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ClearSignal
Research the Network, Understand the Ownership
ClearSignal is an open-source telecom transparency and research database designed to map cellular networks, telecommunications companies, infrastructure, ownership structures, regulatory activity, land interests, financial relationships, and other information that helps researchers understand who owns, operates, controls, leases, finances, and maintains telecommunications networks.
ClearSignal is designed as a modular system. Core modules provide the foundational data and research capabilities, while optional plugin modules extend the platform into specialized areas without requiring those capabilities to become part of the core system.
Specification
Purpose
ClearSignal shall provide a structured, verifiable, historical, and interconnected information system for researching telecommunications companies and the infrastructure they own, operate, lease, finance, manage, or control.
The system shall allow users to move from a telecommunications provider to its parent company, subsidiaries, owners, executives, infrastructure, licenses, agreements, regulatory records, financial relationships, and other connected entities.
ClearSignal shall prioritize transparency, provenance, source verification, historical records, relationship mapping, and public accountability.
Design Principles
ClearSignal shall follow these principles:
- Modular architecture
- Open-source development
- Source-based verification
- Transparent data provenance
- Historical record preservation
- Entity relationship mapping
- Interoperable data
- Human review and correction
- Community research contributions
- Separation of verified and unverified information
- Extensible plugin architecture
- Privacy-conscious data handling
- No unnecessary vendor lock-in
- No dependence on a single information source
- Clear distinction between facts, claims, estimates, and research findings
Core Modules
Company Module
The Company Module shall provide comprehensive profiles for telecommunications companies and related organizations.
Company records may include:
- Legal company name
- Common names
- Former names
- Trade names
- Brands
- Country of incorporation
- Country of origin
- Headquarters
- Registered addresses
- Operating locations
- Business classifications
- Industry classifications
- Company identifiers
- Government registration identifiers
- Parent companies
- Subsidiaries
- Affiliates
- Sister companies
- Joint ventures
- Investment relationships
- Ownership percentages
- Beneficial ownership information where lawfully available
- Acquisition history
- Merger history
- Spin-off history
- Bankruptcy or restructuring history
- Dissolution information
- Corporate status
- Official websites
- Public filings
- Source records
The module shall support relationships between companies so users can trace ownership through multiple corporate levels.
Ownership and Corporate Structure Module
The Ownership and Corporate Structure Module shall map relationships between companies, investors, holding companies, subsidiaries, affiliates, and other legal entities.
It shall support:
- Parent-child relationships
- Direct ownership
- Indirect ownership
- Beneficial ownership
- Controlling interests
- Minority interests
- Joint ownership
- Investment relationships
- Holding companies
- Special purpose entities
- Shell companies
- Former ownership
- Historical ownership
- Ownership percentages
- Ownership effective dates
- Ownership termination dates
- Corporate restructurings
- Mergers and acquisitions
- Corporate name changes
- Corporate lineage
The system shall allow users to trace a provider to its ultimate parent where sufficient evidence exists.
Executive and Governance Module
The Executive and Governance Module shall document corporate leadership and governance structures.
Records may include:
- Board members
- Directors
- Officers
- Chief executives
- Presidents
- Chief financial officers
- Chief technology officers
- General counsel
- Corporate secretaries
- Senior executives
- Former executives
- Former directors
- Appointment dates
- Departure dates
- Board roles
- Committee memberships
- Other publicly documented corporate relationships
Historical leadership records shall remain available rather than being overwritten.
Telecommunications Provider Module
The Telecommunications Provider Module shall identify companies and brands that provide cellular, wireless, mobile, communications, or related telecommunications services.
Records may include:
- Provider name
- Brand name
- Parent company
- Operating company
- Market
- Country
- Service territory
- Network type
- Network generations
- Spectrum holdings
- Licenses
- Network operators
- Mobile virtual network operator relationships
- Mobile virtual network enabler relationships
- Roaming relationships
- Infrastructure partners
- Network-sharing relationships
- Historical providers
- Former brands
The module shall distinguish between brands, operating entities, legal entities, and parent companies.
Network Module
The Network Module shall document telecommunications networks and their relationships to providers and infrastructure.
Records may include:
- Network operator
- Network owner
- Network technology
- Network generation
- Frequency bands
- Spectrum
- Coverage areas
- Network identifiers
- Roaming relationships
- Network-sharing agreements
- Infrastructure providers
- Network equipment relationships
- Network launch dates
- Retirement dates
- Historical network configurations
The module shall support historical network information.
Infrastructure Module
The Infrastructure Module shall catalog physical and logical telecommunications infrastructure.
Infrastructure records may include:
- Cell towers
- Macro sites
- Small cells
- Distributed antenna systems
- Signal amplification systems
- Repeaters
- Indoor cellular systems
- Distributed radio systems
- Fiber infrastructure
- Backhaul infrastructure
- Network equipment
- Antennas
- Radio equipment
- Base stations
- Switching facilities
- Data centers
- Network operations facilities
- Equipment shelters
- Utility infrastructure
- Supporting structures
- Infrastructure ownership
- Infrastructure operators
- Infrastructure tenants
Each asset shall be capable of being connected to companies, properties, leases, licenses, permits, network technologies, and source documents.
Signal Amplification Module
The Signal Amplification Module shall specifically track systems designed to extend, repeat, distribute, amplify, or improve cellular signals.
Records may include:
- System type
- Manufacturer
- Model
- Operator
- Owner
- Host organization
- Installation location
- Coverage area
- Supported technologies
- Supported frequency bands
- Installation date
- Modification history
- Removal date
- Associated carrier
- Associated infrastructure
- Regulatory information
- Installation permits
- Source records
The module shall distinguish independent amplification systems from carrier-owned infrastructure where sufficient information exists.
Spectrum and Licensing Module
The Spectrum and Licensing Module shall document telecommunications spectrum and operating licenses.
Records may include:
- License holder
- Parent company
- License number
- Spectrum band
- Frequency range
- Geographic area
- License type
- Grant date
- Expiration date
- Renewal history
- Transfer history
- Assignment history
- Auction history
- Regulatory restrictions
- Associated network
- Associated infrastructure
- Regulatory authority
- Source documentation
Historical license ownership shall be preserved.
Property and Land Module
The Property and Land Module shall track real property and land interests associated with telecommunications infrastructure.
Records may include:
- Property owner
- Telecommunications company
- Subsidiary
- Property address
- Parcel identifier
- County
- State or province
- Country
- Geographic coordinates where appropriate
- Property type
- Acquisition date
- Sale date
- Purchase information
- Lease information
- Easements
- Rights of way
- Access agreements
- Land-use agreements
- Zoning information
- Permits
- Infrastructure located on the property
- Public ownership
- Government ownership
- Historical property ownership
The module shall support relationships between properties, corporate entities, infrastructure, leases, easements, and regulatory records.
Lease and Agreement Module
The Lease and Agreement Module shall document publicly available agreements involving telecommunications companies and infrastructure.
Records may include:
- Lease agreements
- Land leases
- Tower leases
- Rooftop leases
- Public property leases
- Government agreements
- Easements
- Rights of way
- Access agreements
- Infrastructure-sharing agreements
- Network-sharing agreements
- Service agreements
- Purchase agreements
- Sale agreements
- Financing agreements
- Development agreements
- Public-private agreements
Records shall support effective dates, expiration dates, parties, assets, properties, jurisdictions, and source documents.
Regulatory and Filing Module
The Regulatory and Filing Module shall organize public regulatory records.
Records may include:
- Telecommunications licenses
- Spectrum filings
- Regulatory applications
- Government filings
- Corporate registrations
- Ownership filings
- Compliance filings
- Public notices
- Regulatory decisions
- Enforcement actions
- Consent orders
- Administrative proceedings
- Permits
- Environmental filings
- Construction filings
- Local government records
- Public meeting records
The module shall connect regulatory records to the companies, people, licenses, infrastructure, properties, and agreements referenced within them.
Financial Module
The Financial Module shall provide publicly available financial and economic information relevant to telecommunications companies and infrastructure.
Records may include:
- Revenue
- Assets
- Liabilities
- Debt
- Financing
- Investments
- Acquisitions
- Divestitures
- Public ownership
- Institutional ownership
- Major shareholders
- Government funding
- Grants
- Subsidies
- Infrastructure investments
- Capital expenditures
- Financial relationships
- Public contracts
Financial records shall include reporting periods and source information.
Legal and Litigation Module
The Legal and Litigation Module shall document publicly available legal proceedings and disputes.
Records may include:
- Lawsuits
- Regulatory enforcement
- Administrative proceedings
- Antitrust proceedings
- Contract disputes
- Property disputes
- Patent disputes
- Consumer actions
- Government actions
- Settlements
- Judgments
- Consent orders
- Appeals
- Case status
- Relevant parties
- Filing dates
- Resolution dates
The module shall distinguish allegations from established findings.
Geographic Module
The Geographic Module shall provide geographic relationships between telecommunications entities and infrastructure.
It shall support:
- Countries
- States
- Provinces
- Counties
- Municipalities
- Territories
- Service regions
- Coverage areas
- Properties
- Infrastructure locations
- Corporate locations
- Regulatory jurisdictions
- Spectrum regions
- Administrative boundaries
Geographic records shall be capable of connecting multiple ClearSignal entities.
Historical Records Module
The Historical Records Module shall preserve changes over time.
The system shall support:
- Previous company names
- Former owners
- Former executives
- Former infrastructure owners
- Historical network configurations
- Historical licenses
- Historical agreements
- Historical property ownership
- Historical corporate structures
- Acquisition timelines
- Divestiture timelines
- Infrastructure changes
- Network changes
- Regulatory changes
Historical records shall not be silently overwritten when new information becomes available.
Source and Provenance Module
The Source and Provenance Module shall document where information originated.
Every significant factual record should support:
- Source title
- Source publisher
- Source type
- Publication date
- Access date
- Source location
- Document identifier
- Relevant page or section
- Supporting evidence
- Verification status
- Contributor
- Review status
- Last reviewed date
- Notes regarding interpretation
The system shall allow multiple sources to support the same claim.
Verification Module
The Verification Module shall provide a structured process for evaluating information.
Records may be classified as:
- Verified
- Corroborated
- Reported
- Unverified
- Disputed
- Historical
- Estimated
- Inferred
- Deprecated
Verification status shall be separate from the underlying data so that uncertain information can remain visible without being presented as established fact.
Relationship Mapping Module
The Relationship Mapping Module shall connect entities throughout the database.
Supported relationships may include:
- Owns
- Owned by
- Operates
- Operated by
- Subsidiary of
- Parent of
- Affiliate of
- Employs
- Directed by
- Leases
- Leased by
- Located on
- Located at
- Licensed to
- Licensed by
- Operates on
- Shares infrastructure with
- Provides infrastructure to
- Uses infrastructure from
- Finances
- Invests in
- Acquired
- Acquired by
- Merged with
- Formerly known as
- Regulated by
- Party to
- Related to
Relationships shall support dates, sources, confidence, and historical status.
Research and Search Module
The Research and Search Module shall allow users to investigate the database across multiple entity types.
Search capabilities shall include:
- Company searches
- Provider searches
- Infrastructure searches
- Property searches
- Person searches
- License searches
- Agreement searches
- Regulatory searches
- Geographic searches
- Ownership searches
- Historical searches
- Cross-entity searches
- Relationship searches
Users shall be able to follow relationships between records to investigate corporate and infrastructure networks.
Data Import and Export Module
The Data Import and Export Module shall support structured movement of data.
It shall provide mechanisms for:
- Bulk imports
- Structured exports
- Research datasets
- Entity exports
- Relationship exports
- Historical exports
- Source exports
- Data validation
- Import review
- Duplicate detection
- Conflict handling
Import processes shall preserve source and provenance information.
Community Research Module
The Community Research Module shall allow researchers and contributors to submit information.
It shall support:
- New records
- Corrections
- Source submissions
- Relationship submissions
- Historical updates
- Evidence submissions
- Research notes
- Dispute reports
- Verification requests
- Review workflows
Community contributions shall remain distinguishable from independently verified records until reviewed.
Audit and Change History Module
The Audit and Change History Module shall record significant changes to the database.
It shall support:
- Record creation
- Record modification
- Record deletion
- Relationship changes
- Verification changes
- Source changes
- Contributor information
- Review actions
- Timestamped changes
- Previous values
- New values
- Change explanations
The purpose is to make database evolution transparent and reviewable.
Optional Plugin Modules
ClearSignal shall support optional plugin modules that extend functionality without requiring the functionality to exist in the core system.
Plugins may introduce additional entity types, datasets, analytical tools, integrations, workflows, or user interfaces.
Public Contracts Plugin
Tracks telecommunications contracts involving governments and public institutions.
Capabilities may include:
- Contract awards
- Contract values
- Contract dates
- Contracting agencies
- Vendors
- Services
- Procurement records
- Renewals
- Amendments
- Performance information
Government Funding Plugin
Tracks public funding associated with telecommunications infrastructure.
Capabilities may include:
- Grants
- Subsidies
- Broadband programs
- Rural infrastructure funding
- Government loans
- Tax incentives
- Funding recipients
- Award amounts
- Project locations
- Funding conditions
Environmental and Permitting Plugin
Tracks environmental reviews and infrastructure permitting.
Capabilities may include:
- Environmental assessments
- Construction permits
- Tower permits
- Local approvals
- Zoning cases
- Environmental conditions
- Protected areas
- Public hearings
- Permit decisions
Tower Ownership Plugin
Provides specialized research into tower companies and tower ownership.
Capabilities may include:
- Tower owners
- Tower operators
- Tower tenants
- Site IDs
- Lease relationships
- Tower portfolios
- Site transfers
- Tower acquisitions
- Infrastructure sharing
Equipment Manufacturer Plugin
Tracks manufacturers and suppliers of telecommunications equipment.
Capabilities may include:
- Manufacturers
- Equipment models
- Network equipment
- Radio equipment
- Antennas
- Vendors
- Supplier relationships
- Equipment deployments
- Manufacturer ownership
- Product history
Cybersecurity and Risk Plugin
Provides structured information concerning publicly documented telecommunications cybersecurity and infrastructure risks.
Capabilities may include:
- Security incidents
- Vulnerability disclosures
- Infrastructure risks
- Vendor risks
- Regulatory findings
- Public security reports
- Incident timelines
- Affected organizations
- Remediation records
Investment and Investor Plugin
Tracks investment relationships involving telecommunications companies.
Capabilities may include:
- Institutional investors
- Investment firms
- Private equity
- Venture capital
- Government investment
- Share ownership
- Investment dates
- Investment amounts
- Portfolio relationships
- Historical ownership
Mergers and Acquisitions Plugin
Provides specialized tracking of telecommunications corporate transactions.
Capabilities may include:
- Acquisitions
- Mergers
- Divestitures
- Purchase prices
- Announcements
- Regulatory approvals
- Transaction dates
- Acquiring entities
- Target entities
- Assets transferred
- Regulatory conditions
International Ownership Plugin
Provides specialized tools for researching cross-border corporate ownership.
Capabilities may include:
- Foreign parent companies
- Foreign subsidiaries
- Cross-border ownership
- Country of incorporation
- Tax jurisdictions
- International holdings
- Cross-border acquisitions
- Foreign investment records
Network Coverage Plugin
Provides advanced analysis of network coverage information.
Capabilities may include:
- Coverage areas
- Technology coverage
- Frequency coverage
- Provider comparisons
- Historical coverage
- Geographic gaps
- Coverage changes
- Coverage source comparison
Mapping and Visualization Plugin
Provides advanced visual representations of ClearSignal data.
Capabilities may include:
- Corporate ownership graphs
- Infrastructure maps
- Network maps
- Property maps
- Geographic relationship maps
- Timeline visualization
- Ownership trees
- Infrastructure relationship graphs
Document Intelligence Plugin
Provides tools for extracting structured information from public documents.
Capabilities may include:
- Entity extraction
- Relationship extraction
- Document classification
- Date extraction
- Company identification
- Person identification
- Property identification
- Contract identification
- Source linking
- Research review queues
Automatically extracted information shall remain subject to ClearSignal’s verification and provenance requirements.
Corporate Network Analysis Plugin
Provides advanced analysis of relationships between companies and organizations.
Capabilities may include:
- Ownership path analysis
- Corporate network graphs
- Common ownership detection
- Shared director analysis
- Affiliate discovery
- Subsidiary discovery
- Corporate lineage analysis
- Relationship density analysis
Infrastructure Dependency Plugin
Maps dependencies between telecommunications providers and infrastructure providers.
Capabilities may include:
- Shared towers
- Shared fiber
- Shared backhaul
- Shared facilities
- Equipment dependencies
- Network-sharing arrangements
- Infrastructure concentration
- Provider dependency relationships
Data Quality Plugin
Provides advanced tools for maintaining database integrity.
Capabilities may include:
- Duplicate detection
- Conflicting record detection
- Missing-source detection
- Stale record detection
- Entity reconciliation
- Relationship validation
- Incomplete profile detection
- Verification queue management
Alert and Monitoring Plugin
Allows users to monitor entities and receive notifications when relevant information changes.
Capabilities may include:
- Company changes
- Ownership changes
- Executive changes
- Regulatory filings
- New licenses
- License expirations
- Infrastructure changes
- Property transactions
- New agreements
- Mergers and acquisitions
- New public funding
- Significant network changes
API Plugin
Provides programmatic access to ClearSignal data.
Capabilities may include:
- Entity queries
- Relationship queries
- Search endpoints
- Geographic queries
- Historical queries
- Source queries
- Data exports
- Research datasets
- Plugin data access
Federation Plugin
Allows independently operated ClearSignal installations to exchange compatible public research data.
Capabilities may include:
- Federated datasets
- Source synchronization
- Entity synchronization
- Relationship synchronization
- Update exchange
- Instance discovery
- Data attribution
- Conflict handling
Federation shall not require all participating installations to expose private or restricted information.
Research Notebook Plugin
Provides a workspace for conducting structured telecommunications research.
Capabilities may include:
- Research projects
- Saved searches
- Evidence collections
- Research notes
- Source collections
- Entity collections
- Relationship investigations
- Research timelines
- Findings
- Citations
- Collaborative research
Public Transparency Plugin
Provides simplified public-facing views of ClearSignal information.
Capabilities may include:
- Company profiles
- Ownership summaries
- Network profiles
- Infrastructure summaries
- Public records
- Regulatory timelines
- Corporate relationship visualizations
- Public research reports
Specification Branding License (SBL)
Standard
- Fully AGPL-3.0+ compliant system
- Copyleft enforced for network deployments
- Required attribution:
- Roxanne Ardary
- https://www.roxanneardary.com/
Optional
- Specification Branding License (SBL)
- Attribution-free commercial deployment
- Pricing based on scale, usage, and deployment scope
- https://roxanneardary.com/clearsignal/
License & Notice Requirements
ClearSignal is released under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 or later (AGPL-3.0+).
By contributing to this project, you agree that your contributions will also be released under this license.
Please note the following:
- All contributions must comply with the AGPL-3.0+ terms.
- Under Section 7 of the license, all redistributions, forks, and derivative works must preserve attribution to:
Roxanne Ardary and https://roxanneardary.com. - ClearSignal specifications are free to use with attribution. A Specification Branding License can be negotiated upon request.
- The project’s notice.md file tracks attribution requirements and contributor acknowledgments. Any update that adds new contributors or modifies attribution should also update
notice.md. - When submitting a pull request, ensure that any new files maintain the attribution headers where applicable.
- Network-deployed versions of this software must also remain fully AGPL-3.0+ compliant, including exposure of source code modifications when applicable under the license.
For full legal details, please refer to the AGPL-3.0+ license and the project’s notice.md file.
Notice – ClearSignal
Attribution Requirement: Under Section 7 of the AGPL 3.0+ license, all redistributions, forks, and derivative works, including network-deployed versions of this project, must provide attribution to Roxanne Ardary and https://roxanneardary.com.
Contributors
This file tracks contributors and their specific contributions to the project.
- Roxanne Ardary, https://roxanneardary.com – March 26, 2026
Created the repository for ClearSignal. Developed the initial open-source platform for mapping telecom companies, infrastructure, ownership hierarchies, and network coverage worldwide with a focus on transparency and public accountability.
License – ClearSignal
This repository is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 or later (AGPL-3.0+).
Key Points
- You are free to use, modify, and distribute the code.
- All redistributions, forks, and derivative works or network-deployed versions must also be licensed under AGPL-3.0+ and provide attribution to Roxanne Ardary and roxanneardary.com as required under Section 7 of the license.
- The software is provided “as is,” without warranty of any kind.
For the full license text, see GNU AGPL-3.0 License.