BROWSING: Towers

Top stories of 2010 (Part 4)

Editor's Note: The mobile space witnessed a lot of news over the past 12 months that have and will alter the mobile landscape for years to come. With the end of 2010 just days away, RCR Wireless News takes a look back at the...

Worst of the Week: All your predictions are belong to us

Hello! And welcome to our Friday column, Worst of the Week. There's a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCRWireless.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way....

American Tower looks to raise $1B for acquisitions

American Tower Corp. (AMT) is planning to raise $1 billion to expand its tower holding portfolio.The company is planning to pay 4.5% interest on $1 billion worth of senior unsecured notes, according to The Associated Press. American Tower said it will use the money...

Spotlight on: Core Development Services: Firm hires former city planners to fast-track siting deployments

California has gained a reputation as one of the most difficult states to get towers sited. One company is using that ungainly standing as a way to differentiate its services from its competitors in the site-acquisition and development sector. Core Development Services has hired...

FLO TV racked up 1 million customers in 45 months

Executives at Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM) were never eager to offer up subscriber count numbers for FLO TV. Until now, sort of.At an event in Silicon Valley earlier this week, CEO Paul Jacobs said the company only managed to sign up about 1 million customers...

American Tower beats Q3 projections, expands in South Africa

American Tower Corp. (AMT) reported net income of $258.2 million on $499.8 million in revenue during its quarter ending Sept. 30. Income was up 19.2% and revenue jumped 16.1% from the year-ago period.The company also announced plans to buy 1,400 towers from South Africa's...

ZTE deploys base stations on Mt. Everest

ZTE Corp. has deployed eight base stations at Mt. Everest National Park to provide 3G coverage for voice and broadband services at the base camp, which sits 16,994 feet above sea level.ZTE built a micro base station with low-power consumption for the unique installation...

Top 10 Tower Companies

Editor's Note: Following is the listing of the top 10 tower companies in the United States, along with a list of “honorable mentions” of companies that more than likely fall in the top 20 tower companies. A continuing trend in the tower industry is...

St. Charles Tower wins LightSquared contract in Las Vegas

St. Louis-based St. Charles Tower is a small tower company that got a big win from LightSquared, as the operator inked its first leasing deal, for six of St. Charles' towers in Las Vegas and Phoenix as it builds out its hybrid LTE-satellite network....

Reader Forum: Revisiting network neutrality and the IPX

Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly Reader Forum section. In an attempt to broaden our interaction with our readers we have created this forum for those with something meaningful to say to the wireless industry. We want to keep this as open as possible,...

U.S. faces spectrum crunch by 2014: Freeing 275 megahertz of spectrum could save $120B

The United States will need another 275 megahertz of spectrum by 2014 to keep up with mobile broadband demand, according to a white paper the Federal Communications Commission just released. Making that 275 megahertz of spectrum available for mobile broadband would save $120 billion...

@ 4G World: RCR Wireless News names 2010 Ecosystem Awards winners

RCR Wireless News, the leading online resource for all things wireless, has announced the winners of the 2010 RCR Ecosystem Awards, which recognizes leading organizations that have demonstrated success, innovation and excellence in the mobile and wireless industry. Congratulations to the 2010...

Report: Clearwire auctioning off spectrum

Clearwire Corp.’s (CLWR) need for funding to support expansion of its network coverage could be getting a boost from a reported ongoing auction of some if its spectrum assets, according to a report from Bloomberg.The report noted that the carrier was in the midst...

Tower companies look internationally for diversity, growth opps

While the U.S. market remains the tower industry's bread and butter, a number of the top tower infrastructure providers are expanding overseas as growth opportunities present themselves in less-developed markets.SBA Communications Corp. (SBAC) has tower operations in the Western hemisphere, noted SBA CFO...

@ PCIA: KGI adds McDonald's rooftops to portfolio

HOLLYWOOD, Fla.—KGI Wireless added 11,500 McDonald's Corp. rooftop sites to its managed tower portfolio, according to founder and principal Michael Kampen, who talked to RCR Wireless News at PCIA's Wireless Infrastructure 2010 show here. Rooftops are becoming more important for operators as ...

Data explosion driving DAS network deployments in stadiums

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in PCIA's Wireless Infrastructure 2010 show guide. As wireless networks continue to need capacity to handle the explosion of data applications, Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS) networks continue to gain traction as a method to offload traffic from the...

@ PCIA: 4G networks will be macro, micro, DAS and more : Tower firms think of network holistically

HOLLYWOOD, Fla.—Distributed antenna systems, rooftop antennas and macrocellular towers will be key building blocks when deploying next-generation wireless networks. As such, today’s infrastructure providers are offering a wider array of tools to help build out these networks.Top tower company CEOs speaking to RCR Wireless...

@PCIA: Tower firms, analysts talk growth, consolidation and REIT possibilities

HOLLYWOOD, Fla.—The nation's top tower companies proved they could access the capital markets in a number of ways last year, after facing tight cap markets at the end of 2008. They also showed they could de-leverage quickly when called upon. Now they want the...

@ PCIA: LightSquared details device plans, NSN network buildout: Carrier announces additional partners at CTIA show

HOLLYWOOD, Fla.—LightSquared Chief Network Officer Drew Caplan shared the wholesale operator's philosophy on its planned role in the wireless space, telling PCIA's Wireless Infrastructure 2010 audience that while operators are not dumb pipes, they aren't the companies inventing great applications either.In a Day 2...

@PCIA: Networks will change to accommodate 4G services

HOLLYWOOD, Fla.--Dr. John Saw, CTO and senior VP of Clearwire Corp., kicked off PCIA's annual Wireless Infrastructure Show in 2010 talking about the trends driving today's wireless data explosion. “If we give customers a more capable network, they will find a way to use...

Global Tower Partners purchases Pine Cellular tower assets

Global Tower Partners picked up 32 towers from Pine Belt Cellular Inc., a telecommunications provider offering service in west central Alabama. The companies did not disclose the purchase price. Pine Belt will continue to be a tenant on the towers.This acquisition is the latest...

MetroPCS to expand LTE network wide by early 2011; 800 MHz option for Sprint Nextel’s CDMA network

Looking to continue its LTE momentum, MetroPCS Communications Inc. (PCS) plans to have the service available in all of its native markets by early next year, with all of its approximately 11,000 cell sites LTE-enabled by the end of 2011. The carrier launched its...

Retail strategy at heart of Sprint Nextel-Clearwire tension

The cumbaya relationship between Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) and Clearwire Corp. (CLWR) may be only skin deep as the two operators seem to have different views on how much emphasis Clearwire has on expanding its WiMAX network.During a session yesterday at the Bank of...