Lendlease Attempts to Block Sale of Parallel Infrastructure to Harmoni Towers

By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor

UPDATE The pending sale of Parallel Infrastructure, a build-to-suit tower operator, from Apollo Global Management, Inc. (NYSE: APO) to Harmoni Towers has been put on hold by Delaware's Chancery Court after Australia-based property investor Lendlease America Inc. sought an emergency court order to block the sale. Lendlease’s interest in Parallel Infrastructure stems back to 2020 when Apollo acquired Lendlease Telecom, including a portfolio of operating cell towers and a pipeline of contracted towers under development and rebranded it as Parallel Infrastructure. Parallel Infrastructure was to be led by CEO Yannis Macheras and its management team from its headquarters in Charlotte, NC. In August 2022, Palistar Capital LP, owner of Harmoni, acquired Parallel Infrastructure from Apollo, a tower platform and build-to-suit provider, creating one of the top ten largest private tower companies in the U.S., with more than 2,000 built and in-construction towers. Continue Reading

Florida Cell Sites Weather Ian

 

By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief

Ian made landfall in Florida yesterday as a Category 4 hurricane, bringing 155 mph winds, heavy rain and historic storm surge, noted CNN. Thousands of homes were left without power even before the storm tracked across the middle of the state. As of noon Wednesday, nearly 200,000 were without power statewide and that number was expected to grow, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Communications providers were reporting the status of their operations to the FCC. The Commission’s initial Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) showed 188 cell sites out of a total 13,832 in the entire state were not working. As of noon, 167 had data transport issues, 13 had no power and eight were damaged. An additional 55 sites were on backup power. Continue Reading

Tropical Storm Ian Has Carriers in High Alert Mode

With Hurricane Ian bringing an anticipated storm surge, hurricane-force winds and heavy rainfall along the west coast of Florida with central and northern regions of the state being impacted, carriers have issued notices about their state of readiness. Earlier this week, President Biden approved Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ request for an emergency declaration. The declaration authorizes FEMA to support the state’s response efforts ahead of Ian, while the state has activated 2,500 National Guard members.  

AT&T said it is ready for Hurricane Ian with an arsenal of disaster response equipment and personnel on standby to support impacted communities and public safety on FirstNet, which it dubs “America’s public safety network.” Continue Reading

U.K. Labor Shortage Opening Up Visa Review for Broadband Engineers

British Prime Minister, Liz Truss, announced she will approve hiring foreign fiber broadband engineers due to a domestic shortage. ISPreview reported that U.K. network operators and ISPs are facing a deficiency of skilled workers as the country funds the most extensive broadband rollout in its history.

Currently, over one hundred network operators are building out Fiber-to-the-Premises (FTTP) in the U.K. Many are establishing in-house training schools to tackle the labor shortage, which takes time and money to operate. However, there’s an immediate need for skilled fiber engineers. Continue Reading

Towers Help “Build” Virtual Fencing and the Future Of Agriculture

Colorado’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is undertaking an initiative to improve rangeland health across 1.85 million acres with the help of towers. 

The Colorado Sun reported that 10 towers dispersed across the Upper Colorado River District broadcast a virtual fence technology covering 500,000 acres that is helping the BLM improve rangeland while giving shepherds and ranchers unprecedented control of their livestock.

“How can we manage livestock without structure? Now there are endless possibilities. You can sit on your screen, figure out where you want to send your animals, how long you want them there, and how you are going to move your animals across the landscape,” says Hilary Boyd, assistant field manager in the BLM’s Colorado River Valley Field Office. “It just gives us so much more flexibility.” Continue Reading

Comcast Articulates Its Wireless Strategy

By John Celentano, Inside Towers Business Editor

Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) has clarified its intentions for its wireless business. “We have no plans to build out a full national wireless network,” stated Tom Nagel, Comcast SVP, Wireless Strategy, in a blog post on the company’s website on Wednesday. “Rather, where it makes sense, we plan to selectively deploy our own 5G radios in dense, high-traffic areas of the markets we serve today.” This an important position statement for the company’s competitive position and how it intends to deploy its wireless assets, as Inside Towers has reported. Comcast launched Xfinity Mobile in 2017, as a MVNO on Verizon’s network. At the end of 2Q22, Comcast reported 4.6 million wireless lines in service, still carried by Verizon. That’s tiny compared to the 355 million retail subscribers held collectively by Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T at the end of the quarter. Continue Reading

CTIA Says U.S. Trails in Mid-Band 5G Spectrum

By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor

The U.S. continues to trail leading countries in available licensed mid-band spectrum, a trend expected to continue for the foreseeable future, according to an updated study from Analysys Mason. Today, the U.S. lags the top three nations – Japan, the United Kingdom and France – by 530 MHz on average. The study was commissioned by CTIA, which represents the wireless carriers and equipment manufacturers, to compare the total spectrum available for wireless in different markets.  Why it’s Important The availability of spectrum is known to spur the deployment of wireless infrastructure and increase the number of applications using the frequencies. The U.S. must expand its 5G spectrum pipeline in order to keep pace with other countries that are moving rapidly to make licensed mid-band spectrum available for 5G networks, according to Analysys Mason. Continue Reading

PacNet/ComNet and China Unicom Gear Declared Threat to National Security

By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief

The FCC added equipment and services from two entities – Pacific Network Corp. and its wholly-owned subsidiary ComNet (USA) LLC, and China Unicom (Americas) Operations Limited – to its list of communications equipment and services that have been deemed a threat to national security. The move is meant to strengthen and protect the integrity of American communications networks. The action means there are now 10 companies on the FCC’s Covered List. The others are: Huawei Technologies Company, ZTE Corporation, Hytera Communications Corporation, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Company, Dahua Technology Company, AO Kaspersky Lab, China Mobile International USA Inc., and China Telecom (Americas) Corp. Continue Reading

T-Mobile to Expand 5G Coverage in Auction 108 Aftermath

T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) was the runaway winner in the FCC’s recent 2.5 GHz spectrum auction, as Inside Towers reported. The company bid $304 million for more than 7,000 county-based licenses covering 81 million people primarily in rural areas. This new 2.5 GHz spectrum will enable T-Mobile to expand 5G Ultra Capacity coverage to new communities and significantly increase bandwidth in many places 5G Ultra Capacity already covers. Following issuance of those licenses, T-Mobile says it will immediately begin deploying the new spectrum, boosting 5G Ultra Capacity performance for customers across the country, especially in underserved markets.

With the 2.5 GHz spectrum investment, T-Mobile continues to execute on its long-term strategy to build the highest-capacity, broadest network in the U.S. Execution on that strategy commenced in 2017, when the company unveiled plans for nationwide 5G using 600 MHz, referred to as 5G Extended Range. Continue Reading

Satellite Internet Providers Innovate in the Face of LEO Competition

By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor

Facing new competition from low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, satellites are going hybrid in their attempts to increase speeds and reduce latency. Among the strategies revealed this month, established Geostationary (GEO) satellites are combining with terrestrial wireless and satellites in different orbits.  One example is Hughes Network Systems, LLC, which is deploying a 25 Mbps, low-latency satellite internet offering with no data limits to consumers in select U.S. markets, known as HughesNet Fusion. The multipath technology blends GEO satellites and wireless technologies. Continue Reading

Ligado Won’t Conduct L-Band Trial in Virginia

By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief

UPDATE Ligado Networks told the FCC this week it won’t go through with a planned trial deployment on its L-band spectrum in northern Virginia. In a letter to the agency, Ligado told the Commission it needs time to discuss with NTIA how “to resolve in a fair and reasonable manner issues relating to the government’s ongoing use of Ligado’s terrestrial spectrum.” Ligado made the decision following a report released by the National Academies of Sciences found that while most GPS receivers won’t face interference from Ligado’s wireless network, Iridium’s mobile satellite services used by the DoD would likely see “harmful interference.” So would some older GPS receivers, Inside Towers reported.  In 2020, the FCC approved Ligado’s application to develop a 5G terrestrial network in L-band, next to frequencies used by GPS and satellite communications. The agency made the decision over the objections of NTIA, DoD, and other federal security agencies. Continue Reading

Rosenworcel Proposes New Rules to Address Growing Risk of Space Debris

By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief

The FCC wants to tackle space junk. But you can’t just put a satellite whose job is completed in a recycle bin. Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated for a vote among her colleagues new rules that would require satellite operators in low-Earth orbit to dispose of their satellites within five years of completing their missions. If adopted by the full Commission at its September monthly meeting, the new rules would shorten the existing 25-year guideline for deorbiting satellites after they stop functioning. “Since 1957 humanity has put thousands of satellites into the sky, often with the understanding that they were cheaper to abandon than take out of orbit,” she said. “These satellites can stay in orbit for decades, careening around our increasingly crowded skies as space junk and raising the risk of collisions that can ruin satellites we count on.” Continue Reading

SpaceX Appeals FCC’s RDOF Subsidy Claw Back

By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief

SpaceX appealed to the FCC to reverse its decision to take back its initial approval of $885 million in Rural Digital Opportunity Fund subsidies from its Starlink division. The money is meant to subsidize the internet in rural areas. SpaceX claims the decision is biased against satellite-delivered broadband. “This decision is so broken that it is hard not to see it as an improper attempt to undo the commission’s earlier decision, to permit satellite broadband service providers to participate in the RDOF program. It appears to have been rendered in service to a clear bias towards fiber, rather than a merits-based decision to actually connect unserved Americans,” SpaceX says in its appeal. Continue Reading

Patrick Halley: WIA Advocates for Policy That Enables Wireless to Flourish

 

By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief

In an exclusive two-part series by Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief, WIA President and CEO Patrick Halley gives his first published interview. New WIA President/CEO Patrick Halley is still immersing himself in the business of talking to as many people as he can—such as industry experts, towercos, service companies, carriers — to see “what is driving their business decisions” for today and tomorrow, he told Inside Towers in an exclusive interview on Monday. The executive who comes from USTelecom and the FCC, is doing a lot of listening, too. Halley says WIA’s goal “is to be the voice of the wireless industry.” Part of that involves advocating for policies to enable the industry to flourish. “At the end of the day, I think our focus needs to be on ‘how do we empower the ‘I’ in WIA,’” he says. That includes physical infrastructure, antennas, in-building connectivity, and “everything that enables wireless systems to work wherever you may be,” he explains.   BEAD Grants   Wireless companies are laser-focused on eventually getting federal dollars for broadband buildouts. Halley says WIA is spending a lot of time with states, educating them about how the grant process will unfold for Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment, from NTIA, as well as grants from the Treasury Department and the American Rescue Plan Act. NTIA is going to distribute the bulk, $42.5 billion, of available broadband grants, Inside Towers reported. Continue Reading

Court Rebuffs AT&T Bid to Dismiss SEC Lawsuit

By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief

AT&T tried to get a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit dismissed, but failed. The suit alleges AT&T leaked financial information to certain analysts.   A district judge in New York City stated the court found evidence that three investor relations executives warned analysts in March and April 2016, that lower-than-expected smartphone sales would have an impact on revenue, according to Mobile World Live. The District Court did not award victory to the SEC and the case is now expected to proceed to trial, unless a settlement is reached. Continue Reading

Comcast Kicks Off Multi-Gig Wireline, WiFi Deployment

By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor

Comcast has begun a nationwide rollout of multi-gigabit internet speeds, using both wireline and WiFi technologies, that will reach more than 50 million homes and businesses before the end of 2025. It claims it will be the largest and fastest-ever multi-gig deployment in the United States. Multi-gig WiFi speeds will be made possible by using WiFi 6E Gateways. Comcast will begin offering 10G-enabled, multi-gig symmetrical services in 2023. (10G, not to be confused with fifth generation, is the cable industry’s vision for delivering 10 gigabits per second to homes in the U.S. and around the globe.) Download speeds up to 2 Gbps combined with faster upload speeds will be available in 34 cities and towns before the end of 2022, with initial rollouts underway in Colorado Springs, CO; Augusta, GA; and Panama City Beach, FL. Continue Reading

T-Mobile Unloads Wireline Business For a Buck

By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor

T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) has sold its wireline business to Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. for one dollar, as it focuses on its core business of consumers and enterprise wireless. Cogent will receive 20,000 route miles of fiber and 1,400 enterprise customers in the deal. T-Mobile said it expected to record a pre-tax charge of about $1 billion in the third quarter of 2022, according to Reuters. In addition to the fiber transport network and related assets and customers, Cogent will acquire certain liabilities associated with the business, as part of the agreement. The companies will also enter into a separate agreement where Cogent will sell IP transit services to T-Mobile at a discount for 54 months. Continue Reading

Nokia Extends Market Reach with Private Network and Fiber Projects

By John Celentano, Inside Towers Business Editor

In two separate announcements last week, Nokia (NYSE: NOK) demonstrated the depth and breadth of its telecommunications product portfolio and geographic reach. On Wednesday, Nokia and AT&T México announced the deployment of an industrial-grade LTE private wireless network solution at the APM Terminals’ terminal in Puerto Progreso, Yucatán, using the Nokia Digital Automation Cloud (DAC) platform. The new private wireless network, operated by AT&T México, uses 4.9G LTE to deliver high-bandwidth, low-latency connectivity, and improve network predictability in piers and yards. It will reliably and securely connect hundreds of workers, sensors, equipment, and vehicles across an area of over 28 acres. Nokia DAC provides industrial grade wireless connectivity for the new APM Terminals Yucatán’s virtualized Terminal Operation System and will enable future use cases such as remote and autonomous crane operations within the piers and yards. Continue Reading

Infrastructure Stock Performance Belies Underlying Business Strengths

By John Celentano, Inside Towers Business Editor

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On the final trading day of the summer, infrastructure company stocks reflected, as they have all year, a negative investor sentiment in the face of inflation and high interest rates. As of the close of business on Friday, our Wireless Infrastructure Value Index, a composite of the 12 infrastructure stocks, had an aggregate market capitalization of $375 billion. That figure is down more than 4 percent over the prior week’s level of $392 billion, representing a market cap loss of over $17 billion for the week. The Index comprises a mix of 12 publicly-held companies: three tower companies – American Tower (NYSE: AMT), Crown Castle (NYSE: CCI) and SBA Communications (NASDAQ: SBAC); five data center companies – Equinix (NASDAQ: EQIX), Digital Realty Trust (NYSE: DLR), Cyxtera Technologies (NASDAQ: CYXT), Iron Mountain (NYSE: IRM), and Switch (NYSE: SWCH); two fiber companies – Lumen Technologies (NYSE: LUMN) and Uniti Group (NASDAQ: UNIT); and, two digital infrastructure companies – Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE: BIP) and DigitalBridge Group (NYSE: DBRG). Continue Reading

Winners, Top Bidders of the 2.5 GHz Auction Revealed

By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief

T-Mobile spent the most money and won the largest number of licenses in the FCC’s 2.5 GHz auction of flexible use overlay licenses for wireless use. Analysts expected T-Mobile to come out on top since of all the major carriers, it’s already using the most 2.5 GHz mid-band spectrum for 5G. The FCC said yesterday T-Mobile bid a total of $304.3 million and won more than 7,000 licenses. PTI Pacifica bid $17.6 million, TeleGuam Holdings bid $16.5 million, Evergy Kansas Central bid $12.7 million and Cellular South Licenses bid $11.8 million. Aside from T-Mobile, the bidders who won the most licenses were: North American Catholic Educational Programming Foundation (107), Evergy Kansas Central (54), LICT Wireless Broadband Company (46) and Broadband One of the Midwest, Inc. (42). Continue Reading

American Tower and Verizon Announce New Long-Term Agreement

American Tower Corporation (NYSE: AMT) and Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ) announced yesterday that they have signed a new overarching lease agreement, facilitating Verizon’s on-going 5G network deployment across American Tower’s U.S. portfolio of communications sites. The agreement provides a simplified and efficient leasing process through a contractual framework that will drive mutual growth and value over a multi-year period.

"This agreement represents another key milestone and an extension of our decades-long strategic partnership with Verizon," said Steve Vondran, President – U.S. Tower Division, American Tower Corporation. "We look forward to supporting Verizon as they continue their accelerated and efficient 5G network build-out by utilizing our distributed nationwide portfolio of high-quality communications sites."