The Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA) has announced that Heather Gastelum, T-Mobile’s senior manager for national site safety & T-Mobile for Business Development, and Stephanie Brewer, Compliance Coordinator for MUTI-Sabre Industries Telecom Services, were elected to serve on WIA’s Telecommunications Industry Registered Apprenticeship Program (TIRAP) Advisory Board. “The TIRAP Board welcomes Heather and Stephanie and appreciates their vision toward building a …
T-Mobile stops paying its contractors, keeping its market managers in the dark
Commentary In late August, Wireless Estimator broke the story that T-Mobile had pulled many of their contractors’ purchase orders and would not be providing any additional fourth quarter builds throughout the nation, forcing wireless contractors to assess their financial position in order to maintain the additional crews that they staffed early in the year to meet T-Mobile’s promised projects. It’s …
T-Mobile cancels 5G upgrades and new builds nationwide, possibly crippling some contractors
Beginning last Friday, contractors started getting calls from T-Mobile’s market managers informing them that most purchase orders they had for new builds and 5G upgrades were going to be put on hold until 2020 unless materials for the project were sitting in a warehouse. The news came as a shock to many wireless contracting companies that had been counting on …
T-Mobile gets FCC’s nod to bid on 37 GHz, 39 GHz, and 47 GHz licenses
The FCC released an Order today granting T-Mobile’s request for a waiver of the Commission’s rules that prohibit an FCC spectrum auction applicant from being party to a joint bidding or similar arrangement. The Commission granted T-Mobile’s request for a waiver despite its ongoing attempt to acquire Sprint. On July 11, 2019, the Commission announced the application and bidding procedures …
FCC is clueless on how many people don’t have broadband leads Fast-Forward Friday
FCC LIKELY COUNTS MILLIONS OF UNSERVED HOMES AS HAVING BROADBAND A new broadband mapping system is starting to show just how inaccurate the Federal Communications Commission’s connectivity data is. Research indicates that it’s likely that millions of homes nationwide have been wrongly counted as being served by broadband. Ars TECHNICA has the full details. Article Media Partnerships with cities lead …
Contractor didn’t anticipate dress rehearsal for monopole pour and erection, leads Fast Forward Friday
THE SECOND TIME AROUND WILL BE TO CHARM THE BUILDING INSPECTOR For unknown reasons, a tower erector in Arkansas didn’t call for inspections when they poured the foundation and erected a 150-foot monopole. They didn’t have a third-party inspection and will be accorded a second opportunity to rip out and re-pour the base and re-erect the white stealth flagpole tower …
Tower techs and families are major benefactors of T-Mobile’s 6th annual golf tournament
T-Mobile hosted its 6th Annual Invitational Golf Tournament on Wednesday, July 24 in Newcastle, Washington. At the event, T-Mobile and the event’s 41 industry sponsors continued their generous track record by presenting $235,000 directly to the Tower Family Foundation (TFF). Funds totaling upward of $1 million have now been distributed to TFF and Warriors4Wireless through the tournament’s five years of …
FCC chief formally recommends approval of the T-Mobile/Sprint marriage
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai today shared a draft Order that would approve, subject to conditions, the proposed merger between T-Mobile and Sprint. “After one of the most exhaustive merger reviews in Commission history, the evidence conclusively demonstrates that this transaction will bring fast 5G wireless service to many more Americans and help close the digital divide in rural …
DOJ greenlights T-Mobile-Sprint merger, requiring them to give up 20,000 cell sites
The Department of Justice today approved the merger of T-Mobile and Sprint, allowing the $26 billion deal to move forward after years of exploration by the nation’s third and fourth-largest wireless companies. The merger required the approval of the DOJ which enforces antitrust law, and the FCC which directs the telecommunications industry. In May, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai broadcast his …
DOJ expected to give their blessing on the Sprint/T-Mobile merger this week: report
According to a Fox Business report this morning, the U.S. Department of Justice could announce a settlement to make way for the merger of Sprint Corp. and T-Mobile US Inc. by mid-week, Sources told Fox that a settlement announcement between the DOJ and the carriers could come “Wednesday or Thursday, or possibly sooner.” The settlement would include plans for divestitures …
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 …
T-Mobile tried tower siting twice in Wichita, now it will be tried in court
T-Mobile and APC Towers have filed a lawsuit against City of Wichita over a denied conditional use application to construct an 80-foot wireless communication facility near 18th and Woodland. T-Mobile says it suffers from a significant gap in its ability to provide service in the North Riverside neighborhood, driven primarily by inadequate network capacity to serve consumer demand. The carrier …
A Dish carrier network could set the table for higher contractor margins
Dish Network might play the pivotal role in the Department of Justice’s approval of the proposed T-Mobile/Sprint merger after The Wall Street Journal reported that Dish is the lead bidder on the spectrum T-Mobile and Sprint are divesting in their bid of winning regulatory approval for their merger valued at $26.5 billion. Charlie Ergen, who controls Dish, has approximately $10 …
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 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 …
Sprint and T-Mobile’s urge to merge extended to July 29
According to an SEC filing, T-Mobile and Sprint have extended the deadline for completing their merger to July 29 as they continue to seek the regulatory approvals they need to complete a deal. The previous deadline had been Monday. The No. 3 and No. 4 wireless carriers announced their proposed merger on April 29, 2018. The Department of Justice’s antitrust …
Sprint’s 5G ‘E’ lawsuit against AT&T settled, ending what was considered a PR ploy
According to a court document obtained by Wireless Estimator, Sprint’s lawsuit against AT&T for deceptively marketing its upgraded 4G service as “5G Evolution,” has been settled. U.S. District Court Judge Vernon Broderick for the Southern District of New York said that both parties informed him during a status conference yesterday that they had reached a settlement. They’re required by tomorrow …
The 5G status quo is clearly not good enough: T-Mobile’s Neville Ray, who slams Millimeter-wave
Editor’s note: Instead of paraphrasing T-Mobile CTO Neville Ray’s comments in his blog today, we’ve published it in its entirety. Of interest, he doesn’t comment about any of Sprint’s 5G comments that could be seen as embellishments. 5G is at the height of the hype curve right now. There’s a lot of buzz and froth about this vital, important …
As structured, Sprint/T-Mobile merger is likely to fail, WSJ quotes antitrust staffers
Department of Justice antitrust staffers have told T-Mobile US and Sprint that their planned merger is unlikely to be approved as currently structured, casting doubt on the fate of the $26 billion deal, according to the Wall Street Journal. On Twitter, T-Mobile CEO John Legere said, “The premise of this story, as summarized in the first paragraph, is simply untrue. …
Ugly cell sites can be rejected leads 20 Fast-Forward Friday news stories
Article Media San Francision can reject 5G equipment it views as too ugly Bloomberg SC school district’s cell phone tower program draws scrutiny FITSNews WIA’s Adelstein: 5G deployment faces a skills gap RCR Wireless News How a Trump admin ruling could hurt effort to improve data coverage in Syracuse’s poor areas Syracuse.com Deadline to adopt and publish small cell facility …
