AUGUST 31, 2006

News Analysis
By Joseph Pisani

Mobile-phone carriers have long dressed up unsightly towers with leaves and branches. Will they now consider concealing antennas in blimps?

Wireless service providers have long faced a dilemma when it comes to the towers that help transmit calls. Customers want seamless coverage—except they don't want the coverage-boosting cellular towers in their backyards.

 Larson Camouflage

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/aug2006/tc20060831_047994.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_technology

Big Air
Blimps

Bob Jones wants to do away with costly and unsightly towers altogether. Jones, president of Sanswire Networks, proposes sending blimps 13 miles into the air to provide coverage for large swaths of land. The remote-controlled blimps would stay up for about a year and a half before being replaced.

No Dead Air
Cemeteries

It’s always rude to talk on the phone while visiting a graveyard. Still, coverage should be top-notch for the neighborhoods surrounding cemeteries that house cell towers.

Against the Grain Silos

Carriers add onto existing grain silos or build fake ones from the ground up to conceal offending equipment.