The Federal Communications Commission is revisiting the controversial licensing of thousands of towers in the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of a successful legal challenge by conservation groups concerned about the safety of migratory birds. But there is little initial indication that a federal...
The Federal Communications Commission could be forced to back off the backup power rule. Two members of a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit voiced serious doubts about whether the FCC had authority to mandate...
Crown Castle Inc. said Ben Moreland, the company's CFO, will become president and CEO of the tower company, effective July 1. John Kelly, Crown Castle's president and CEO, will remain with the company as executive vice chairman of the board of directors. Kelly has...
According to a report from research and banking firm ThinkPanmure, AT&T Mobility plans to sell up to 7 million femtocells from ip.access Ltd., a picocell and femtocell infrastructure vendor based in Cambridge, United Kingdom.According to ThinkPanmure, AT&T signed a contract with the firm for...
Telecom policymakers and special-interest groups are fond of talking about ubiquity, making sure communications -- wireless, wireline, Internet and video -- are within reach of all Americans. Indeed, there are government subsidy programs that address this very issue. Take the stressed universal service regime...
The following list includes ratings changes and financial information for wireless companies announced this week by investment-banking and financial-services firms.Carrier--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services assigned its A rating to AT&T's 6.125% global notes due 2015. The ratings reflect the company's strong position in the...
The wireless industry faces major challenges in designing networks capable of carrying bandwidth-consuming multimedia content and reliably delivering to consumers in the future, according to company executives. Industry experts said wireless infrastructure buildout has become more complex than it has...
The wireless and tower industries are making a strong push at the Federal Communications Commission to reform the pole-attachment regulatory regime. The parties claim that non-discriminatory and equitable access to utility poles on a nationwide uniform basis will hold the promise of fostering the...
CARRIER DECKS AND AGGREGATOR STOREFRONTS are so last year. Because application developers are quickly discovering that the hottest places to showcase their wares are the top social networking sites.Facebook last year opened its platform to third-party developers, spurring a flood of applications that users...
SBA Communications Corp. said it will spend up to $193.5 million for as many as 430 towers in the United States from TowerCo L.L.C. SBA said it will use cash on hand as well as drawing on its existing $335 million line of credit...
As the 700 MHz auction winds to a close - apparently without a winning bidder for the commercial/public-safety license or a clear roadmap for meeting first responders' communications needs - progress is nonetheless being made on other fronts.The Department of Homeland Security's Science and...
The wireless industry relies on towers like a lifeline. All those wireless calls, messaging exchanges and data downloads and uploads rely on a steadily budding array of transmission towers. Without them, nothing happens.Bearing that in mind, it's no surprise towers are considered one of...
A divided appeals court struck down a Federal Communications Commission's decision in which the agency rejected the contention it illegally licensed 6,000 towers in the Gulf Coast by failing to first assess the potential impact on migratory birds. "We vacate...
A divided federal appeals court today struck down a Federal Communications Commission's ruling in which the agency rejected the contention that it illegally licensed 6,000 towers in the Gulf Coast without first assessing the potential impact on migratory birds."We vacate the order because the...
DukeNet Communication Services L.L.C., which is owned by Duke Energy Corp., said it signed a definitive agreement to acquire 115 wireless towers from Vangard Wireless L.P.The sites are located within Duke Energy's utility territory in Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio and South Carolina, as...
The National Association of Tower Erectors said it would redouble efforts to improve job safety in a sector that caught the attention of government labor officials in 2000 because of injuries and fatalities. "The time is now for everyone in the industry, from CEOs...
THE DUST SURE TO BE LEFT in the wake of the 700 MHz auction is far from settled - with the final outcomes still unknown - yet, infrastructure vendors say they'll be ready for buildout plans the moment existing carriers or new entrants are...
The mobile-phone industry told a U.S. appeals court the Federal Communications Commission exceeded its statutory powers in mandating the eight-hour backup power rule for cell sites as part of an otherwise legally flawed rulemaking."By promulgating a sweeping mandate far beyond its regulatory authority without...
In the Digital Age, when you hear about theft and how to combat/punish it, the common nomenclature for such activities include cybercrime, hacking, piracy, IPR infringement, illegal music downloads, identity theft and the like. Then there are those willing to climb several hundred feet...
WiMAX has come to the college town of Madison, Wis., thanks to a new network launched today by TDS Telecommunications Corp. with infrastructure provided by Alvarion Ltd. And in other WiMAX-related news, NextPhase Wireless said it has received approval from the Federal Communications Commission...
Despite the unceremonious break-up that shattered plans for a nationwide mobile WiMAX network partnership between Sprint Nextel Corp. and Clearwire Corp., both companies insist their rollout plans for 2008 are on track. However, plans for some markets are being revisited now that both companies...
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin last week said the agency will re-examine the pole-attachment regulatory regime as part of a broader, ongoing effort to promote the deployment of broadband communications, a policy direction that will give the tower and cellphone sectors the chance...
Frontline Wireless L.L.C.'s freakish free-fall has begun to raise questions about whether the upcoming 700 MHz auction will produce a bidder willing to spend billions of dollars on spectrum and construction of a national public safety-commercial broadband network.Click here for complete 700 MHz auction...
The Federal Communications Commission is facing a gathering legal storm over its emergency back-up power rule, with the mobile-phone industry asking a federal appeals court to put its legal challenge on a fast track and Sprint Nextel Corp. seeking to stay the effective date...
