Click here for the online version. This e-mail was created for [email protected] Subscribe • Advertise Wednesday, September 1, 2021 Volume 9 | Issue 171 Carriers Work to Restore Network Connectivity in Wake of Ida’s Power Outages Carriers have been working since before Hurricane Ida hit the Gulf Coast to ensure network resiliency, pre-staging assets like generators and fuel, for example. Here’s an update on where things stood as of yesterday in Louisiana, the state hardest hit by the Category 4 hurricane, plus Mississippi and Alabama. AT&T AT&T said its wireless network was operating at “more than 85 percent of normal” in Louisiana and the carrier will continue to make repairs as quickly and as safely as possible. That compares to Monday, when AT&T said its Louisiana wireless network was operating at “60 percent of normal,” and it had “significant” outages in New Orleans and Baton Rouge because of power outages, flooding and storm damage. Key network facilities went offline Sunday night and some remained inaccessible Monday. The wireless network in Alabama was operating normally and Mississippi was experiencing “minimal impacts” to its wireless service. All of its wireline facilities were online, although many are running on backup power. “We are deploying additional generators and refueling them as needed,” said AT&T in its daily update. Continue Reading Louisiana’s Tallest Tower is No Longer That Hurricane Ida has left its mark across Louisiana but, in passing, made sure it took what is reported to be the tallest tower in the state with it. The formerly 2,000-foot guyed tower in Vacherie, LA, is located 67 miles inland from where Ida first made landfall at Port Fourchon. The site housed two FM radio stations, owned by iHeartMedia and Cumulus Media. Both reportedly went off the air after the tower was snapped at the 150-foot level by the high winds. A spokesman for the iHeart Emergency Response Team who was at the site, told Inside Towers no one was hurt and the tower fell within its 80-acre fall zone, missing both equipment shelters. His station, KVDU-FM, is already up and broadcasting from a temporary location. He said the next step is to go in and get equipment out of the shelters. NYC Digital Kiosk Program Comes Up Short Launched in 2014, the plan to install public WiFi, device-charging, informational, advertising kiosks is underway, but very much behind schedule. As StateScoop reports, there are half as many units as expected, and most of them are clustered in tourist-friendly areas instead of in the communities that truly need them. So far there are 1,869 stations in operation, far short of the 3,153 that CityBridge had said would be installed by July 2020. Jessica Tisch, Chief Information Officer in New York City, expressed her dissatisfaction with CityBridge's progress and reportedly considered nullifying the provider's contract. Instead, the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications and CityBridge went to the table and came to an agreement that would both concentrate on underserved neighborhoods, and direct more revenue back to the city. Continue Reading Verizon Donates $100,000 to Support Hurricane Ida Relief Efforts in Louisiana Verizon announced yesterday it is making a $100,000 donation to the Foundation for Louisiana. Verizon’s donation will support the Hurricane Ida Relief Fund for Evacuation and Recovery to help Louisiana communities impacted by this week’s storm. “The communities where we work and live are the lifeblood of our business. Supporting our customers, neighbors and friends during a crisis is what we do best,” said Ronan Dunne, executive vice president and CEO of Verizon Consumer Group. “We are committed to helping Louisianans recover from this catastrophic storm.” Verizon said customers can help provide relief to those impacted by Hurricane Ida by texting to donate to the following: Continue Reading New Product Helps Tower Companies Grow Their Portfolios Faster Aurora Insight’s newest product, TowerLogix, analyzes data to answer important questions for tower companies, like where to invest in additional tower sites. Based on different performance metrics, TowerLogix is a data analytics tool for tower portfolio growth and it is available for any metro area in the United States. Here are a few answers that TowerLogix provides: The best locations to build new towers How suitable a location is for fixed wireless access (FWA) What is the expected return for a new tower build Which network operators to target to form a multi-tenant tower “TowerLogix is unique because it analyzes data to provide the tower industry with actual answers rather than just raw data. You no longer need a team of data analysts to derive insights for important business decisions because we’re providing that detailed analysis for you,” said Jennifer Alvarez, co-founder and CEO, Aurora Insight. Continue Reading August 31, 2021 at Close Blackstone Funds Complete Acquisition of QTS Realty for $10 Billion UPDATE As anticipated, Blackstone (NYSE: BX) and QTS Realty Trust (NYSE: QTS) yesterday announced that affiliates of Blackstone Infrastructure Partners, Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, Inc., and Blackstone Property Partners have completed their acquisition of QTS Realty Trust for approximately $10 billion. The acquisition includes debt, QTS' common stock, Series A preferred stock and Series B preferred stock which will no longer be listed on any public market. Greg Blank and Tyler Henritze, Senior Managing Directors at Blackstone, said, "We are thrilled to complete this transaction and are excited about the future of QTS. QTS aligns with one of Blackstone's highest conviction themes – data proliferation – and the required investment makes it well suited as a long-term holding for our perpetual capital vehicles. We look forward to working with QTS and its world-class management team to further scale the business to meet the rising demand for data centers." "Completing this transaction with Blackstone marks an exciting new chapter for QTS," said Chad Williams, CEO of QTS. "Our Powered by People approach will continue to be the foundation for how we serve our customers, local communities and each other, enabling QTS to continue setting a new standard for innovation and service delivery in the data center industry." House Rep on Energy and Commerce Committee Visits Tower in West Virginia U.S. Congressman David McKinley and representatives from SBA U.S. Rep. David McKinley, P.E. (R-WV) yesterday conducted a site visit to a communications tower located in Clarksburg, WV. The tour was facilitated by representatives from NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association and SBA Communications. The visit was held at an SBA-owned self-support cell tower site that is located in the Congressman’s district. McKinley is a senior member of the influential House Energy and Commerce Committee, and has championed communications and workforce development legislation. The tour was designed to highlight the prominent role that telecommunications technicians and wireless infrastructure are playing in the country’s efforts to provide broadband coverage to rural and underserved communities. The event also provided a valuable platform to generate momentum for McKinley’s Facilitating DIGITAL Applications legislation, which would make it easier to develop and permit broadband infrastructure on federal property through online applications. Continue Reading The Motivation, Technology and Testing for Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) This application brief by Rohde & Schwarz aims to explain the technology behind DSS and the reasons why so many wireless operators around the world are adopting DSS. In addition to an overview of the motivations and underlying technologies of DSS, this document also describes what upgrades are necessary from a network and mobile device perspective to support a 5G NR launch that utilizes DSS. Download the application brief here. Ida-Impacted Cell Site Outages Drop, But 911 Call Center Numbers Rise Percent of cell sites out of service by parish and county Source: FCC Overall, the percentage of cell sites out of service in the impacted areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama was just over 17 percent Tuesday. That compares to a little over 28 percent on Monday, according to the FCC’s Disaster Information Reporting System report. The information is provided by carriers that signed the Wireless Network Resiliency Framework Cooperative Agreement. Louisiana continues to bear the brunt of the outages, however the numbers are improving. Just a tad over 38 percent of impacted cell sites (1,051) were out of service as of yesterday morning out of a total of 2,759 sites. That compares to over 50 percent out on Monday. The majority, 699, had no power, 229 reported data transport issues and 125 remained damaged, according to Tuesday’s DIRS report. Terrebonne Parish remained at (100 percent) cell sites out, while Assumption Parish dropped slightly (94.7 percent), compared to 100 percent on Monday. The numbers in Plaquemines Parish dropped dramatically from Monday. On Tuesday, the parish had 58.9 percent of cell sites out, compared to 89.3 percent on Monday. Continue Reading FCC Waives Number “Aging” Rule The FCC waived its telephone number “aging” rule for those affected by Hurricane Ida. Specifically, the agency is relaxing 52.15(f)(ii), which states that carriers may only “age” telephone numbers that have been disconnected for up to 90 days before assigning them to other customers. The exception means carriers in impacted areas can, once a customer asks, temporarily disconnect service to avoid billing issues, and then reinstate the same number when service is reconnected. The waiver applies to all companies that provide service in areas of Louisiana and Mississippi affected by Hurricane Ida. It’s immediately effective, and for nine months, expiring on May 31, 2022. Continue Reading FCC Gives More Time to Make Auction 110 Upfront Payments Due to the disruption caused by Hurricane Ida, the FCC extended the deadline to submit upfront payments for Auction 110, the auction of flexible-use licenses in the 3.45 GHz band, to September 7.