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Cell Tower News: Death, destruction and obsolescence

by Jarad Matula April 24, 2015

written by Jarad Matula April 24, 2015

Cell towers becoming obsolete?

CNBC spoke with the founder of Parallel Wireless at the Founders Forum Smart Nation Singapore conference, who informed the major media outlet that he believes cell towers will soon become obsolete. He believes that individual cellphones will become the cell tower of the future. From his perspective, the smartphone will become part of the transmission network, ensuring far fewer dropped calls, interference or areas with patchy signals.

“We’re just on the cusp of chips coming out where a $300 chip can power an entire cell tower. When you get that far, it’s not that much further to a scenario where when you’re finished with your cellphone, you can hang it on the wall and it adds to the cellular network,” Steve Papa, founder of Parallel Wireless said.

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One of the major forms of technology seen as paving the way toward the towerless future is LTE Direct. It allows device-to-device communication from up to 500 meters. Deutsche Telekom in partnership with Huawei tested this earlier this year.

Of course cell towers will eventually be phased out with smaller, more powerful technology, but it seems unlikely to be as soon as those in this article suppose. If you have a guess how many years from now cell towers will become obsolete, tweet them at us! Use the hashtag #ObsoleteTowers

Second civilian tower death this year

Earlier this week we reported the second cell tower-related death of this year. A man in Fontana, Calif., climbed up a cell tower and then jumped off, ending his life. When the police arrived, the man was pronounced dead on the scene. Details are still scarce, but we will update you as this story develops.

Cell tower collapse caught on video

Watch this incredible footage of the demolition of the Omega Tower in Darriman, Victoria, Australia, only days ago. The destruction is incredible. Footage courtesy of David Braithwaite.