5G Subs Growing at Record Pace: Ericsson Mobility Report by J

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5G Subs Growing at Record Pace: Ericsson Mobility Report By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor DISH’s 5G network is in its early days, AT&T and Verizon won’t have mid-band spectrum built out until 2023, T-Mobile is going great guns at low-band and mid-band but its millimeter wave coverage -- the icing on the spectrum layer cake -- is thin. Still, Ericsson projects that 5G mobile subscriptions are growing at a record pace and will exceed 580 million globally by the end of 2021, driven by an estimated one million new 5G mobile subscriptions every day.

The forecast in the latest Ericsson Mobility Report projects 5G will be the fastest adopted mobile generation in history with 3.5 billion subscriptions and 60 percent population coverage by the end of 2026. That said, the pace of adoption varies widely by region, with China, North America and the Middle East leading the way. Europe is lagging. Northeast Asia is expected to account for the largest share of 5G subscriptions by 2026, with an estimated 1.4 billion 5G subscriptions.

“5G is expected to surpass a billion subscriptions two years ahead of the 4G LTE timeline for the same milestone,” the report said. “Key factors behind that include China’s earlier commitment to 5G and the earlier availability and increasing affordability of commercial 5G devices.” The number of 5G smartphones currently tops 300. Continue Reading

Getting Smart About Connected Buildings By Martha DeGrasse, Inside Towers Contributing Analyst From stadiums to hospitals to factories, demand for wireless connectivity is driving deployments of millimeter wave small cells. These radios transmit large amounts of data fast but not far, making them ideal for indoor deployments. And mmWave connections are not just for humans. Texas Instrument has used the technology for building automation sensors, promoting the technology as a way to create HVAC, surveillance and lighting systems that only power on when needed.

Ericsson, Samsung and AT&T are all testing 5G connections in smart factories, and in Los Angeles, the Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine, is using mmWave to connect digital monitoring bracelets worn by patients, as well as sound and lighting systems in the building.

The idea of a smart building isn’t new, but building systems haven’t typically shared networks with humans. Now, that may be starting to change. At the Ellison Institute, traditional calls and text messages won’t use the mmWave network, but patients and doctors will wear sensors that connect to the network. Continue Reading

SoftBank to Connect from Space, Stratosphere

You’ve heard the phrase, “the sky’s the limit.” But what if the sky didn’t have a limit? SoftBank has said it has a new solution that provides connectivity from three different levels of the sky, from the stratosphere to low-earth orbit to geosynchronous-earth orbit, known as a non-terrestrial network (NTN) because it does not rely on towers.

The network includes three platforms: GEO-satellite narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) services, provided by Skylo Technologies, Inc., low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, provided by OneWeb Ltd.; and high-altitude platform Station (HAPS)-based stratospheric telecommunication platform, provided by HAPSMobile, Inc. The communications services of the different platforms are designed to meet the needs of a diverse set of customers. Continue Reading

TPA Training Webinar Stresses Need to Make Tower Testing Fool-proof

Access the webinar on-demand above

Incomplete closeouts and extra truck rolls are the enemy of tower services companies. With field test process automation (TPA), tower technicians can efficiently troubleshoot deployments and quickly provide test results for cell site installation closeouts, according to a webinar presented by Viavi Solutions and Avalon Test Equipment.

“We're looking to create a closed loop capability where the technician has a check list of the tests to be completed,” said Steve Gale, wireless segment account management at Viavi Solutions. “That checklist can be created by someone centrally, perhaps a foreman or an adept technician, who can translate carrier requirements into what tests need to be done.”

Once created, the checklist, or “Job,” can be pushed out to the field test instrument by email, use of a USB stick or through the cloud. Any type of connectivity will suffice, including WiFi, cellular, Bluetooth and FTP. The TPA training covered test automation of cable and antenna analysis (sweep testing), fiber inspection and optical time-domain reflectometer (OTDR), including a live demonstration. Continue Reading

Bentley Systems Acquires SPIDA Software Bentley Systems, Incorporated (Nasdaq: BSY), an infrastructure engineering software company, this week announced the acquisition of SPIDA Software, developers of specialized software for the design, analysis and management of utility pole systems.

Columbus, OH-based SPIDA offers modeling, simulation, and data management software solutions to electric and communications utilities, and their engineering services providers, in the U.S. and Canada. The integration of SPIDA within Bentley’s OpenUtilities engineering software and grid digital twin cloud services is designed to support future needs in electric vehicle charging, of joint use of utility poles to support broadband networks’ 5G expansion, and of modernizing and hardening the electric grid. Continue Reading

June 16, 2021 at Close

American Tower Partners With Allianz in Europe American Tower Corporation (NYSE: AMT) and international insurer and investment company, Allianz, announced yesterday that Allianz Capital Partners will acquire a ten percent stake in ATC Europe, joining CDPQ in a long-term strategic partnership with American Tower. The transaction is valued at over €530 million (US$643 million), reinforcing a more than €8.8 billion (US$10.7 billion) enterprise value for ATC Europe.

American Tower will retain managerial and operational control, as well as day-to-day oversight of ATC Europe, while Allianz will obtain seats on ATC Europe’s Board of Directors, along with certain governance rights. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021.

“We are extremely pleased to add Allianz as a partner in ATC Europe,” Tom Bartlett, American Tower’s President and Chief Executive Officer, said. “Allianz’ global infrastructure experience, extensive European investment history and investment philosophy are an excellent match for our value creation objectives in Europe, and we look forward to growing the business together while strengthening mobile broadband access in our served markets. With Allianz and CDPQ as committed, long-term partners in our newly expanded European business, we are more confident than ever that we are optimally positioned to generate sustainable growth and attractive returns for many years to come.”

Arrival of 5G Poles in Harrisburg Rankles Some Residents Despite a report earlier this year where residents in Pennsylvania's state capitol spoke enthusiastically about 5G coming to town, not everyone is happy with the roll-out. Resident, Alexander Clark, told WPMT-TV the installation of the 5G poles has been noisy and disruptive. He claims that re-routed traffic during the process has resulted in a reduction in productivity, especially for those working from home. "I think the city should be financially liable for that," he noted.

Harrisburg plans to install 120 5G poles throughout the city. In addition to bringing connectivity to the residents, the deployment will also bring in revenue. Each of the new poles that replaces an existing streetlight will now serve double duty. Verizon will pay Harrisburg a $100 fee for each 5G antenna it installs, with the promise of an additional $270 per pole each year. Continue Reading

NATE Welcomes Kathy Stieler as Director of Safety, Health & Compliance NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association announces the hiring of Kathy Stieler as Director of Safety, Health & Compliance, a new staff position established by the Association. Stieler officially begins her duties with NATE today.

Stieler, a long-time industry subject matter expert and safety professional, joins NATE after serving as Director, ERI Installations and Safety since 2012. During her tenure at ERI Installations, Kathy’s leadership was instrumental in managing the company’s tower crews through a safe and successful broadcast repack transition.

As the NATE Director of Safety, Health & Compliance, Stieler will be tasked with directing, developing and overseeing the general health and safety policies and procedures of the association to ensure its safety materials and best practices documents are in compliance with OSHA and other applicable state and local regulations and standards. In her new role, Stieler will also be available to provide technical subject matter expertise to the Association’s member companies, as well as helping these businesses navigate the oftentimes onerous compliance onboarding process. Continue Reading

How Network Testing Ensures High-Quality In-Building LTE and 5G Deployments

Rohde & Schwarz's latest white paper deals with the entire indoor deployment cycle of mobile networks, such as distributed antenna systems (DAS) and small cells. It highlights the characteristics of these systems, the planning phase, installation and verification of the deployed system.

And finally, it describes mobile network testing solutions to verify successful mobile network deployments indoors. Access the full white paper here.

Bridge Act Reintroduced With $40B for Broadband Three senators reintroduced a bipartisan bill that would put $40 billion toward making broadband less expensive and more widely available. The money, comprised of flexible funding to states, tribal governments, U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia, is meant to bridge the digital divide.

Sens. Michael Bennet (D-CO), Angus King, (I-ME), and Rob Portman (R-OH), support the Broadband Reform and Investment to Drive Growth in the Economy (BRIDGE) Act through Congress. The bill aims to encourage gigabit-level internet wherever possible, raise the minimum speeds for new broadband networks to at least 100/100 Megabits-per- second, and lifts bans on municipal broadband networks. Continue Reading

FCC Asks Court to Deny Viasat’s Request to Stay SpaceX License Mods By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief UPDATE The FCC is fighting Viasat’s efforts to persuade a federal court to overturn an agency order allowing a Viasat competitor to deploy communications satellites in a manner that the Commission says will expand affordable, reliable wireless broadband service in underserved and rural areas in the United States. The agency made its arguments this week in a filing with a federal appeals court.

In the order under review, in April, the FCC concluded that granting SpaceX’s request to modify its licenses to permit some of its authorized satellites to operate at a lower orbital altitude would be in the public interest because it would help mitigate the risks posed by orbital debris while expanding broadband to underserved areas. “This Court has previously recognized the ‘major challenge’ this country faces ‘to ensure that the speed, capacity, and accessibility of our wireless networks keeps pace with’ the ‘skyrocketing’ need for broadband,” said the FCC. Continue Reading

Colorado Providers Address Officials Regarding Low Broadband Adoption Rates During a Grand Junction, CO City Council meeting on Monday, representatives from various telecommunications companies updated officials on broadband adoption in the area. According to The Daily Sentinel, Lumen Technologies, Spectrum, and Emery Telcom reported that despite continued infrastructure build-out and new federal programs to help low-income families afford internet access, adoption is low.

“We’re looking at a lot of our markets and looking at the penetration of these fiber gigabit type services, and shockingly it’s somewhat low,” said Tim Kunkleman of Lumen. He points to several reasons why rates are lower than anticipated, including price, lack of awareness, and a necessity for high-speeds.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government created the Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB) Program, providing a $50 discount per month toward broadband service for low-income families, reported the Sentinel. However, according to Brock Johansen with Emery Telcom, the program is set to expire in the fall, which will create an access obstacle. Continue Reading

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Hiring Qualified, Diverse 5G Technicians is a (Virtual) Reality

There is a shortage of an estimated 20,000 skilled workers in the wireless industry and Learning Alliance Corporation (LAC) is poised to help fill the void. It’s not enough for a tower technician to know how to climb a tower. To stay marketable, tower technicians need to know other core competencies such as broadband, fiber and wireless installation and project management, according to Cesar Ruiz, President and CEO.

LAC has 18 years of experience in workforce development. For the past two and a half years, it has been specifically focused on the wireless industry, arming candidates with the necessary characteristics, skillsets and certifications for long-term, meaningful employment.

“We provide 14 different certifications for graduates and when they find employment, their retention is good. We want to provide a well-rounded, feature-skilled workforce to the industry,” says Ruiz. LAC has been graduating about 15 students weekly. Continue Reading

Inside Towers Launches Intelligence™

Introducing, Inside Towers Intelligence™. Complementing Inside Towers’ daily news coverage, the new quarterly market report dives deep into the wireless infrastructure ecosystem to pinpoint market trends, evaluate mobile network operator and infrastructure company capital expenditures, provide market outlooks, offer investor perspectives, track stock performance, and highlight relevant M&A transactions.

“Intelligence fills a hole in coverage of the business side of the wireless infrastructure industry. We track carrier capex spending and explain what it means to their vendors. We dig out the critical information from analyst reports. We cover the private market. Intelligence is a wonderful resource for our subscribers and a great addition to the Inside Towers brand,” says Inside Towers co-founder George Reed.

Reed works with Inside Towers co-founder Eddie Esserman in other industry capacities, as infrastructure brokers and owners. “We’ve built towers out of the ground, negotiated leases, been in courtrooms, zoning hearings, banker’s offices, and sold some of our own towers,” says Esserman. “As the infrastructure world is evolving beyond coverage of macro towers into stadium seats and onto telephone poles, we’re involved in that as participants, reporters, and owners. It’s those different vantage points that will set Intelligence apart.”

Spearheaded by industry veteran, John Celentano, currently Inside Towers Business Editor, and incorporating regular contributions from telecom thought leaders, Inside Towers Intelligence produces valuable content, presented in a series of actionable charts, graphs and analyses. The publication’s sponsors include investment banking firm Alpina Capital, telecom law firm Husch Blackwell and boutique tower M&A firm, Drachman M&A Co. Continue Reading

DISH and Dell Technologies Partner on Open RAN 5G Edge Infrastructure Dell Technologies (NYSE: DELL) and DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH) announced today they have formed a strategic infrastructure agreement to support DISH’s launch of what they claim will be the first cloud-native, Open RAN-based 5G network in the U.S. Dell plans to provide DISH’s edge network infrastructure foundation, powering devices, software and solutions to help customers tap into the connectivity and business opportunities made possible by the combination of 5G and edge computing.

The companies will co-develop technology for Open RAN, SmartNICs, emerging micro-edge co-location, operational automation and other areas of R&D. Joint teams will pursue and create multi-access edge computing (MEC) solutions for enterprise and small business opportunities.

In addition, DISH will deploy Dell EMC PowerEdge servers at cell tower sites and in centralized RAN locations to tackle the growing demands of edge-based, data-intensive workloads. Designed to thrive in harsh environments, DISH will use Dell EMC PowerEdge XR11 ruggedized servers to support its private cloud and far edge applications. Continue Reading

Nokia Opens U.S. Center to Support O-RAN Compliant Solutions Nokia has opened its first Open RAN (O-RAN) Collaboration and Testing Center at its offices in Dallas, which is designed to support the development of partnerships among O-RAN vendors that will help with the verification, introduction and launch of O-RAN compliant solutions to the market. The project is the latest effort by Nokia to support O-RAN, virtual RAN and edge cloud, according to Pasi Toivanen, Head of Edge Cloud at Nokia. The OEM plans to open similar facilities at its other global offices around the world in the future.

“Our new O-RAN Collaboration and Testing Center highlights our continued commitment towards O-RAN and the development of new solutions,” Toivanen said. “At our Dallas offices, we have created a collaborative and secure working environment that offers best-in-class facilities to help our partners achieve their goal.” Continue Reading

Latest posting from the FCC 6/15/21

CTG is Hiring

Communications Tower Group (CTG) is an experienced developer, owner and manager of wireless Infrastructure assets. CTG has Communication Towers, Distributed Antenna Systems and related Fiber infrastructure throughout the South. Headquartered in Charlotte, NC our group continues to expand our footprint and is seeking qualified candidates to join us here locally. Current opportunities for the following positions are open in the headquarters (click links for more details).

Program Manager Collocation and Sales Manager

All interested and qualified candidates can email their resumes to Ricardo Loor at [email protected].

Aluma Tower 100 foot telescoping tower with air monitoring in Perdigao, Portugal. Contributed by Craig Davis.

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Managing Editor: Jim Fryer Washington Bureau Chief: Leslie Stimson Business Editor: John Celentano Technology Editor: Sharpe Smith Contributing Analyst: Martha DeGrasse Reporter: Keara Piekanski Marketing & Advertising: Megan Reed Creative & Advertising: Cara Aston Advertising: Phil Cook

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