Ebola tracking with cell towers
This year has seen cell towers linked to at least a few major news stories. Back in March, towers were used in an attempt to track the whereabouts of the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Now it appears that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is using cell tower data to help track Ebola. They are using the towers to track the locations of cellphone users in West Africa when they dial in to an emergency call center. The hope is that by doing this it will be possible to predict where Ebola outbreaks might occur.
“The data is just the number of calls by cell tower, but from that you can get a rough idea of the area that the calls are coming in from, and then derive census, neighborhood data from that,” CDC spokeswoman Kristen Nordlund told Nextgov.
A new case study RCR Wireless News reported on earlier this week found similarly positive results in aiding the fight against epidemics. The U.S. is also looking into using the same type of methods here at home.
“But what about privacy concerns from gathering this tower data?” In Liberia, they’ve found a way around this by creating basically an “ebola hotline” where people dial in to report cases or seek help. In this case, the data they would pull for tracking purposes would just be the location of people calling into the specific emergency line. Privacy is intact, outbreaks are stymied, everybody wins.
American Tower $uccess
American Tower, one of the largest owners of cell towers in the U.S., announced its third-quarter earnings this week, and they are simply crushing it. Revenue increased 28.5%, going from $807.88 million in the same quarter last year to a whopping $1.04 billion in Q3 this year. Operating profit rose 26% to a devilish $666 million as well. It’s safe to say as users upgrade to bigger, better, faster phones they are chewing up more data than ever, and with more data needs goes the need for more towers to meet that need, so don’t expect them to slow down any time soon.
Here’s an interesting tidbit: the company also claimed that their assets are in markets that are “three to 10 years behind the U.S.” in mobile broadband deployment. This shouldn’t be much of a surprise though, considering stories like this one.
Tower news quickies
- MasTec buys WesTower for $200 million.
- Mobile network investment update for Q3 2014.
- Mobile grown spurs demand for cell tower real estate.
- Download and print some comical safety posters.
- Feedback from you on shocked climber and RF radiation.
Regional/local tower news
- Public notice: Proposed cell tower – 780th Avenue, Spring Valley, Wisc.
- Meeting set to discuss proposed cell tower at Germantown, Md. school.
- Lyon, Mich., residents sign petition to fight cell phone tower.
- Commission denies Verizon Wireless tower permit in Redding, Calif.
- Proposal dies for cell tower on school grounds in Portland, Ore.
- Cell tower proposal in Coon Rapids, Minn., park withdrawn.
- Some residents want temporary cell tower in Blawnox, Pa., torn down.
- Verizon Wireless cell tower online in Rouses Point, N.Y.
- Federal Communications Commission: taller cell towers in Adirondacks must blend in.
- Verizon Wireless Cape Elizabeth, Maine, cell tower saga continues.
- Council makes change with Bair Park cell tower rent in Keizer, Ore.
- Cell tower locations to get more study in Shelbyville, Tenn.
- Public notice: Proposed cell tower – 370th Avenue, Ellsworth, Wisc.
This week’s edition of cell tower industry news is brought to you by Towercrews.net. Featured Image (slightly modified) Copyright: pkruger / 123RF Stock Photo
