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Subscribe • Advertise Monday, March 15, 2021 Volume 9 | Issue 51
FCC Grants First Licenses from 3.5 GHz Band Auction The FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau has issued most of the Priority Access Licenses (PALs) won in the 3.5 GHz auction (Auction 105). Last week, the Bureau granted 222 out of 255 applications.
Auction 105 gross proceeds reached $4,585,663,345, with net proceeds totaling $4,543,232,339. The 3.5 GHz auction had the highest number of winning bidders in a spectrum auction to-date, according to the Commission. A total of 228 bidders won 20,625 of 22,631, or more than 91.1 percent, of available licenses, the FCC said in September 2020. Continue Reading
Qualcomm Said to Endure Smartphone Chip Shortage Qualcomm is struggling to keep up with demand for its processor chips used in smartphones and other communications devices, as a chip shortage that first hit the auto industry spreads across the electronics business, industry sources tell Reuters. Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest smartphone maker, is experiencing a shortage of Qualcomm’s application processors, which are the heart of smartphones, according to two people at suppliers for the South Korean company.
Demand for Qualcomm chips has sharply increased in the past few months as Android phone makers seek to win over customers abandoning phones produced by Huawei Technologies because of U.S. sanctions. Qualcomm has found it hard to meet this higher-than-expected demand, in part due to a scarcity of some chip subcomponents. Continue Reading
Unpacking the DISH/Republic Wireless Deal By Martha DeGrasse, Inside Towers Contributing Analyst Republic Wireless employees and subscribers woke up to a surprise last Monday, when the MVNO announced that DISH is buying the company’s brand and customers for an undisclosed amount.
The MVNO doesn’t report financial information, but said two years ago that annual revenue was approaching $100 million. Republic Wireless has just 200,000 subscribers, so clearly a big portion of revenue comes from other sources -- probably its Relay push-to-talk device, which will continue as a standalone company after Republic becomes part of DISH. Continue Reading
FCC Says These Telecom Manufacturers Pose U.S. National Security Threat In order to be more clear about which telecoms and manufacturers pose a threat to America’s national security, the FCC on Friday released a list. Five Chinese companies are in the catalog, having been deemed a threat to national security, consistent with requirements in the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019.
The five are: Huawei Technologies Co., ZTE Corp., Hytera Communications Corp., Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co., and Dahua Technology Co. The Act requires the Commission to publish and maintain the list of communications equipment and services that pose an “unacceptable risk.” Continue Reading
If Oregon Gets Shaken, It Stirs Into Action Via New Network Like its California neighbor, Oregon is subject to earthquakes, originating both closer to home and through the ripple effect across the Pacific Ocean. "Shake Alert," an earthquake early warning system, has just become available to residents, reports Tremblor.net. State agencies and universities worked with the U.S. Geological Survey to create the system, giving recipients more time to prepare for a quake.
Contributor Gabriel Lotto, University of Washington’s (UW) Engagement Facilitator, suggested that people sign up for multiple alerts. The team cautioned that the alerts activate when a tremor is detected; they are not proactive earthquake predictors. "You don’t want to spend the first few seconds of shaking wondering what’s happening," said Lotto. "You want to immediately drop, cover and hold on.” Continue Reading
March 12, 2021 at Close
Delaware Verizon Wins Planning and Zoning Approval Amid Opposition This week, the Milton, (DE) Planning and Zoning Commission is set to approve a special permit allowing Verizon Wireless to construct a 140-foot tower at the town’s public works yard, zoned R-1 residential. The Cape Gazette reported that the commission gave preliminary approval via a 5-2 vote in February but held off on enacting a final approval until a written decision clarifying the opinion could be issued. The commission believes the tower would provide a valuable utility for the whole community, improving service.
The project’s approval was not without opposition, with councilmembers, politicians, and residents speaking out against the tower. Opponents cited aesthetic concerns since the proposed location is within the town’s historic district and worries because the site is located within a floodplain. Continue Reading
The Smartest City in Arizona Page, Arizona is staking its claim as the first city in Arizona to incorporate smart technology throughout the town, reports the Lake Powell Chronicle. While Page is not yet ready for flying cars, it will be using technology to monitor traffic activities, weather, and emergency services and link local businesses through a digitally connected network. Page was one of only three cities in the state to receive a $1 million grant to deploy the fiber broadband delivery that will make the smart city project possible.
“We’ve been working with Tim Suan and the town manager [Darren Coldwell] to make Page Arizona’s first smart town," said Jeff Sabotka, VP and state broadband director of the Arizona Commerce Authority. "The city leadership is very visionary in Page. They want to take advantage of all this capacity.” Continue Reading
Lift America Act Advances Broadband All 32 Democratic members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee reintroduced a more than $300 billion infrastructure bill on Thursday that, if passed, would make sweeping investments to expand high-speed internet across the U.S. The measure comes as Biden likely turns to infrastructure after signing the COVID-19 relief package into law, Inside Towers reported.
The Leading Infrastructure For Tomorrow’s America Act, or LIFT America Act, would include $80 billion to fund secure high-speed internet in unserved and underserved areas (both rural and urban). Three-fourths of the funds would be awarded by the FCC through a nationwide competitive bidding process to ensure the efficient distribution of the funds to areas that don’t have high-speed broadband internet service.
The FCC would be required to allocate the remaining one-fourth of the money to states, to fund broadband deployment using competitive bidding processes, to areas without high-speed broadband service. It also authorizes $500 million in additional funding for the tribal broadband grant program at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Continue Reading
Experts: New Broadband Mapping Will Help Unify Data Across Industry The FCC’s new carrier broadband coverage data collection effort will be more accurate and also unify geocoding across the broadband industry, industry experts said during a Federal Communications Bar Association webinar Thursday.
Lynn Follansbee of US Telecom said the new dataset “fabric” is going to be very useful to get a granular look at what is and what is not served and to harmonize geocoding, reported Broadband Breakfast. AT&T’s Mary Henze agreed. A unified geocode across the whole field will help to find missing spots in our service area, she said.
The new Digital Opportunity Data Collection “fabric” is a major shift from the current Form 477 data that the FCC collects. The new dataset is called a “fabric” because it’s made up of other datasets that interlace like fabric, Follansbee explained.
The effort to improve broadband mapping has been ongoing, and in 2019, US Telecom in partnership with CostQuest and other industry partners, created the fabric pilot program, Inside Towers reported. Part of the agency’s effort is to standardize the information that carriers must provide. Continue Reading
Canadian Telecom Rings the “Bell” On Carbon Neutral Achievements Bell Canada achieved status as the first North American communications company to achieve ISO 50001 certification for energy management. In a release, Bell, the largest communications company in Canada, announced plans to be carbon neutral across its operations by 2025.
"Bell's goal is to advance how Canadians connect with each other and the world, a purpose enabled by consistent execution of the highest environmental, social, and governance standards across the company's operations,” said Gordon Nixon, Chair of the Board of BCE Inc., which owns Bell.
ISO 50001 standards require companies to adopt a strict set of energy management objectives, guidelines, and practices, enabling energy efficiency and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. As part of the compliance with ISO 50001, Montréal-based Bell has optimized facility and equipment heating and cooling, cut electricity usage through LED lighting conversion, and other operational innovations. It has also reduced fuel consumption with ongoing fleet modernization and invested in solar and other renewable energy options for cell sites and other installations. Continue Reading
5G Field Deployment: Practical Considerations
The fifth generation in wireless mobile communications, 5G NR (New Radio), has a new, more efficient over- the-air format. 5G can operate in both RF and millimeter wave bands, bringing higher data rates, reduced latency, increased reliability, lower energy consumption and greater system capacity that allows more devices to use the network than ever before.
The first deployment of 5G leverages the existing 4G LTE core network, while a full 5G implementation is not expected until 2021. The deployment of 5G presents many changes that carriers have to consider in order to deliver a high-quality of service to their end-users. In this paper, Rohde & Schwarz presents the underlying technologies behind these changes, and what specifically needs to change as part of the 5G NR base station. Download it here.
American Tower Appoints Executive VP and President, Asia-Pacific American Tower Corporation (NYSE: AMT) last week announced that Sanjay Goel has been appointed Executive Vice President and President, Asia-Pacific, succeeding Amit Sharma. The appointment will be effective March 16, 2021. Sharma will serve as Chairman of the Company’s Asia-Pacific region and as Special Advisor to the CEO until his retirement on July 1, 2021.
Goel joins American Tower from Nokia, where he most recently served as President of the Global Services business group and Nokia Operations. In this role, he was responsible for strategy, P&L management and Global Services business operations across more than 100 countries. As part of Nokia’s Global Operations, he was also responsible for procurement, global supply chain, global shared services and quality.
“I’d like to thank Amit for his tremendous contributions over the last 13 years, and wish him well in the future,” said Tom Bartlett, President and Chief Executive Officer of American Tower Corporation. “I am extremely pleased to welcome Sanjay Goel to our executive team, and am confident he will leverage his extensive track record of strong leadership and global business experience to effectively lead our Asia-Pacific business into the future as we continue to drive value for our stockholders.”
CCA Hosts Virtual Mobile Carriers Show, March 30-31
The Competitive Carriers Association (CCA) 2021 Mobile Carriers Show (MCS 2021) will take place virtually this year on March 30 and 31, from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. ET. This event will focus on the competitive carrier ecosystem and bring together policy makers and technology innovators.
Keynotes include: Congressman Mike Doyle (D-PA), Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, and executives from Ericsson, Interop Technologies, Ligado, Mavenir, Nokia, T-Mobile, and TNS who will discuss policy issues, technology innovation, and business strategies important to the mobile industry. Virtual exhibitors will feature innovative products and services, and attendees will be able to interact and set up meetings with exhibitors and fellow attendees through the platform. Registration is free. To see the full program agenda, click here. Continue Reading
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