I am marking my first year as Managing Editor at Inside Towers. What can happen in a year, right?
Towers are still standing tall and delivering like they always have. The fulcrum on which the telecom industry balances has not markedly changed but, lordy, what has changed around it in one year’s time has been extraordinary.
The Presidential election, of course, rocked many a world and the FCC has been a cauldron of activity since then under the direction of Ajit Pai. Deregulation has been the watchword as the commission readies for whatever fresh hell 5G and the market’s unquenchable demand for more data, more apps, more streaming is played out in cities, suburbs and vastness of America’s rural countryside.
A year ago, the FCC’s reverse auction had just closed out with a surprisingly high clearing price of $86.4 billion. Now with the auction completed and repack mania underway, the market is in a 39-month time crunch to ‘get ‘er done and repaint the spectrum in distinct and vibrant shades of telecom.
Only a year ago, small cell providers were politely knocking on the doors of local municipalities offering a new way of dealing with coverage problems in a less intrusive manner. Would you care to see their brochure? Now dozens of states are debating rights-of-ways legislation that, if passed, will require those same good and gentle townsfolk to play ball …or else. The lines of what defines a utility have shifted over the last 12 months and are now up for debate.
The flurry of activity that took us a year to cover, day in and day out, cannot all be vivisected in one humble letter from yours truly. FirstNet arrives on the scene, the international tower market is virtually up for sale, Smart cities and 5G are less of a pipedream and more part of the conversation than they were a year ago.
The ever-changing content and activity surrounding it has made for an interesting and productive year for us at Inside Towers. I am most grateful to our terrific staff, to my reporters for their dogged work in delivering relevant content and to our Washington Bureau Chief Leslie Stimson who has put us solidly on the map as the leader in coverage of inside-the-Beltway telecom news. When FCC commissioners along with the top towerco executives and heads of the industry trade associations let us know that they read and rely on our publication every day, it becomes more than a job. It becomes an obligation to get it right, to get it first and to keep an eye out for what will happen next.
Thanks for your input over this past year. I rely on your feedback positive or negative (but be nice). Here’s how to contact me with story ideas and here’s to another great year ahead!
By Jim Fryer, Managing Editor, Inside Towers
June 28, 2017
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