Football’s biggest event is almost here, and it’s game on for the T-Mobile 5G network in Los Angeles. For the past 18 months T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) engineers have been throughout L.A. adding 5G coverage and capacity for the legions of fans and media attending Sunday’s game between the hometown Rams and Cincinnati Bengals. The carrier says it has invested more than $100 million in 5G infrastructure across the city, covering roughly 95 percent of the Greater Los Angeles area. Infrastructure additions include hundreds of upgraded and newly installed 5G macro sites and small cells, 5G upgrades at LAX, a new state-of-the-art 5G system at SoFi Stadium, as well as enhancements at numerous other venues.
"The investment we’ve made in LA over the past 18 months is massive," said Neville Ray, President of Technology at T-Mobile. "This is a powerhouse 5G network with incredible capacity using the most advanced technologies in wireless. And best of all, it’s just going to get even better as we keep building out the #1 fastest 5G network in LA and nationwide." Continue Reading
Written for the wireless tower industry.
Wednesday, February 9, 2022
Tuesday, February 8, 2022
Senate GOP Wants Treasury Broadband Rule to Prevent Overbuilding
| By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief |
| Eleven Senate Republicans protested an administration plan to fund broadband deployment in areas already served with speeds of 25 Mbps down/3 Mbps up. In January, the Treasury Department issued a final rule for distribution of American Rescue Plan money. It eliminates an interim requirement that blocked overbuilding in areas that already have wired networks with those speeds. That speed threshold would leave out any area that's already served by at least one cable provider, even if there's no competition and no fiber-to-the-home availability, according to Ars Technica. Advocates praised the new rule, saying the original speeds could prevent deployment to large portions of the U.S. The Senators also want states to have less leeway in distributing funds, writing, "the broad nature of this guidance allows states to choose whatever information they wish to determine the availability of broadband in a given area." Continue Reading |
Monday, February 7, 2022
Telecoms Must Report Untrusted Gear by May 5
| By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief |
| FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel told reporters recently the agency would soon develop a method for telecoms to tell the agency if they have untrusted gear in their networks, and now that’s happened. The Wireline Competition Bureau and the Office of Economics and Analytics established an online portal for providers to submit such reports. Those are due by May 5. Also on Friday, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel told Congress the agency has received 181 applications from carriers seeking reimbursement for removing untrusted gear from their networks, to the tune of about $5.6 billion. The application window for the “Rip & Replace” reimbursement program opened on October 29, 2021, and closed on January 28 of this year. The Commission was directed by Congress in the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019 to require telecoms to report annually whether they bought, rented, or leased any gear on the list of covered communications and services on or after August 14, 2018, or, within 60 days after the agency places such gear on its list of untrusted telecom equipment or services. Continue Reading |
Friday, February 4, 2022
T-Mobile’s Grand Plan is Working
| By John Celentano, Inside Towers Business Editor |
T-Mobile US (NASDAQ: TMUS) seems to be firing on all cylinders. The company reported solid gains, even exceeding some expectations, in its key operating metrics for both 4Q21 and full-year 2021. And its outlook for 2022 suggests that momentum will carry forward. |
Thursday, February 3, 2022
FCC Nomination Vote Postponed
| By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief |
| A Democratic majority at the FCC will have to wait a little longer, following the Senate Commerce Committee’s decision to pull votes on FCC pick Gigi Sohn from a slate of markup votes yesterday. Committee member Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) was hospitalized following a stroke and Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell (D-WA) told Politico the panel can’t hold votes on nominees that might require party-line votes. With Lujan, the committee is evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. Continue Reading |
Wednesday, February 2, 2022
UScellular 5G Spectrum Strategy Takes the Cake
By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor5G is not just a nationwide carrier play. UScellular Corporation has its slice of the three-layer spectrum cake, too, and it’s on its way to the 5G party. The carrier announced yesterday that, after successfully bidding in the mid-band spectrum auctions, it has enough spectrum to forge a 5G strategy. Spectrum purchased at the recent Auction 110 (3.45 GHz) will be combined CBRS spectrum bought in Auction 105 and C-band in Auction 107 to cover the majority of its operating footprint with more than 80 percent of subscribers being covered with mid-band spectrum depths of 100 MHz or more.
“Now we have ample mid-band spectrum that will provide capacity and coverage to support 5G use cases with competitive speeds for both mobile and fixed wireless users," said Michael S. Irizarry, Executive Vice President, Chief Technology Officer and Head of Engineering and Information Technology. Continue ReadingTuesday, February 1, 2022
Unpacking AT&T’s Infrastructure CapEx
| By John Celentano, Inside Towers Business Editor |
The past two years have been a roller coaster for AT&T (NYSE: T). Despite reporting an upbeat performance for both 4Q21 and full-year 2021, AT&T acknowledges that it has much more work to do. Management is focusing on its core competencies with ambitious plans to accelerate its wireless and fiber infrastructure investments to add new customers and drive new revenue streams. |
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