Service Outage in Arizona Results in Death of Man Unable to Summon Help

Damage to equipment owned by Frontier Communications left residents in remote Apache and Navajo Counties without cell or internet service for approximately 48 hours. As AZCentral.com reports, a man in need of medical assistance died on the way to the hospital after onlookers were unable to use their cell phones to call for help. By the time Good Samaritans were able to flag down an ambulance, the responders were too late to save the individual's life. Authorities added that a young child who accidentally impaled herself with a curtain rod was also stranded without emergency care, but that incident did not result in a fatality.

St. Johns Police Chief Lance Spivey spoke negatively about Frontier, saying that this sort of crisis is not unusual. "My hope is that Frontier leaves the area, goes out of business," he said. "They have jeopardized public safety. If this was to happen in the Valley, it'd be different because there's so many more people that live down there there'd be outrage and all kinds of stuff. But we're small and rural so we get stuck with a company that really doesn't care. They put dollars above names, above people." Continue Reading

How Is the Current Economy Impacting the Tower Business?

By John Celentano, Inside Towers Business Editor

With the U.S. economy being buffeted by inflation and rising interest rates, we wanted to gauge the impact on the tower business, both in leasing operations and M&A activity. Inside Towers reached out to Michael DeMita, Chief Executive Officer at Tower Capital Advisors, LLC for his perspectives. We asked Clayton Funk, Managing Director at Houlihan Lokey to comment, as well. How does inflation affect tower growth revenues, i.e., fixed escalators in North America vs CPI-indexed escalators internationally? DeMita: Inflation certainly puts pressure on tower companies to find a way to increase profits as lease escalations are falling behind the current inflation rate. The average escalation in carrier leases and tower ground leases is just under 3 percent per year/15 percent per term and has been 2 percent per year/10 percent per term for new builds for several years. Without lease-up or amendment activity, though still quite active, existing revenue is losing ground every year. Continue Reading

WIA Names Patrick Halley President and CEO

 

The Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA) today named communications policy veteran and association leader Patrick Halley as the organization’s incoming President and Chief Executive Officer, effective August 1, 2022. Halley replaces Jonathan Adelstein, now with DigitalBridge.

Halley joins WIA from USTelecom – The Broadband Association where he serves as Senior Vice President of Policy & Advocacy and General Counsel, and leads the association’s policy development and advocacy efforts before the White House, the FCC and other regulatory agencies, courts, and in state capitals. 

“We are extremely pleased to announce Patrick Halley as our next President and CEO,” said WIA Board Chairman Jeffrey Stoops, President and Chief Executive Officer of SBA Communications Corporation. “Patrick’s broad regulatory, legal and trade association experience in telecommunications makes him the ideal person to lead WIA into the future. He has deep knowledge of, and experience in, advocacy, which is the primary mission of WIA, and is a proven manager and motivator of his team members. On behalf of the WIA Board of Directors, I welcome Patrick to his new role and express my excitement about the future of WIA under his leadership.” Continue Reading

Wireless Franchises Unite and Litigate Against Sprint/T-Mobile Merger

In April of 2020, T-Mobile merged with Sprint for $26 billion. At the time, some industry analysts voiced concerns about the deal undermining competition as well as its potential harmful impact on smaller dealers and vendors. Since then, some wireless providers who worked with the two companies before the transaction, have banded together to litigate against the now consolidated T-Mobile, calling for remuneration from the deal’s impact on their respective companies.

Called Wireless Franchisees for Justice, the group was created to call attention to “the troubling treatment of T-Mobile’s dealers following the merger that was approved under false pretenses.” The group says the impact of T-Mobile’s actions “spans across the country and led to massive job losses and had devastating impacts on small and medium-sized businesses.” Its stated goal is to “right some of the wrongs and reverse the predatory and anti-competitive business practices of T-Mobile.”

All together, the total damages sought are roughly $500 - $600 million. The group, with litigation spanning 20 states, cites a total of 382 stores closed and 2,578 jobs lost. Continue Reading

More Unqualified, Than Qualified Bidders So Far in 2.5 GHz Auction

By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief

The FCC says the bulk of short-form applications to bid in the upcoming 2.5 GHz auction of flexible-use licenses are deficient. The agency will give the companies time to correct their paperwork. Thirty-nine applications are complete and have been accepted. Some of these entities include AT&T, Carolina West Wireless, Pine Belt Cellular, T-Mobile, and UScellular. These entities will become qualified bidders once they’ve submitted an upfront payment. That deadline is 6 p.m. on June 23.   Under the Commission’s two-phased auction application process, a winning bidder must submit a longform application after the close of the auction to demonstrate its qualifications to hold a Commission license and, if a bidding credit is requested, its eligibility for the bidding credit. In the event that an applicant is found unqualified to be a Commission licensee, or ineligible for claimed designated entity benefits, it will be liable for any obligations incurred as a result of its participation in the auction. Continue Reading

Huawei Tempts West With New Inventions, Wants IP Protection

By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor

Song Liuping, Huawei's Chief Legal Officer, talks IP protections.  (photo captured from video courtesy Huawei) Huawei continues its penchant for technological innovation and the pursuit of patents, even though it is banned by several countries in the West. During its "Broadening the Innovation Landscape 2022" forum held last week at its Shenzhen headquarters, Huawei announced a batch of key inventions as part of its biennial "Top Ten Inventions" Awards.  The awarded inventions range from an adder neural network that reduces power consumption and circuit area to an "optical iris" that provides a unique identifier for optical fibers. The optical iris is designed to help carriers manage their network resources, cutting time and costs associated with broadband deployment, according to Huawei.  “Inventors have joined Huawei over the past few years after receiving their PhDs,” Song Liuping, Huawei's Chief Legal Officer, said. “They are full of passion, eager to take on challenges, and work hard to solve real world problems. As a result, they have made major breakthroughs in many domains.” Continue Reading

Stop Use Recall on Select 3M Lanyards/Immediate Action Required

Late yesterday, 3M issued a Stop Use Recall on Select 3M™ DBI-SALA® ShockWave™2 Arc Flash Shock Absorbing Lanyards. 3M stated the product should be removed from service until inspection is performed although no reports of injuries or accidents have occured. The company issued the following statement:  “As part of 3M Fall Protection’s ongoing commitment to delivering high quality safety equipment, we are notifying our customers of the following information related to specific 3M™ DBI-SALA® ShockWave™2 Arc Flash Shock Absorbing Lanyards. During an internal review, 3M Fall Protection has identified a potential manufacturing issue with a limited number of devices. This manufacturing issue could result in the lanyard not performing properly in the event of a fall, which could result in severe injury or death. Please reference Appendix A for products that are impacted by this notice. There have been no reports of injuries, accidents, or complaints associated with this issue.”  A copy of this notice can be found here.