ERI, Bulks Up for Repack

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ERI / Electonics Research,Inc.


Electronics Research Inc. is expanding its workforce and production capacity ahead of the television spectrum repack.

The company has hired about 45 people, towards the goal of 100+ hires by this fall, ERI VP Marketing Bill Harland tells us. When the hiring is complete, ERI will have more than 200 employees.

ERI has broken ground on the three new buildings it’s adding to its Chandler, Indiana facility.

Electronics Research Inc. is working with T-Mobile to ensure availability of equipment and installation crews to speed completion of the mandated television channels changes following the end of the broadcast incentive auction. ERI will begin antenna production and make tower crews available immediately after the FCC issues new channel assignments, either for those being relocated within the UHF band or moving from UHF channels to VHF channels.

This will accelerate the process of clearing the 600 MHz frequency band allowing new wireless broadband services to be deployed in the band, within the 39 month repacking timeline outlined by the FCC.

ERI President and CEO Tom Silliman said working with T-Mobile before the auction ends gives ERI a leg up in antenna manufacturing and installation “faster than we’d otherwise be able to.” He said the company will have the capacity to manufacture television antennas, transmission line, and filter systems and to have trained and equipped installation crews at the beginning of the FCC’s 39 month clearing window.

T-Mobile SVP Technology David Mayo called teaming up with ERI a way to “help the broadcast industry accelerate the FCC’s repacking schedule. We want to insure that television broadcasters have access to the equipment and installation capacity needed for timely completion of the FCC clearing timeline.”