Yesterday’s activities at Wireless West started with a keynote address by Nate Boyer regaling attendees with inspirational stories from the military and NFL. “Obstacles are just opportunities to be great,” Boyer said.
The “Tower Hour” panel, featured on the main stage brought together several leading members of the industry: Clayton Funk, Managing Director, MVP Capital, Danny Agresta, President & CEO, APC Towers, Tony Peduto, CEO, CTI Towers, Don van Splunteren, Global VP of Sales, Phoenix Tower International and Alex Gellman, CEO, Vertical Bridge. Notable quotes issued forth.
“I said at IBF, there has never been a better time to sell a tower but, guess what, it got better,” Gellman said.
“The enormous amount of investment in this industry is going to trickle down into infrastructure,” Van Splunteren said.
So what keeps these tower guys up at night?
- “As the smallest portfolio on this panel, being able to scale,” said Agresta.
- “Sooner or later you will hear from the public that they don’t like many towers in their area,” Peduto said.
- “How do we add value for our carriers?” said van Splunteren.
- “We should be worried about workforce development,” Gellman said.
Also on the main stage, the “5G’s of 5G” panel held court covering the implementation of 5G throughout the U.S.
“We at Ericsson see the 5G buildout as an exciting challenge. A million new poles, a million new sites over the next five years,” Panelist Paul Challoner, VP of Network Solutions at Ericsson said.
Mayor of Gilbert, AZ, Jenn Daniels, gave the panel a municipal perspective and said, “There are two types of government: relationship based and transactionally based….our government in Gilbert is relationally based, and we look at the 5G build out as a win for its citizens. Do not speak tech to me,” she said, “but speak to me about the ways 5G can improve my community. That is the key to approaching a municipality for a 5G build out. Not only do we need this [5G build out],” Mayor Daniels said, “but our citizens will demand this and our businesses will fail without it.”
April 17, 2019
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