Verizon Wireless announced an agreement to acquire Alltel Communications L.L.C. for $5.9 billion in cash and assume $22.2 billion in debt, for a total package price of $28.1 billion. If approved, the deal would create the nation's largest carrier with more than 80 million...
Verizon Wireless' proposed acquisition of Alltel Communications L.L.C. could wound infrastructure vendors in the short term due to the carriers' network overlaps and a potential pullback on immediate buildout plans, but overall the merger shouldn't cause too much concern for suppliers.An acquisition "typically ends...
Roaming issues probably tops the list of concerns of Verizon Wireless's planned purchase of Alltel Communications L.L.C. The nation's four largest operators as well as a number of small carriers relied on Alltel and had established partnerships for roaming across what the carrier proclaimed...
The companies listed below represent the largest independent national and regional tower companies in the United States. Also included below are the nation's major wireless carriers and their tower portfolios.
American Tower scored the top spot as the nation's No. 1 tower company, counting more...
A dispute has erupted over whether a federal appeals court should delay ruling on the wireless industry's challenge to the Federal Communications Commission's backup power rule until Bush administration budget officials complete their review of controversial guidelines designed to respond to communications failures from...
Hello! And welcome to our Thursday column, Worst of the Week. There's a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCRWirelessNews.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way....
The following list includes ratings changes and financial information for wireless companies announced this week by investment-banking and financial-services firms.Carrier--Credit Suisse First Boston lowered its estimates on Leap Wireless to a loss of $1.03 from breakeven for 2008 due to a reduction in EBITDA...
Going green 211(me), a company that allows users to create personalized virtual business cards with digital photos, messages and links, said it is donating the advertising inventory on its paperless business cards exclusively to green causes. "Our mobile green business cards already offered users...
The Federal Communications Commission is revisiting the controversial licensing of thousands of towers in the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of a successful legal challenge by conservation groups concerned about the safety of migratory birds. But there is little initial indication that a federal...
The Federal Communications Commission could be forced to back off the backup power rule. Two members of a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit voiced serious doubts about whether the FCC had authority to mandate...
Crown Castle Inc. said Ben Moreland, the company's CFO, will become president and CEO of the tower company, effective July 1. John Kelly, Crown Castle's president and CEO, will remain with the company as executive vice chairman of the board of directors. Kelly has...
According to a report from research and banking firm ThinkPanmure, AT&T Mobility plans to sell up to 7 million femtocells from ip.access Ltd., a picocell and femtocell infrastructure vendor based in Cambridge, United Kingdom.According to ThinkPanmure, AT&T signed a contract with the firm for...
Telecom policymakers and special-interest groups are fond of talking about ubiquity, making sure communications -- wireless, wireline, Internet and video -- are within reach of all Americans. Indeed, there are government subsidy programs that address this very issue. Take the stressed universal service regime...
The following list includes ratings changes and financial information for wireless companies announced this week by investment-banking and financial-services firms.Carrier--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services assigned its A rating to AT&T's 6.125% global notes due 2015. The ratings reflect the company's strong position in the...
The wireless industry faces major challenges in designing networks capable of carrying bandwidth-consuming multimedia content and reliably delivering to consumers in the future, according to company executives. Industry experts said wireless infrastructure buildout has become more complex than it has...
The wireless and tower industries are making a strong push at the Federal Communications Commission to reform the pole-attachment regulatory regime. The parties claim that non-discriminatory and equitable access to utility poles on a nationwide uniform basis will hold the promise of fostering the...
CARRIER DECKS AND AGGREGATOR STOREFRONTS are so last year. Because application developers are quickly discovering that the hottest places to showcase their wares are the top social networking sites.Facebook last year opened its platform to third-party developers, spurring a flood of applications that users...
SBA Communications Corp. said it will spend up to $193.5 million for as many as 430 towers in the United States from TowerCo L.L.C. SBA said it will use cash on hand as well as drawing on its existing $335 million line of credit...
As the 700 MHz auction winds to a close - apparently without a winning bidder for the commercial/public-safety license or a clear roadmap for meeting first responders' communications needs - progress is nonetheless being made on other fronts.The Department of Homeland Security's Science and...
The wireless industry relies on towers like a lifeline. All those wireless calls, messaging exchanges and data downloads and uploads rely on a steadily budding array of transmission towers. Without them, nothing happens.Bearing that in mind, it's no surprise towers are considered one of...
A divided appeals court struck down a Federal Communications Commission's decision in which the agency rejected the contention it illegally licensed 6,000 towers in the Gulf Coast by failing to first assess the potential impact on migratory birds. "We vacate...
A divided federal appeals court today struck down a Federal Communications Commission's ruling in which the agency rejected the contention that it illegally licensed 6,000 towers in the Gulf Coast without first assessing the potential impact on migratory birds."We vacate the order because the...
DukeNet Communication Services L.L.C., which is owned by Duke Energy Corp., said it signed a definitive agreement to acquire 115 wireless towers from Vangard Wireless L.P.The sites are located within Duke Energy's utility territory in Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio and South Carolina, as...
The National Association of Tower Erectors said it would redouble efforts to improve job safety in a sector that caught the attention of government labor officials in 2000 because of injuries and fatalities. "The time is now for everyone in the industry, from CEOs...
