Scare Tactics

January 10, 2006

Rooftop Antennas BARKLEY TOWER CAPITAL, a company that is attempting to purchase ground leases from land owners, has posted the following statement on its web site in an effort to convince land owners to sell their leases: “New technologies could eliminate the need for wireless towers in as little as 5 to 10 years.” While I’ve heard people at zoning meetings utter such nonsense, I don’t recall anyone from within the industry ever doing so.

I wonder what technologies they could mean.

It couldn’t be referring to satellites, could they? I hope not. Satellite telephones are still extremely costly. Their phones are much larger than cellular telephones and their antennas are much longer. In a day when cell phones have become a popular fashion accessory, I don’t see too many teenagers walking down the street with a foot-long antenna hanging out the back of their brick-like cell phone.

Also, latency (the lag time between sending a message and receiving a message) is still a big problem with satellite phones and the current state of satellite technology is too problematic for widespread use. Motorola’s Iridium satellite network was
a dismal failure and for the most part, it is only by military personnel, government contract-
ors, the CIA, off-shore oil employees, and the wealthiest of Americans.

Could they be referring to the blimps Sanswire Networks is proposing for perpetual flight high above America? In my May 20th post I think we covered some of the reasons why this technology doesn’t seem to make much sense. Unless you are on the board of directors for Sanswire Networks, I don’t know too many people who are predicting that these blimps will replace terrestrial based wireless infrastructure.

Maybe Barkley Tower Capital knows something we don’t. On the other hand, it could be a scare tactic. Shame on them if it is. ■

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