Category: General

Omnipoint v. Nashua, NH: Partial Goverment Victory

Posted on by Dr. Jonathan L. Kramer

In a ruling in the case of OMNIPOINT COMMUNICATIONS, INC. V. CITY OF NASHUA and CITY OF NASHUA ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT (Case No. 1-07-cv-00046PB, before Hon. Paul Barbadoro of the US District Court in the District of New Hampshire), the City has won it’s summary judgment motion.

From the Judge’s decision:

“Omnipoint Communications, Inc. (“Omnipoint”) alleges in this ction that the Nashua Zoning Board of Adjustment (“ZBA”) mproperly denied Omnipoint’s application for a special exception o construct a wireless telecommunications tower on property ocated within a 220-home residential development known as Coburn Woods. Omnipoint’s complaint consists of three counts. Count I s a conventional appeal from a decision of the ZBA brought ursuant to N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 677:4. Omnipoint claims in Count II that the ZBA’s decision violates the Telecommunications Act of 1996 because the decision is not supported by suubstantial evidence. See 47 U.S.C. § 332(c)(7)(B)(iii). It argues in Count III that the decision violates the Telecommunications Act because it effectively prohibits the provision of personal wireless services to the area that would be served by the proposed tower. See 47 U.S.C. § 332(c)(7)(B)(i)(II). The parties have submitted cross motions for summary judgment with respect to Counts I and II. For the reasons that follow, I grant the ZBA’s motion for summary judgment and deny Omnipoint’s cross motion for summary judgment. “

Case related documents:

Omnipoint’s Complaint
City’s Answer
Amended MEMORANDUM and ORDER

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Earthlink Shutters Municipal WiFi

Posted on by Dr. Jonathan L. Kramer

Coming as no surprise to anyone who understands the true voodoo economics of municipal WiFi, Earthlink is shuttering its existing municipal WiFi networks.

From today’s RCR News:

EarthLink Inc. has officially shut down all operations related to its municipal Wi-Fi projects that hit the skids last summer. Making good on earlier promises, the company is looking for potential buyers after writing down a $20.7 million charge on discontinued operations related to its municipal Wi-Fi assets.

It’s been my view, publicly stated for well over a year, that community-wide municipal WiFi networks are losing propositions. Too many competitors vie in the WiFi space for this low-pay market, and too many competitors (think Sprint, AT&T, etc.) offer higher speed services on their own PCS networks.

Cable opearators are exploring entry into WiFi using their existing cable backbones for back-haul. That makes a lot of sense, and offers yet another reason why municipal governments shouldn’t be in the community-wide WiFi business, even with partners such as Earthlink, Google, etc.

As best I can tell, it’s the municipal consultants, paid bloggers/conference runners, and equipment vendors that are making money in this sector.

I do, however, continue to be a strong advocate for municipal governments providing WiFi in limited or controlled public spaces such as libraries, parks, senior centers, government buildings, etc.

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New Port Richey, FL opens government property, buildings to be cell sites

Posted on by Dr. Jonathan L. Kramer

The opening lines of the Tampa Bay Online (The Tampa Tribune) story from February 7, 2008 tell it all:

NEW PORT RICHEY – It began as a discussion between city council members on limiting telecommunications towers within the city, but it ended up doing the exact opposite.

The city council Tuesday night approved the first reading of an ordinance that will permit the installation of cellular phone towers on most local government and public properties.

It passed 4-1.

While this is an interesting step toward wireless deployment, it’s important to realize that not every wireless carrier can make every site work on government owned property.

To read the full story at TPO.com, click here.

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Plans for the Wireless Blog Development

Posted on by Dr. Jonathan L. Kramer

Here’s a road map to where I’ll be taking this blog over the next few weeks to several months…

  • I intend to start discussions regarding wireless basics for wireless planners. This series will dig into the elements of wireless sites from the aesthetic and transmission standpoints;
  • I’ll be delving into the thorny subject of RF safety, including ways to determine federal (and in some cases) state compliance;
  • I’ll be talking about future issues now coming on to the ‘radar screen.’

I’ll be taking requests to cover specific subjects. You can use the “Ask a Question” link at the top of any page to float your question or idea.

-Jonathan

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Sprint Not Sprinting on Nextel’s Goodwill Value

Posted on by Dr. Jonathan L. Kramer

Sprint Nextel Corp has announced that it may write down as much as $31 billion of goodwill currently recording on its balance sheet. This is due to that fact that Sprint Nextel’s evaluation of the real value of goodwill attached to the Nextel deal is far, far less than estimated.

From the 8K:

“Based on the work completed to date, Sprint Nextel will be Sprint Nextel 8K Notice of Possible Nextel writedown required to record a material, non-cash impairment charge that will represent a substantial portion, and potentially all, of the goodwill recorded on it balance sheet at the conclusion of the second test of the goodwill assessment.”

The write down hit will occur in and be reported in the 4Q08 results.

I’ll bet that things at Nextel are so scary that staff can hear a pin drop. Are lay off notices coming, too?

Attached to this message is Sprint Nextel’s 8K announcement:

Sprint Nextel 8K Notice of Possible Nextel Writedown

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Manchester, Maine Town Meeting result: No Tower

Posted on by Dr. Jonathan L. Kramer

This evening, the residents of Manchester, Maine voted at a Town Meeting to reject the proposed settlement with MCF Communications. At the same meeting, the residents voting also approved a moratorium on accepting new cell tower construction applications while the Planning Board reviews Manchester’s cell tower ordinance.

The likely result is that MCF will continue to pursue a remedy through the courts.

Click Here; to read a Kennebec Journal story on tonight’s proceedings.

For more on the background leading to this point, click on the MCF Communications tab below this message.

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T-Mobile USA: Nearly 30 million customers

Posted on by Dr. Jonathan L. Kramer

T-Mobile USA’s customer count increased by 951,000 during 4Q07. Of that number, 733,000 were new contract customers (as compared with pre-paid customers not on term contracts). T-Mobile ended the quarter and year with about 28.7 million subscribers. That followed a 3Q07 increase in subs of 857,000. The 4Q07 churn decreased to 1.8%.

Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile’s parent, served about 120 million subscribers worldwide at the end of 4Q07.

BELLEVUE, Wash.– (BUSINESS WIRE) — T-Mobile USA, Inc. (“T-Mobile USA”), the U.S. operation of Deutsche Telekom AG’s (“Deutsche Telekom” (NYSE:DT)) Mobile Communications business, today announced fourth quarter and full year 2007 customer results.

“T-Mobile continues to drive year-over-year growth by pioneering innovation that matters to consumers,” said Robert Dotson, CEO and President, T-Mobile USA. “In 2007, we increased growth to over 3.6 million net new customers. myFavesSM was a major contributor to this growth, with 5 million customers at year-end using the service to make unlimited calls to the people who matter most to them. Part of this growth was also fueled by the debut of FlexPaySM, a new option in the market that opens up access to more attractive offerings for certain classes of customers. In 2007, we also introduced our revolutionary HotSpot @HomeSM service to rave reviews for how we’re opening up new value alternatives for land line customers – all while we add outstanding call quality improvements in homes across America.”

In the fourth quarter of 2007, T-Mobile USA added 951,000 net new customers compared to 857,000 in the third quarter of 2007 and 901,000 in the fourth quarter of 2006. Net new contract customer additions amounted to 733,000 in the fourth quarter of 2007, or 77% of total net new customer additions, compared to 557,000 or 65% in the third quarter of 2007 and 783,000 or 87% in the fourth quarter of 2006. Contract churn was 1.8% in the fourth quarter of 2007, down from 2.0% in the third quarter of 2007 and 2.1% in the fourth quarter of 2006. Blended churn, including both contract and prepay customers, was 2.8% in the fourth quarter of 2007 and down from 2.9% in the third quarter of 2007 and fourth quarter of 2006.

T-Mobile USA’s converged device offering was significantly strengthened during the year with the successful launch of a number of converged devices such as the T-Mobile Shadow; the T-Mobile Sidekick iD, LX, and Slide; T-Mobile Wing; and the BlackBerry Curve – the first converged device enabled for the new HotSpot @Home service. The fourth quarter of 2007 saw a continued strong demand for these converged devices.

For the year ended December 31, 2007, T-Mobile USA added more than 3.6 million net new customers, compared to 3.4 million net new customers added in 2006. Net contract customer additions in 2007 amounted to 2.7 million, 74% of the total customer additions in the year – down from 83% in 2006. Contract customers comprised 83% of T-Mobile USA’s 28.7 million customer base at the end of 2007, compared to 84% in the third quarter of 2007 and 85% in the fourth quarter of 2006.

T-Mobile USA will release fourth quarter and full-year 2007 financial results on February 28, 2008.

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