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Friday, August 18, 2017 Volume 5 | Issue 162

Kentucky City Wins, AT&T Loses, in KY Pole Attachment Dispute A federal court has sided with a Kentucky municipality and against AT&T in a case concerning access to utility poles. No state or federal law prevents Louisville, KY from requiring a “one-touch make-ready” ordinance outlining new procedures for installing communications infrastructure on utility poles in the city, a U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky ruled Thursday.

Make-ready work generally consists of moving or rearranging existing wires and attachments on utility poles to make space for new attachments. One-touch make-ready policies seek to avoid delays by having all make-ready work performed at the same time by a single crew.

AT&T subsidiary BellSouth Telecommunications fought Louisville’s right to allow new users to rearrange existing pole attachments. AT&T asked the court to declare the ordinance unlawful, while the city said it has the authority to manage its public rights-of-way. AT&T told the court it invested “millions of dollars” to build and maintain a communications network in Louisville. AT&T owns most of the poles it uses in Louisville and contracts with Louisville Gas & Electric for others. Continue Reading

Texas Progressive City Takes Lead on Small Cells A unanimous decision from the City Council of Donna will make it the first municipality in Texas to partner with a wireless carrier to install small cells through the city. Ordinance No. 2017-13 will allow AT&T to install the devices in the public right-of-way. In an interview with the Rio Grande Guardian, AT&T director of external affairs and former Hidalgo County Judge, J. D. Salinas, said he’s pushing for the city to be the first to receive 5G deployments in the state.

The new ordinance will take effect on September 1, but the city has already placed poles for AT&T’s equipment. Salinas said, “We’re excited because they’re very aggressive and have taken a step forward today.” Salinas continued, “The city council and the city staff have been very, very, progressive in working with us and making sure to identify areas of service and also trying to track their growth in the city. So we’re happy for what they’re doing and we invite others to follow their lead. I mean this really, really, is a great opportunity for everybody.” So far, six small cells will be deployed, but this number will increase in the future as the city grows. AT&T plans to start 5G deployment before the end of 2018.

Alabama City of Huntsville Partners with Southern Linc For LTE Services subsidiary Southern Linc has entered into a partnership with the City of Huntsville and Madison County ’s 911 dispatch center. Southern Linc will add LTE equipment to certain Madison County towers to connect city and county first responders to Linc’s new LTE network. The Huntsville agreement enables Huntsville and the Madison County 911 Dispatch Center (MadCo 911) to use Southern Linc’s LTE network for wireless data transmission.

MadCo 911 CEO and Director of Radio Infrastructure Ernie Blair has been working with Southern Linc to bring wireless data services to his service area via a public/private network partnership for the last two years. “Linc’s new mission critical LTE network is built for reliability and priority, and our agencies will reap the benefit of priority and pre-emption of services when critical events occur. That’s something we need and are not getting today,” Blair stated. Continue Reading

August 17, 2017 at Close

Connecticut T-Mobile Tower Project Inching Towards Approval at Farm Site UPDATE A plan by Eco-Site, Inc. and T-Mobile Northeast to build a 150-foot-high communications tower in South Glastonbury is moving on to the Connecticut Siting Council by the end of the month, reported the Hartford Courant. Following an informal meeting on the proposed site last week, the tower location is planned to sit on the western end of the 177-acre Cavanna Farm, a pick-your-own berry, and cut-your-own Christmas tree farm.

A balloon test was conducted in July and, as part of the upcoming Siting Council application, another balloon test will be conducted on the day of the public hearing; the date is not yet set. The Siting Council has statewide authority over tower proposals and jurisdiction when it comes to location. Additional coverage is needed in the area and the tower can serve up to four carriers. The location will be 1,140 feet away from the closest residential property but 45-55 homes would have a view of at least a portion of the tower. Over the past seven years, there have been over six tower proposals in South Glastonbury and not one has made it to the Siting Council, due to public outcry.

Texas Resident Opposition Forces T-Mobile to Co-Locate on American Tower Site One week ago, August 10, the Chief Operating Officer of Branch Towers, LLC — Jared Ledet representing client T- Mobile, came to Vanderpool, TX to talk to residents about building a new tower to accommodate the carrier. The locals, with over 1,800 signatures in hand petitioning for another option, already had one in mind - an existing tower owned by American Tower Corp, according to the Bandera County Courier.

“Vanderpool has benefitted from the flexibility of a major carrier,” Ledet told the Courier and said, “the desire to be a good community partner and a good neighbor is very important to both T-Mobile and Branch Towers.” Continue Reading

Carriers to Add Temporary Towers for Eclipse All four major cell carriers are adding network coverage for Monday’s solar eclipse. AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and will send mobile cell towers to areas where they expect the networks to be under the most strain, reports CNBC.

"We used NASA information to identify the places where the full eclipse would be the longest, and then used that information to look at cities that were planning events," said Scott Mair, AT&T senior vice president of technology, planning and engineering. Verizon will use fewer temporary towers because recent "advancements in our network and a focus on building permanent solutions have made the deployment of temporary network assets” such as Cell on Wheels and Cell on Light Trucks “largely unnecessary” to supplement coverage and capacity at large events, a Verizon representative told CNBC. Verizon is sending temporary units to areas in Oregon and Kentucky where the eclipse is expected to last several minutes. Sprint will add capacity to existing towers as well as deploy temporary towers. T-Mobile is doing the same. Read a list compiled by CNBC showing where carriers are boosting coverage for the event.

Alabama County Has Ribbon Cutting For Towers Bringing Broadband to Rural Schools

Earlier this week, AT&T announced that high-speed internet service is now available for more rural areas in Chilton and Autauga counties, thanks to three new towers, reported The Clanton Advertiser. The combined tower coverage is estimated to bring service to 700 homes and businesses.

Area officials - Maplesville Mayor W.C. Hayes, Chilton County Commissioner Jimmie Hardee, and Alabama Senator Clyde Chambliss - commented on the positive impact broadband will have for school students.

“We appreciate everything that AT&T does,” Hayes said. “This is going to help our rural area for the children that do attend Chilton County Schools to have access that don’t have access now,” Hardee commented. “We have been working diligently to get broadband throughout, especially to the schools and then to the home,” Alabama Rep. Jimmy Martin said. “This is the future.” Continue Reading

Mexico Supreme Court Sides with America Movil Over AT&T and Telefonica Mexico's Supreme Court sided with America Movil (AMX) in a key case on connection charges, ruling that regulators must set such charges instead of legislators, according to Seeking Alpha.

The ruling found that a law calling on America Movil to complete calls from the networks of its rivals free of charge was unconstitutional. That meant not collecting from AT&T (T) and Telefonica (TEF), even though those companies collected such interconnection fees from America Movil to complete calls from its customers Seeking Alpha reported.

Verizon Wants to Test Small Cells on CBRS Band Verizon is asking the FCC for permission to conduct field tests with partner companies on the 3.5 to 3.7 GHz Citizens Band Radio Service (CBRS). The carrier wants to evaluate radio propagation characteristics of 3.5 GHz for indoor and outdoor installations as well as end-to-end CBRS architecture. The tests would also help the company learn more about the coexistence mechanisms with shared General Authorized Access (GAA) and Priority Access License (PAL) spectrum.

The field tests, Verizon says in its application, would be conducted in a controlled environment in order to assist development of commercial products. Up to 60 small cells in two categories would be used in the Irving, Texas tests. Directional and omni-directional antennas would be used.

Prototype base stations and mobile units would operate only on CBRS spectrum. Verizon assures the FCC it can shut down the transmissions should any interference occur. It would like the experimental authorization to last a year, so it can conduct tests 24/7 beginning around September 1.

USTelecom Promotes Mayer to SVP Cybersecurity USTelecom has promoted Robert Mayer to Senior Vice President, Cybersecurity. The organization is a trade association representing service broadband providers and suppliers.

USTelecom President/CEO Jonathan Spalter characterized Mayer as “a respected convener and advocate in the cybersecurity community.” He “brings a depth of expertise and conviction that serves not only our members, but the hundreds of millions of customers they serve,” said Spalter.

Mayer has been with the association for more than 10 years with responsibility for leading cyber and national security policy and coordinating various regulatory initiatives for the broadband industry. He chairs the Communications Sector Coordinating Council at the Department of Homeland Security’s public-private partnership on national security and emergency preparedness. Mayer also co- leads the Multi-Association Framework Development Initiative that represents 30-plus U.S trade associations on cybersecurity risk management policy issues and regularly engages with top government leaders on cyber policy.

In June 2015, Mayer was appointed to the FCC Communications Security Reliability and Interoperability Council after having led a 100 person team of cybersecurity professionals that produced a landmark report to adapt the NIST Cybersecurity Framework to five industry segments within the sector. Prior to USTelecom, Mayer was the top telecommunications official for New York State as Telecom Director of the New York Public Service Commission.

LETS: Engineering Design and Data Analytics For the Telecom Industry By Keara Piekanski, Inside Towers LETS America Inc. is a multidisciplinary engineering design and data analytics consulting company that’s been exclusively working with the telecom industry and on utility infrastructure engineering projects since 2010. Beginning as Luminous Engineering and Technology Services in 2004, they have extensive experience with structural analysis and construction drawings. LETS’ U.S. headquarters is in Chandler, AZ, employing a 25-person engineering team who is licensed in all the lower 49 states as structural engineers.

Prabhu Mohapatra, Ph.D., President/CEO, and entrepreneur, has worked to bring customers cost effective and reliable solutions regarding engineering - including Structural Modification and Reinforcement Design for towers along with Structural Engineering Analysis. LETS has a telecom and wireless group dedicated to construction engineering and design (A&E services) for towers and small cells. According to Mohapatra, “I want to make LETS like the Intel of A&E and purely focus on the current movement of infrastructure, growing within that realm.” Continue Reading

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"Tower in the Sunset" Taken in Middle by Joseph Eggloff and contributed via Instagram!

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Managing Editor: Jim Fryer Washington Bureau Chief: Leslie Stimson Writers: Braden Hall, Ben Horvath & Keara M. Piekanski Marketing: Megan Reed Creative: Cara Aston Advertising & Classifieds: Phil Cook | Mike Dryden | Sharon Barone | Nancy McKinley

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