Executives Assess COVID’s Effect on Tower Builds

The tower and wireless infrastructure industries are in a very good place, considering what’s going on nationally with the economy during the coronavirus pandemic, executives said Wednesday. However, supply chain challenges are among new problems, said experts during the virtual Wireless West “Tower Hour.”

APC Towers CEO Danny Agresta said the pandemic has changed his daily questions from: “Where’s the steel? Do we have a permit yet?” to, asking customers if they can access his company’s platforms so project milestones aren’t missed.

Agresta says his company keeps in touch with NATE about what’s going on with crews. Citing the association’s recent member survey, Agresta said: “It’s clear contractors have concerns” regarding travel, lodging, and food. “I don’t know if that will still be true in a month or three months from now.” He said: “We’ve heard rumblings there [are] supply chain problems.” Continue Reading

Critics Call Out Rosy FCC Broadband Report

The FCC recently released its annual broadband deployment report, and said the numbers show the digital divide continues to close. Critics claim otherwise.

The FCC says the report revealed the number of Americans lacking access to fixed terrestrial broadband service at 25/3 Mbps continues to decline, by more than 14 percent in 2018. The number of Americans without access to 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) mobile broadband with a median speed of 10/3 Mbps, based on Ookla data, declined approximately 54 percent between 2017 and 2018. And the vast majority of Americans—more than 85 percent—now have access to fixed terrestrial broadband service at 250/25 Mbps, a 47 percent increase since 2017, concludes the report.
“From 2016 to 2018, the number of Americans without access to 25/3 Mbps fixed broadband service fell by more than 30 percent,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. “And in 2018 and 2019, the United States set consecutive records for new fiber deployment, with the number of homes passed by fiber increasing by 5.9 million and 6.5 million, respectively.” 

The Commission cited the broadband industry’s approximately $80 billion investment in network infrastructure in 2018, for the improvement, noting it’s the highest annual amount in at least the last decade. In 2019, fiber broadband networks became available to roughly 6.5 million additional homes, the largest one-year increase ever, with smaller providers accounting for 25 percent of these new fiber connections, according to the agency. Continue Reading

President Focuses on Broadband for Next Coronavirus Negotiations

President Donald Trump wants to include broadband as a priority in the next phase of coronavirus relief. The Senate Tuesday passed a $484 billion plan to replenish a small-business payroll fund and pump more money into hospitals and testing programs. The House has asked lawmakers, who have been at home with Congress all but shuttered, to return today for a roll-call vote, reported the AP.

On Tuesday, the President tweeted: “After I sign this bill, we will begin discussions on the next legislative initiative with fiscal relief…including much needed infrastructure investments for broadband,” among other things.

The Administration's big priorities include "broadband for the Middle West," Trump later told reporters during his evening news briefing. He added that "the farmers have been treated terribly when it comes to the internet," according to Politico.

RWA, NTCA, Ask Congress Not to Give T-Mobile a “Handout” from Virus Fund

The Rural Wireless Association, NTCA – The Rural Broadband Association, Communications Workers of America, and three consumer groups called on Congress to ensure that T-Mobile does not receive COVID-19 recovery funding to meet its merger-specific build-out commitments. T-Mobile made those promises when it sought approval of its acquisition of Sprint from the FCC, Department of Justice, state attorneys general, and state public utilities commissions.

“The New T-Mobile has repeatedly and emphatically claimed that as a direct result of the merger, it would have the necessary resources to deliver 5G to millions of square miles of the U.S. and hundreds of millions of Americans, including those living in and traveling through rural America,” the groups say in a letter. “[T]o the extent there will be additional stimulus recovery measures, Congress needs to make sure T-Mobile does not receive funding as a corporate handout to meet commitments it already made based on synergies that it lauded to get its deal done.” Continue Reading

FCC Approves Ligado’s 5G Network Over Protests

UPDATE The FCC Monday unanimously voted to approve an order to allow satellite company Ligado to deploy a low-power nationwide 5G network. Ligado is the wireless satellite venture formerly known as LightSquared that emerged from bankruptcy in 2015. The vote came despite protests from the Defense Department, 12 other federal agencies and major U.S. airlines. The Wireless Infrastructure Association praised the decision.

Ligado will be able to use the L-Band spectrum, which is also used for GPS and other navigation systems because the signals can penetrate cloud cover. The Commission said the approval order includes strict conditions aimed at ensuring global positioning systems would not experience harmful interference.

But last week, the federal agencies and airlines said it would interfere, Inside Towers reported. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said via Twitter on Friday that the “Ligado proposal would needlessly imperil GPS-dependent national security capabilities.” Continue Reading

Last Nail in the T-Mobile/Sprint Merger Hammered Out

UPDATE The long-awaited, $23 billion merger between T-Mobile and Sprint received unanimous final approval on April 16, from California's Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), reported Reuters. In March, the CPUC said it would approve the merger with conditions, which T-Mobile and Sprint agreed to uphold.

In 2019, the Justice Department and FCC sanctioned the merger on the condition that the combined wireless company sell off Dish Network assets. Reuters reported the biggest obstacle for the telecoms was a legal battle with state attorneys general who argued the deal would mean higher prices for consumers. However, in February, a U.S. federal judge overruled the argument, and the merger closed on April 1, Inside Towers reported.

The combined company now operates under the T-Mobile name and will trade on the NASDAQ as "TMUS,” according to the account. The objective of the deal was to allow both companies to join their high-band and low-band spectrum, enabling a faster roll-out of 5G.

Pai Signals Approval of Ligado L-Band Use for 5G

Thursday, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai circulated a draft to his colleagues regarding the approval of satellite provider Ligado’s application to deploy a nationwide broadband network in the L-Band. The network would primarily support 5G and Internet of Things services. The order comes with conditions to ensure existing L-band users are protected from harmful interference.

The decision comes over the objections of 13 government agencies, led by the Department of Defense, who warn it might interfere with military GPS operations. They said so in a memo co-signed by representatives of the Army, Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard. It was also signed by the Departments of Commerce, Energy, Homeland Security, Interior, Justice and Transportation as well as the Federal Aviation Administration, NASA and National Science Foundation, according to Inside Global Navigation Satellite Systems. 

At the center of the debate is a proposal to take frequencies allocated primarily for use by satellites and allow them to be used for broadband communications. Extensive testing has shown that the proposal, even in a lower power form, would cause interference to GPS receivers. Those receivers are used for navigation and positioning but also for accurate timing that enables the synchronization of mobile communications and internet traffic. Continue Reading