Former Facebook Executive Wants to Form America’s Fifth Wireless Carrier

Former Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya, now with Social Capital, intends to spend $4 billion to $10 billion buying spectrum at the FCC’s March auction to build a wireless carrier to compete with the likes of AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint.

In an interview Tuesday with Forbes, the Sri Lankan-born, Canadian-raised 30-something billionaire venture capitalist said he plans to bid on the spectrum and has already lined-up deep-pocketed investors whom he declined to name. 

A part owner of the San Francisco Warriors NBA basketball team, Palihapitiya already is working on bringing Internet access to Sri Lanka and the Philippines, according to Business Insider, and it faces an uphill battle to gain spectrum in the U.S. As Forbes notes, “First, the company will have to start the slow and expensive process of actually building the towers and infrastructure that make up a wireless network. Palihapitiya said he wants to use “microcells,” or tiny cell towers installed on people’s homes, to help build the network quickly and provide better coverage.” Continue reading here.

NAB to FCC: Determine Repacking Deadline After Spectrum Auction

The National Association of Broadcasters yesterday (November 9) asked the FCC to back off its plan to require TV broadcasters to complete their move to new spectrum space—or new channels within 39 months. The broadcasters lobbying group wants FCC to survey the land after the auction, figure out how many stations will need to move and then decide what is a workable deadline. In a three-page letter to the agency sent by NAB General Counsel, EVP/Legal and Regulatory Affairs Rick Kaplan, the NAB said, “depending on the number of stations that ultimately must move to new channels, the current deadline of 39 months may not be achievable. In a report commissioned by NAB, Digital Tech Consulting, Inc. concluded that, under ideal conditions, as many as 445 stations can be relocated to new channels within 39 months. However, if the transition requires more stations to repack, there is simply no way additional stations will be able to meet the current hard deadline. This is not a reasonable approach.” Read more here.

FCC Fines Florida Tower Owner $3K; Suspends $231K Fine

Johnson Tower Corporation of Seminole, FL, has been charged $3,000 in civil penalties after admitting it violated antenna structure rules. The commission, working with the Federal Aviation Administration, reached a Consent Decree with sole operator, Dan L. Johnson, who demonstrated it would be a financial hardship to pay a larger $231,000 fine. The FCC originally assessed the higher amount on November 1, 2013 when it first charged Johnson.

Johnson admitted it failed to install lights on two antenna structures in Pinellas Park, FL, and update registration information with the FCC to reflect the dismantlement of a third antenna structure. After being charged originally, Johnson installed proper lighting on one of the towers, reduced the height on a second tower so that it was not tall enough to require lighting, and... read more here.

Cell Tower Scammer Gets Nine Years in Fed Pen

Gray bars, not cell towers, is what Daniel Williford, age 55, is going to be looking at for the next nine years. The former U.S. air pilot and Salisbury, NC, businessman was convicted in U.S. Federal Court in a multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme after he defrauded 100 investors out of almost $18 million, which now is obligated to repay.

According to WBT-TV/Charlotte, NC, Williford promised victims their money would be invested in wireless Internet equipment, Internet towers and other facilities and companies. Instead, court documents say Williford used the majority of the funds to run a Ponzi-style scheme while using a portion to fund his personal lifestyle.

Cindy Adkins and her husband Brent operate a towing service in Statesville and Salisbury, and while they did not invest their money with Williford, they did do business with his company. Several years ago Williford rented space for antennas on a radio tower owned by the Adkins in Salisbury. Continue reading here.

AMT’s MLA with T is A-OK

Cowen & Company analyst Colby Synesael may have hit a nerve — or at least rung an alarm bell – during Friday morning’s Q3 results call when he asked American Tower Corp. CEO Jim Taiclet and CFO Tom Bartlett about reports the company’s Master Lease Agreement with AT&T’s is expiring in 2016.

“Let me be really clear: the Master Lease Agreement is not expiring. Okay?” Bartlett said emphatically. “There are certain elements that Jim talked about that change over that period of time but the MLA is not expiring. I know there have been some write-ups and I want to be very clear on that.” Continue reading here.

Ganzi To HetNetExpo2015: ‘DAS Market To Increase Five Times By 2020’

Digital Bridge Holdings Co-Founder/CEO Marc Ganzi says the future of DAS is now. The swashbuckling tower titan told a HetNetExpo2015 audience in Los Angeles this week that DAS and small cells will be the focus of carrier investment next year and beyond and “the total market will increase five times by 2020.” RCRWireless quoted him as saying “As we turn the page into 2016, we believe all four carriers will be investing next year.”

He’s figuring that Verizon Wireless will deploy as many as 60,000 new nodes in the upcoming months while he pegs the number at 40,000 for AT&T. Ganzi also predicts T-Mobile also will jump on the bandwagon and Sprint likely will follow. Either way, figures Ganzi, carriers will have to densify their networks to keep up with fast-growing consumer demand.

Continue reading here.

Congress needs to put “pedal to the metal” and remove any obstacles the federal government might have placed in the way of speeding delivering of broadband service nationwide, Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) told the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology yesterday. The committee was in session in the Rayburn House Office Building for another in its series of “Breaking Down Barriers to Broadband Infrastructure Deployment.”

Fellow committee member Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) stressed the importance of getting broadband service “to the unserved and underserved in our country.” She also took a moment to push the “Dig Once” legislation she, Upton and fellow committee member Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) co-sponsored last week that requires broadband to be installed along all new federal highway projects as “just common sense. It will save taxpayers money.”

Continue reading here.