With a broad boost from U.S. Reps. Anna G. Eshoo and Jackie Speier (D-Palo Alto, Hillsborough), a large coalition of Western cities and counties are waging a legal showdown with a shuttered federal government in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals over control of 5G wireless installations. Eshoo's bill, H.R. 530 -- called the Accelerating Wireless Broadband Development by Empowering Local Communities Act of 2019, "essentially resets the clock on the FCC's new rules by erasing what the federal government has implemented in the under-the-wire maneuver." Eshoo noted "5G is essential for our country's communications network and economy, but it must be deployed responsibly and equitably."
FCC chairman says US has early 5G lead
Ajit Pai, chairman of the FCC, said U.S. companies are the front-runners in the global race to build 5G wireless networks, a week after President Trump said those companies must step up their efforts or get left behind. "In my view, we’re in the lead with respect to 5G," Pai...
Telcos bet on connecting everything to recoup 5G costs
Industry association GSMA, which hosts the Mobile World Congress, sees a vast opportunity in 5G. It estimates the number of devices connected to the IoT "will triple to 25 billion by 2025, generating a fourfold rise in revenues to $1.1 trillion." Borje Ekholm, CEO of Ericsson, sai...
New York City tries to even out access to wireless networks
New York City officials are "pushing companies that lease public space for telecom-equipment installations to move more aggressively beyond the city's core, to improve wireless services more quickly for a broader swath of residents." Samir Saini, commissioner of the city's Departm...
Countdown to the closing bell With Liz Claman
Sean O’Hara, president of Pacer ETFS, noted in a segment of Closing Bell with Liz Claman there is an infrastructure revolution going on now and one of the big names in the cellphone tower business is Crown Castle. He added that "if we’re going to go to 5G, which we ess...
Wireless carriers, lawmakers divided on small cell tower bills
Dueling bills on how local governments can control the placement of small wireless facilities—as telecommunication companies prepare to build a 5G network nationwide—had those gathered in Annapolis, MD, to testify on Tuesday switching between offense and defense as the Senate Fina...
Midwest states showing progress in rural connectivity
According to a report from the American Broadband Initiative, a federal initiative aimed at improving accessibility of internet connections, more than 92 percent of the U.S. population had access to fixed land-based broadband in 2016. However, of the 8 percent remaining, 80 percen...