 but is expected to rise as the interior of …
Crown Castle consolidates offices and axes 750 employees, many of them providing construction management
Crown Castle Inc. initiated a restructuring plan this week as part of the company’s efforts to reduce costs to better align the company’s operational needs with lower tower activity, as discussed in Crown Castle’s second quarter 2023 earnings release. The plan includes reducing the company’s total employee headcount by approximately 15%, discontinuing installation services as a product offering within the …
While burning contractors and suppliers, Nexius’s facade exposed a possible terrorist cell site security hole
As Nexius used ‘every trick’ to keep contractors working, although the company knew they would never pay them, the wireless infrastructure developer reportedly continued scamming T-Mobile by using a Nexius-aligned company in Lebanon that was prohibited from accessing T-Moble’s network – possibly exposing a network security threat to the nation’s second-largest mobile operator, according to sources familiar with the ruse. When …
Valmont records longest beyond visual line of sight flight on the wings of T‑Mobile 5G
Valmont has completed an industry-first, piloting an unmanned 77-mile beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone operation, enabled by T-Mobile 5G. Traditional methods for infrastructure monitoring typically require extensive manpower, manned aircraft operations or ground-based inspections, which involve significant safety risks, more time and more money. But not anymore, states Valmont, especially now that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is …
