Cell Tower News: American Tower’s $1.2B deal

by Jarad Matula October 23, 2015

written by Jarad Matula October 23, 2015

American Tower takes controlling stake in Indian tower company

American Tower made a power move in India this week, agreeing to buy 51% controlling stake in Indian tower company Viom Networks for 76 billion rupees ($1.17 billion). This is not the company’s first entry into the Indian market, having already amassed 14,000 communication towers. The majority stake is said to give American Tower an additional 42,200 towers after the deal, and propel the company to the No. 2 position in the market by number of towers.

“With a population of nearly 1.3 billion people, rapidly growing smartphone penetration and limited fixed line infrastructure, India’s vibrant wireless industry is poised for a sustained period of network investment,” American Tower CEO James Taiclet said in a public statement regarding the deal.

This is a smart move for American Tower as India is world’s No. 2 telecom market by number of users.

GCI self-reports $620,500 worth of fines

Infrastructure companies get slapped with fines by the Federal Communications Commission on a fairly regular basis for a variety of reasons, from safety hazards to tower deaths. In almost every case the companies try to argue down the fines and culpability in an effort to save face. Because of this precedent, this week’s big story out of Alaska about GCI is is even more surprising. The telecom infrastructure company self-reported violations to the FCC late last year and the FCC has finally gotten around to assessing the case, which turned out to be worth $620,500 in fines.

GCI reported it had more than 100 towers that were out of compliance, with violations ranging from towers being completely unregistered to towers being unlighted, which is potentially dangerous for planes. All towers taller than 200 feet are required to be reported to the FCC because of the potential for interference with air travel.

“Unregistered and unlit towers pose unacceptable risks to air and public safety,” Travis LeBlanc, chief of the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau, noted in a written statement. “It is essential that communications towers are properly registered prior to construction, as well as properly lighted, to ensure that air traffic is aware of tower locations.”

While it’s hard to argue with LeBlanc’s statement, a little appreciation for their self-reporting wouldn’t go amiss.

When will we see FirstNet deployment?

One of the biggest issues facing large-scale FirstNet deployment is whether it should be left to the states or whether it should be a sweeping federal deployment. Recently the FirstNet board decided to only accept national deployment offers.

This week host Joey Jackson talks with Wade Sarver, an industry veteran and creator of Wade4Wireless blog. Check out their great conversation on the topic.