There are growing indica ons that wireless network operators
like AT&T and T-Mobile won't need to build new cell towers
in rural, uncovered areas anymore. A er all, there are already
hundreds – and soon, thousands – of satellites that will cover
those areas with increasingly powerful wireless services.
A number of top company officials are already contempla ng
this new reality.
"That's why we partnered with AST [SpaceMobile]," said AT&T
COO Jeff McElfresh at the company's recent analyst day, in
reference to AT&T's satellite partner. "That's why we invested
with them to get their technology li ed up into orbit. And you'll
see us plug in their services on the edge where we don't cover,
over the ocean, in the Grand Canyon, in places where, today,
it doesn't pay for us to put up wireless cell towers to cover
that footprint."
Other operators have discussed similar situa ons.
In the future, a company like AST might eliminate the need for
a cell site and cell tower build in certain loca ons, speculated
Ma Desch, the CEO of satellite operator Iridium, during his
company's recent quarterly conference call.
Desch made it clear that satellites won't serve as a replacement
for terrestrial, cell tower-based services. But he did
acknowledge that satellites could limit the expansion of cell
towers into increasingly rural loca ons.
"There will be [cell] sites that won't be built," Rick Mostaert,
Mavenir's VP of radio access network (RAN) product
management, told Light Reading recently. Mostaert and
Mavenir's Suman Sharma speculated that widespread, cellular-
capable satellite networks could lead some wireless network
operators to shu er expensive-to-run cell towers in rural areas
where there's not much traffic.
Are the days of new
rural cell towers over?
Talleycom.com
SHEET
QUARTER 1 2025
