Top wireless companies have accused struggling PowerWave Technologies Inc., which filed for bankruptcy on Jan. 28, of neglecting a monitoring system that watches over Washington, D.C.’s underground metro system, where PowerWave has been in charge of installing wireless infrastructure to expand Internet and cell phone coverage within the system, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. Sprint, T-Mobile and AT&T warned Bankruptcy Judge Mary Walrath that PowerWave's abandonment of the unfinished project has created “an unnecessary risk to public safety and welfare,” according to court papers. Not only has PowerWave stopped work and skipped subcontractor payments, the wireless carriers said, but the company told a subcontractor to ignore an intrusion alarm that went off at the Rosslyn, Va., Metro station. At a hearing on Friday, the carriers said that they have come up with a deal to pay the cost of running the monitoring and maintenance operation while the company and the carriers work toward a transition of the wireless expansion project out of PowerWave’s control. PowerWave is planning to auction its assets on April 8.
