4G will need more antennas

Edward D. Pare served as the superintendent of banking for the R.I. Department of Business Regulation from 1991-1998, while concurrently serving as the superintendent of the Securities Division from 1996-1997.
Now a partner in the Providence-based firm Brown Rudnick, he provides business and legal advice to clients in the telecommunications, real estate, financial services and gaming industries. His expertise includes preparing and presenting applications and filings on behalf of telecommunication companies to governmental and regulatory agencies. He has helped develop more than 1,500 telecommunications facilities throughout New England.
He sees the telecommunications field as a relatively new industry that is rapidly expanding, constantly changing and highly competitive.

PBN: What’s the origin of the recent telecommunications boom?
PARE: This industry has developed, as Congress anticipated it would, when they enacted the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 that enabled the industry to provide service coverage. The whole idea was to spawn an industry and an economic driver called wireless. Tower companies have developed and expanded over time and there are always investors looking for opportunities.

PBN: What is the relationship between the telephone companies – carriers – and the towers?
PARE: The carriers can propose two types of tower models. In one, they will propose to construct the tower then lease space on it to others. However, they are really looking to provide a good service and keep customers happy, so owning and renting space on towers is more of an ancillary business. Many times there are other companies that will step in and take that piece of the business.

PBN: Carriers are advertising improvements such as 4G. How has this affected local coverage?
PARE: The 4G is really a speed issue, the rate of the data that can be sent, and if it reaches a certain threshold it’s considered a 4G network. Lately, you’ll see that there’s been discussion about long-term evolution (LTE), which is really an enhanced 4G. Generally, AT&T and Verizon have been upgrading their networks and pushing LTE throughout New England. That seems to be the next wave right now, to provide high-speed LTE service to all of these gadgets, not just phones or smartphones, but computers as well.

PBN: How will the upgrade impact Rhode Island?
PARE: I think without question it’s going to increase the number of antenna sites and facilities. The high-speed data services operate in a very high frequency, so the footprint or coverage they provide is smaller than the lower frequency sites. The industry will need more sites but that doesn’t necessarily mean more towers. We use other types of existing facilities or structures as well, including water towers and utility poles.

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PBN: How will existing structures be affected?
PARE: Right now, the carriers have been designing these systems around their existing footprints and using the available structures, so many times we modify a cell tower or water-tank facility. Typically we’re adding additional equipment or changing antennas, bringing in the higher-speed frequencies which usually require a different type of antenna with supplementary switching equipment. For example, if a carrier had six antennas on a particular tower, we may have to add three antennas and other equipment on the tower to provide the high-speed coverage, but not necessarily another tower.

PBN: Did the economic downturn in 2008 affect your business?
PARE: In some aspects I think it slowed down business but in others I think the competition has been the driver.

PBN: Has competition been that strong?
PARE: All of these smartphones and smart devices that have really been attracting consumer attention and spending require coverage to be functional. The carriers have had to keep pace with consumer demand.

PBN: Where do you see telecommunications headed in the next two to five years?
PARE: It’s hard to predict what’s going to happen because everything has changed so quickly already. There is already a significant move for the industry to go all wireless, period. I think if you take a look at some of the studies you’ll see that there are already a significant amount of homes without a “land line.” If you think through at what the wireless phone has done, it has changed our daily lives. You no longer have to go into Wi-Fi or hotspots, or have an Internet connection available for your computer. All of your devices will work wherever you are and it will all be done wirelessly. •

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