AT&T
is installing 80 new small cell 5G poles on the streets of Baton Rouge,
and it “has created a lot of chaos downtown,” according to City-Parish
Chief Administrative Officer Darryl Gissel. In mid-October,
an AT&T subcontractor struck an underground power line during one
installation creating a massive power outage in the city.
Adding to the deployment woes, local
residents expressed shock and opposition to the 29-foot black metal
poles upon unexpectedly seeing their installation. Executive
director Davis Rhorer said several property owners have contacted the
Downtown Development District to dispute the locations of the towers,
and how close they will be to their businesses and homes. Metro Council
passed an ordinance establishing the regulations for small cell
installation in 2017, allowing the poles to be built in the public
right-of-way, according to Business Report.
According to Business Report,
Darryl Gissel said local law does not allow officials to turn down a
tower site proposal based on aesthetic reasons, and there must be a
“compelling reason” such as it being a safety risk or a historical site. Continue Reading
FirstNet mobile cell site (SatCOLT or Satellite Cell on Light Truck)
is up and running at Canyon View Drive in Paradise, CA Tweet: Leland Kim.
Even though yesterday was a federal
holiday, some personnel at the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security
Bureau were in contact with carriers and safety agencies in California
as the wildfires continued to burn. FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr
tweeted that agency staff are “engaged and closely coordinating” efforts
to maintain and restore communications in the affected areas.
AT&T said its Network
Disaster Recovery team deployed four portable cell sites, or SatCOLTs
(Cell on Light Trucks) to affected areas, including the Los Angeles Fire
Command Camp and the Paradise Police Department. The SatCOLTs sites
will provide connectivity for customers and first responders in areas
where traditional cell sites have been damaged or affected by power
outages. The carrier has additional assets staged throughout the state
for quick deployment once conditions allow. It opened up its network to
other carriers’ customers. Continue Reading
Paratroopers from the Army’s 1st
Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, nicknamed the Red Devils,
are on the front lines of military technology, testing phone
connectivity under battle conditions at Fort Bliss in Texas. The Fort Bliss Bugle
explains the unique field concerns that soldiers face. While civilians
rely on a network of cell towers to connect their calls, the Army has
to carry its own network with it. The digital network that was in
force, Nett Warrior, had too many limitations and was unwieldy to use.
“Nobody was using the Nett Warrior devices,” said Maj. Andrew Miller.
Armed with commercial available
smartphones and tablets, the soldiers began their assault on the new
Integrated Tactical Network (ITN). The ITN seeks to extend the range
and flexibility of communications on the field. Following the lead of
the Special Operation Forces team, the Army set out to create a
decentralized system that would allow soldiers to talk within their
units without needing to link back through a command center first. The
signal would also need to circumvent attempts to jam a signal or disrupt
satellite communications. The Red Devils have continued to test the ITM
during each continued phase of its development. Continue Reading
A
Democratic House and Republican Senate can, in theory, align on issues
that affect telecom. However the window is short due to the looming 2020
presidential election. Infrastructure has a chance at bipartisan
cooperation, but according to Roll Call,
Democrats want to spend more federal government dollars than
Republicans, who prefer to rely more on private-sector investment. Rep.
Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who hopes to regain her role as House Speaker,
committed to pursuing broadband development as one of her goals in the
new session of Congress.
That goal dovetails with what the
Wireless Infrastructure Association would like to see. While still
sorting through the results yesterday, WIA Head of Legislative Affairs
Matt Mandel told Inside Towers that,
in general, “Our job remains the same regardless of who controls
Congress: to educate all members on the important role wireless
infrastructure plays in economic growth, broadband deployment, and
global competitiveness. I think infrastructure will certainly be a
priority and our belief, which is shared by members of both parties, is
that broadband infrastructure should be a part of any comprehensive
infrastructure package.” Continue Reading
The 44 groups that make up the Connect Americans Now Coalition, including the Rural Wireless Association, Microsoft, the App Association and the National Rural Education Association,
want the FCC to allow TV white spaces to be used for rural broadband
deployment. The network operators, equipment providers and rural
broadband advocates are using a combination of wired and wireless
technologies to do this now, including fiber, as well as terrestrial and
satellite fixed and mobile wireless, using several frequencies.
The FCC opened up more of the white
spaces between television channels for unlicensed use. The coalition,
formed this January, supports Microsoft’s TV white spaces proposal. The
coalition wants the agency to go further. “Our deployments are giving
us real-world experience in how a set of pragmatic changes to FCC rules
would allow us to reach even more Americans, without causing harmful
interference to incumbent licensees,” writes the coalition in a letter to the FCC. Continue Reading
IBM
is suing Corning in federal court in Georgia for a “botched” design of a
cellular distributed antenna system installed at the Atlanta Falcons’
Mercedes-Benz Stadium, reports Mobile Sports Report.
IBM contends Corning failed to deliver a working DAS, according to the
court filing, and that the Falcons and the NFL needed to spend
additional “millions” to make the system operational. The issue is of
interest, as the stadium will host the Super Bowl in February 2019.
IBM does not list a specific
compensation amount in the suit. Instead, it intends to seek “damages in
an amount to be proven at trial.” In its filing, IBM asserted it bought
about $20 million in equipment and materials from Corning to build the
DAS.
In response, Corning told MSR
in a statement: “Corning is a company of the highest integrity. We are
confident that the company had conducted itself in an honorable manner
and has been fully compliant in meeting its contractual obligations.” Continue Reading
While
law enforcement can use the location data from nearby cell phone towers
to locate criminals, “warrant-proof” smartphone encryption on the
devices continues to impede justice for crime victims, says Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance. A new report his office released Thursday, summarizes the “cat and mouse” game involving lawful hacking workarounds. “Apple’s
and Google’s encryption decisions have created a new market for private
entities to develop and monetize encryption ‘workarounds,’” he states.
In the report, Vance accuses tech
companies of consistently putting profits ahead of society’s best
interests. He points to Cambridge Analytica’s misuse of Facebook user
data and Google’s plans to launch a censored version of its search
engine in China as evidence that “certain technology companies have made
their decisions, not based on what might be prudent public policy, but —
understandably — based on what is in their shareholders’ economic
interest.”
From May 2018 through August 2018,
the Manhattan D.A. Cyber Lab tried to access 589 mobile devices in
connection with live criminal investigations. 366 (or 62 percent) were
passcode-locked. Of those 366 devices, 165 remain inaccessible despite
court-ordered warrants to search the devices, according to the report. Continue Reading
