Wireless West's Lineup Wows on Day One

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Wireless West opened up with a rooftop poolside kickoff party sponsored by Md7.  The first session of the day entitled “Small Cells, Big Market” was hosted by VERTICOM’s Founder and President Jeff Lewis. It featured insight from ExteNet’s Greg Spraetz, Dan Schweizer of Crown Castle, Hollie Maldonado of T-Mobile, and Kishore Raja of Boingo.
Panelists engaged in an expert discussion on the
next generation of 5G wireless networks, and particularly on how small cells fit into the 5G architecture alongside macro, in-building, and fiber. Collaboration was a consistent topic. Hollie Maldonado of T-Mobile said that T-Mobile “found early on that collaboration both internally and externally was key for successful deployment.” Jeff Lewis echoed those sentiments saying,  “Collaboration is essential for all aspects of deployment, from the integrator and the asset owners to the OEMs, communities and  service providers.”

The Tower Hour General session was moderated by Director of Strategic Tower Advisors Tom Engel and brought together a panel consisting of MVP Capital Managing Director Clayton Funk, Ron Bizick CEO of Tarpon Towers, Tormod Larsen, CTO of ExteNet System, Tony Peduto, CEO of CTI Towers, and Bob Paige, Mergers and Acquisitions at Vertical Bridge. This panel engaged in an informative conversation that ranged from the ascent of tower valuations to the evolution of DAS.
Clayton Funk stated, “There used to be this saying that ‘DAS is dead,’ but they should have put an asterisk next to it with a caveat saying ‘unless it is made much more economically feasible to deploy on a wide scale and it can be placed indoors,’ because that is ultimately what has happened…DAS systems continue to grow, and I think that statement had the intended effect of making sure the model was better for the carrier versus someone who is buying and being gouged.”
Broadstaff President Carrie Charles provided an in-depth look at the emerging trends in wireless hiring. Charles walked attendees through strategies on finding quality employees in the midst of the lowest unemployment rate in 17 years. While good for our economy at large, 83 percent of tech and telecom hiring managers reported that the current talent shortage has hurt their businesses through lost revenue, slower product development, and increased employee burnout.
Wes-Tec President Lisa White led a panel on operational best practices that featured insight from Ryan Shields of Advantage Engineers, Chad Tuttle of B+T Group, and Paul Vranesh from Stealth. The show continues today and the full schedule can be found here.
April 12, 2018