Yesterday Inside Towers reported how Wall Street watchdog Seeking Alpha embraced Sprint’s plan to generally go tower-less, hoping to shave costs to a minimum by creating small cell networks on utility poles from California to Maryland with the help of Mobilitie LLC. But a revolution in the way a carrier densifies its service will not go unnoticed by anyone with skin in the game. And, Wall Street has that. Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal profiled the Overland Park, KS operation in an article headlined “Sprint’s Wireless Fix: More Telephone Poles,” with the subhed, “Plan to improve network delayed as communities struggle with the unusual antenna requests.”
John Saw, Sprint’s chief technology officer, told the newspaper “It’s not a new concept. All carriers are trying to ‘densify’ their networks.” He added that Sprint’s goal is to be “cheaper and faster and more innovative” than its rivals. While other carriers are also hopping they can attach more antennas to existing utility poles “cash-strapped Sprint aims to take the concept further than rivals: It is hoping to install as many as 70,000 antennas in the public right of way over the next few years. By comparison, it has 40,000 traditional antenna sites on towers or rooftops,” WSJ reporter Ryan Knutson wrote.
Knutson reported the strategy was “devised in early 2015 by Sprint Chairman Masayoshi Son to improve service while keeping costs down.” And, Mobilitie’s chief executive Gary Jabara told the paper that building and operating the small cells “costs about $190,000 over 10 years, whereas a traditional tower costs $732,000 because of real estate rents, power and other costs,” WSJ reported.
But Sprint is discovering something – small cell clutter on poles is about as welcomed in a neighborhood as another tower is and communities are still saying “not in my backyard.” For instance, in Salem, MA, WSJ said, Mobilitie last fall applied to install antennas on seven poles. Some residents expressed concerns over the look of the antennas. Three applications were withdrawn, and Mobilitie agreed to camouflage the other four.
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