Eastern Companies Look To United States for Tips on RAN Sharing

Chinese tower companies are looking to American Tower and Crown Castle International to learn tips of how radio access network (RAN) sharing construction can be utilized in order to save money for telecom and radio operators. The China Times reported, “RAN sharing significantly reduces infrastructure costs for telecom operators by mutually sharing those resources — including cell sites and towers, base station equipment, and transmission networks. This could theoretically eliminate duplicate structures, a salivating prospect considering the daunting up-front investments needed to build new 4G networks.” As 4G technology expands around the world, international companies are looking at the United States’ infrastructure. American Tower and Crown Castle use RAN sharing, and they do it well. Both companies have become very successful buying or constructing towers and leasing space to multiple users. “In Taiwan, all towers are already shared across cell phone carriers, making the US “rental model” not an immediate option. But it may become the rising standard now that more professionals will be needed to maintain 4G systems. Taiwan’s National Communications Commission, however, will encourage cell phone carriers to continue sharing remaining towers because of concern over public complaint. Available land is an ever-present issue in the construction of new towers and facilities on Taiwan’s cramped and mountainous terrain,” the China Times reports.

Tower Upkeep Plays a Big Role When Using Data in Court Cases

When prosecutors attempt to use cell tower data in criminal cases, there are a lot of important factors regarding the tower that matter. For a long time, the information collected by towers was referred to as “junk science” by law enforcement agencies that saw the unreliability of cell phone tracking in the field. However, with technological advancements this data has been used to convict criminals and secure prison time. Currently, tower data is being used in the case against two men who are charged of killing a California Pinyon Pines family in 2006. The reliability of this technology is being questioned and a lot of what determines reliability deals directly with the towers. Michael Cherry of Virginia-based consulting firm Cherry Biometics Inc. spoke to The Desert Sun explaining, “Factors such as tower maintenance, the use of temporary towers and the load of traffic on the cell network can bounce calls around to different towers. As long as multiple towers are within range, a call doesn’t have to go to the closest tower or the tower with the strongest signal.” In order for police and attorneys to use this information to prosecute criminals, it’s important to maintain the equipment on your towers.

AT&T Will Focus on Small Cell Deployment Throughout 2014

For the last year, AT&T has been working on their small cell and DAS technology that will allow the company to provide capacity in densely populated areas where a macro cell site just wouldn’t work. According to GIGAOM, “After a year of testing small cells in every way imaginable, AT&T is ready to begin its large-scale rollout of the technology. The tiny base stations will boost bandwidth in the high-demand places with surgical precision. The man in charge of the rollout, AT&T Associate VP of Small Cells Gordon Mansfield, has been testing out small cells from numerous vendors in every configuration imaginable. He’s mounted them to walls, on ceilings and hung them off utility poles. Continue reading here. 

The FCC May Be Inclined to Approve a Sprint/T-Mobile Merger

While it’s been highly debated whether or not the FCC would approve a merger between the third and fourth major mobile carriers, there’s reason to believe that this deal could go through. Despite the fact that AT&T’s proposal to buy out T-Mobile was denied a little over two years ago, industries are changing and Sprint is in a completely different position than AT&T. Oligopolies may have been something that were frowned upon years ago for fear of reducing competition, that isn’t the case these days—as recently illustrated by the airline industry. The top 5 airlines in the United States are Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, and US Airways. A few weeks ago American Airline and US Airways partnered, taking their number of enplaned passengers from 91,153,375 and 54,204,283, respectively, to total 145,357,658, which surpasses Delta’s year to date number of enplaned passengers and their fleet size. American Airlines and US Airways are in similar positions to T-Mobile and Sprint when looking at the mobile carrier market. Neither of these companies is at the top, but they are certainly close.

Continue reading here. 

With More Americans Dropping Landlines, Tower Construction Will Increase

According to US Telecom, “U.S. households are continuing to “cut the cord” and replace landline telephones with wireless voice service, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Although the CDC data showed some slowing in cord cutting, wireless-only households are on track to reach between 43 and 45 percent of all telephone households by the end of 2013.These data provide ongoing support for USTelecom’s view that providers of traditional telephone service are no longer dominant in the provision of voice communications.

Continue reading here. 

A Strong Wireless Infrastructure is Imperative to Public Safety

With the major mobile carriers updating their 4G LTE equipment and constructing new towers to fill in gaps, people may believe that because cell service is improving then other problems will be solved as well. The FCC has been issuing reports about how location data from 911 calls isn’t being translated to the emergency responders, and delaying their response time. Alcatel-Lucent, French global telecommunications equipment company, discussed the necessity to build a strong public wireless infrastructure in LifeTalk: Public Safety Communications E-Zine. In this article, Bill Schrier, Chief Technology Officer for the City of Seattle, explained why we are unable to use the system that already in place by the major carriers. “The most common question — especially from cash-strapped legislators and city counselors — is, ‘Why can’t we just use the commercial carrier services? They’ve got 3G wireless service offerings with data capabilities. They’ve got 4G wireless offering with significantly more data capabilities. They’ve got these technologies. Why don’t we just use those commercial services? That’s what we do now for nonmission critical applications!’ The answer, of course is that you don’t want to have mission-critical public safety data communications competing with every teenager’s ‘LOL’ message to their friends,” Schrier explains. Instead of solely relying on the commercial services already in place, there should be a plan to keep the lines of communication open should some disaster take place. However, budgets are being cut and the commercial networks aren’t able to handle the influx of users.

Continue reading here. 

What Data Do Authorities See When Conducting Cell Tower Dumps?

Cell tower data dumps have been all over the news these past few days—made a topic of conversation during the investigation of 10-year old Jessica Ridgeway’s murder. Jenna Lee of Fox News spoke to David Kennedy, CEO of TrustedSec, about what the government sees when they take the data received from a cell tower. “They would see everything you did on your phone in those local cell tower areas. They would see everybody you called during those specific times, possible SMS data or your text messages, and GPS locations. All of those can be triangulated and grabbed from those cell towers in a tower dump,” Kennedy said.While not too many people disagreed with the way authorities used this data in the investigation of Jessica Ridgeway’s murder since it led to her killer in a roundabout way, many people are wondering what else this data is being used for. “All of this is being done without a warrant, which means they can go out and pull as much information as they want to with little rhyme or reason to why they need to do it and I think that’s the major concern,” Kennedy explains. When it comes to finding a missing child or locating a criminal, dumping cell towers doesn’t seem too extreme but Kennedy does point out that there should be major oversight on what this data is being used for and who is using it before they can have access to it.

Read more at InsideTowers.com.

Why are U.S. Tower Companies Moving into Brazil?

With the announcement that SBA Communications would be acquiring 2,007 telecom towers in Brazil, you may be wondering what’s so attractive about the Brazil market. This acquisition will give SBA ownership or control over more than 5,000 towers in Brazil. American Tower acquired 4,500 towers in Brazil in August 2013. Well according to Reuters, the American companies are focusing on acquiring assets in Brazil for the 2014 soccer World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games that will be held there. SBA said on Wednesday it expected the new towers to contribute about 110 million reais of cash leasing revenue and $70 million reais of tower cash flow to its results during 2014. Wireless carriers in Brazil have been making sale-leaseback agreements on their towers to help pay down debts and boost results in the face of an economic slowdown. (Source: Reuters)

Read more at InsideTowers.com. 

SBA Communications Expands in Brazil after Acquiring 2,007 Additional Sites

Yesterday, SBA Communications announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement with certain subsidiaries of Oi SA, which is one of Brazil’s largest telecommunications service providers. SBA will acquire 2,007 tower sites in Brazil and once the transaction is complete, Oi will enter into a long-term lease agreement with SBA with monthly lease payments for antenna space on each of these sites. The transaction is expected to close on or before March 31, 2014 and SBA will pay approximately R$1.525 billion, which is around USD $645 million at the current exchange rate. “We are very pleased to acquire these high quality assets and expand our relationship with Oi,” commented Jeffrey A. Stoops, SBA’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “These are very good sites, concentrated in the most populous areas of Brazil, with demonstrated attractiveness to tenants. With this acquisition, we will have established SBA as one of the largest and most capable independent tower operators in Brazil, a market which we believe is very attractive and will produce strong growth in the future.”

Read more at InsideTowers.com.

Will American Tower Purchase More Towers in Brazil?

Bloomberg reported that Telecom Italia is working with Morgan Stanley to find potential bidders for their 7,000 towers located in Brazil. One of the potential bidders is American Tower Corporation, according to people familiar with the matter. The Brazilian assets could raise about 700 million Euros ($951 million), one of the people said. (Source: Bloomberg). In 2000, American Tower entered the Brazil market with more than 4,500 towers. In August 2013, American Tower announced they were acquiring an additional 2,790 tower sites from NII Holdings in Brazil for $413 million. Officials at American Tower Corporation declined to comment on their potential interest in these sites; however, it’s a market they are already participating in so it might be a good move for the company looking to expand their international reach.

Read more at InsideTowers.com.

Tower Industry in Africa Expected to Double: Will US Companies Take Part?

In 2011, American Tower Corporation entered the South African tower market where they now own 1,621 towers. Chief Operating Officer of Helios Towers Africa, Kevin Koch, spoke at AfricaCom2013 in Cape Town last week and presented an optimistic outlook for the tower industry. According to Richard Cutcher of HumanIPO, “According to HTA figures, there are currently 150,000 towers in Africa of which only 15 per cent are owned by third-party companies such as HTA, Eaton Towers, ATC and IHS. Due to Africa’s rapidly rising and young population, Koch expects the total number of towers to double within five years, while the proportion of those owned by independent companies will double in one year.” American Tower Corporation focuses mainly on the North American tower industry, but is also expanding their international footprint. This may be the perfect time for them to grow their presence in the African region. HumanIPO reported earlier today Bharti Airtel is believed be in discussions over the sale of its 15,000 towers to a third party for US $1.8 billion, while Etisalat Nigeria is also thought to be in discussions over a US $400 million sell-off of its 2,500 towers.

Read more at InsideTowers.com.

AT&T Upgrades Network at Broncos Stadium with Largest Cell Site

We all know what it’s like to be at a game or a concert and want to post a picture to your social media sites and just not being able to connect to the network. This was often the case for AT&T customers who frequented the Bronco’s stadium in Denver, Colorado. AT&T set out to rectify this problem and put almost $10 million into a network upgrade at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. They added the equivalent of 11 cell towers, all dedicated to serving AT&T customers at the Bronco’s stadium. The network equipment is housed in a nondescript building adjacent to the stadium that now serves as AT&T’s largest cell site in the Rocky Mountain region. In August, Russ Trainor, the Vice President of Information Technology, shared that, “I think from where we’re at now we’re at a good point in technology-wise compared to other venues. And we’re still driving, we’re still adding.”

Read more at InsideTowers.com

Wi-Fi Tower To Be Completed Soon Bringing California Schools Internet Access

http://insidetowers.com/wi-fi-tower-completed-soon-bringing-california-schools-internet-access/

Douglas County Turns Down AMT’s 20K Bonus For Cell Tower Lease Extension

http://insidetowers.com/douglas-county-turns-amts-20k-bonus-cell-tower-lease-extension/

What Makes Property Suitable for Cell Towers?

http://insidetowers.com/makes-property-suitable-wireless-towers/

Nokia Solutions and Networks Introduces Small Cell Solutions with Macro Base Station Capacity

http://insidetowers.com/nokia-solutions-networks-introduces-small-cell-solutions-macro-base-station-capacity/

The Miami Dolphins Team Up With AT&T to Enhance Mobile Experience at Sun Life Stadium

http://insidetowers.com/miami-dolphins-team-att-enhance-mobile-experience-sun-life-stadium/ 

Florida Cell Tower Battle Lands in Federal Court

 Vertical Assets, a communications tower construction company based in Atlanta, was denied a permit to construct a cell tower in Panama City, Florida. The 150-foot tower was planned to be erected on West 19^th Street and Florida Avenue. However, the Panama City commission unanimously rejected the proposal for the tower saying that there were safety and neighborhood compatibility issues.

Vertical Assets has taken this matter to the federal court because they believe the city discriminated against their proposal and they violated the federal Telecommunications Act. Another company was permitted to construct a similar tower three years ago without having to get the city commission to approve it. Vertical Assets’ tower would have AT&T as its main carrier but they would allow emergency agencies to use the tower at no cost. 

CTIA—The Wireless Association Announces 2014 Board of Directors

This week, CTIA—The Wireless Association hosted MobileCON 2013 in San Jose, California. MobileCON is a mobile IT and enterprise event designed for the IT executives and professionals. During this event, the CTIA announced their 2014 Board of Directors.

"CTIA's members provide U.S. consumers with the world's best wireless service and consistently make significant investments in the U.S. economy. Among the 2014 Board of Directors' goals is to make certain the U.S. wireless industry remains the world's leader in innovation so that Americans continue to benefit from wireless telecommunications. One of the key components to this is making sure more spectrum is made available for commercial wireless use. By working together and with the expert guidance of our board, CTIA will work diligently to ensure appropriate public policy that recognizes the need for the U.S. wireless industry to remain the best in the world," said Steve Largent, President and CEO, CTIA.

The one-year term as board members of the CTIA will begin on January 1, 2014. The Board of Directors will be comprised of:

• Robert Vrij, Executive Vice President and Chief of Global Sales, Alcatel-Lucent
• Charles Townsend, President and CEO, Aloha Partners II, L.P.
• Dr. Guy (Bud) Tribble, Senior Vice President for Software Engineering, Apple, Inc.
• Manny Becerra, Executive Vice President & President of Mobile Services, Assurant Solutions
• Bret Comolli, Chairman, Asurion
• Ralph de la Vega, President and CEO, AT&T Mobility, AT&T
• Thorsten Heins, President and CEO, BlackBerry Limited
• Ron Smith, President, Bluegrass Cellular, Inc.
• Marcelo Claure, Chairman and CEO, Brightstar Corporation
• Slayton Stewart, CEO, Carolina West Wireless
• Wirt Yerger, III, Manager, Cavalier Wireless, LLC
• Pat Riordan, President and CEO, Cellcom
• Steve Largent, President and CEO, CTIA-The Wireless Association
• Jay Shedd, President and CEO, DOCOMO PACIFIC, INC.
• Angel Ruiz, President and CEO, Ericsson Inc.
• Mary Chan, President, Global Connected Consumer, General Motors
• Mike Woodward, President, Emerging Devices, HTC America, Inc.
• S. Douglas Hutcheson, CEO and Director, Leap Wireless International, Inc.
• Jeff Gisoo Cho, Vice President, LG Electronics USA
• Rip Gerber, President and CEO, Locaid
• Eddie O'Brien, VP, Worldwide Sales and Marketing Operator Channel, Microsoft Corporation
• Jeff Miller, Corporate Vice President, Global Sales, Motorola Mobility
• Matt Rothschild, VP Sales and Marketing, Americas, Nokia, Inc.
• James Hyde, President and CEO, nTelos Wireless
• John Giere, President and CEO, Openwave Mobility
• George Appling, President and CEO, Personal Communications Devices, LLC (PCD)
• Richard Ruhl, General Manager, Pioneer Cellular
• Peggy Johnson, EVP and President of Global Market Development, QUALCOMM, Inc.
• Mike Narula, President and CEO, Reliance Communications LLC
• Gregory Lee, President and CEO, Samsung Telecommunications America, L.P.
• John Sims, President, SAP Mobile Services
• Justin E. Hinkle, Chief Operating Officer, Smith Bagley, Inc. DBA CellularOne of N.E. AZ
• Dan Hesse, CEO, Sprint Corporation
• Jeff Gordon, President and CEO, Syniverse
• John Legere, President and CEO, T-Mobile USA
• F.J. Pollak, President and CEO, TracFone Wireless, Inc.
• Kenneth Meyers, President and CEO, U.S. Cellular
• Dan Mead, President and CEO, Verizon Wireless

Parents Have 3 Weeks to Convince Sprint to Move Cell Tower

The parents of students at Poinciana Elementary School in Collier County, Florida have three weeks until Sprint’s 75-foot tower will be turned on. In those three weeks they are determined to convince Sprint to move the tower to another location away from the school. There is now a sign hanging on the cell tower warning people to stay away from it because the radio frequency emissions may exceed exposure limits. But the FCC, even though they aren’t technically working right now, still have rules in place to limit the amount of RF emissions so people in close proximity to the tower aren’t affected.

Parents gathered at a school board meeting last night to discuss the tower but there’s nothing that the school board can do because Sprint operates the tower and doesn’t want to move it. If Sprint does agree to relocate the tower, it could cost at least $200,000, and it’s still an issue of who would pay for it to be moved.