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Recent News
KATC tower crash: Pilot was troubled, erratic and tower lights were working
Scripps Broadcasting agreed to pay a $1.13 million fine to the FCC earlier this month for lighting violations on multiple tower structures. The settlement order adopted by the FCC started after an agency investigation began after a small plane...
American Tower’s revenues will tank in India if government fees create a carrier duopoly
India, once the darling of tower companies looking to expand their international footprint, is not where towercos might want to be today with the potential for a considerable tenancy drop if Vodafone Idea collapses under the weight of government...
Court to decide if City of Colorado Springs monopole can be beefed up by Vertical Bridge
Vertical Bridge Development, LLC has filed a complaint with the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado for a ruling that the City of Colorado Springs is violating federal laws by not allowing the company to modify an...
Miller digs into obstacles of broadband deployment, providing solutions to U.S. Senate committee
National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) Chairman Jimmy Miller, President at MillerCo, Inc. in Gulfport, Mississippi, provided expert witness testimony at this morning’s U.S. Senate Commerce Committee hearing in Washington, D.C. regarding “The 5G Workforce and Obstacles to Broadband...
All site acquisition eyes will be on a San Jose Diocese’s RF ‘study’
Most Christians’ beliefs are sacrosanct without evidence, but when it comes to technology over theology, some parents and parishioners of St. Christopher Catholic Church and school in San Jose, California want evidence that until proof is established that cell...
Pennsylvania techs shot at by a more than tipsy felon who is now behind bars after seven shots
A Pennsylvania man, reportedly intoxicated, was arrested by police after he returned to the scene of his alleged crime of firing gun shots at tower techs while they were working on a 400-foot guyed tower in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania. According...
NWSA announces dates, locations for first two Practical Examiner Accreditation Workshops of 2020
The National Wireless Safety Alliance (NWSA) is encouraging industry employers, trainers and workers to register for the Telecommunications Tower Technician Practical Examiner Accreditation Program (PEAP) Workshops scheduled for March 24-26, 2020 in Mt Juliet, Tennessee, hosted by Comstar LLC,...
Ice is unkind to Nebraska 1,500-foot tower, causing it to collapse in Beaver Crossing
Service has been restored to the majority of Channel 10/11 viewers in Nebraska who lost signal when a KOLN tower collapsed early Saturday morning, but some over-the-air viewers may still be unable to receive their signal. The main KOLN...
Wireless Rooftop Deployment Training is being offered free
Registration is now open for a highly-sought after industry training session – Wireless Rooftop Deployment Training – that is free to all wireless infrastructure company employees. The training, provided by the National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) is available at...
Macro towers, 20K more trained tower techs and new skill sets needed to roll out 5G says FCC
Although small cells and 5G were high on the list of topics during yesterday’s U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation’s hearing on Industries of the Future, FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly emphasized that 5G deployment requires more than...
Bill proposes over $1 billion to develop 5G alternatives to Huawei
A bipartisan group of leading national security Senators introduced a bill to encourage and support U.S. innovation in the race for 5G, providing over $1 billion to invest in Western-based alternatives to Chinese equipment providers Huawei and ZTE. Heavily subsidized...
Four dead after plane crashes into guyed tower in Southern Montana
Update: January 17, 2020 – KPVI ran a touching piece on the four men who died: Before deadly plane crash, sobriety brought 4 victims together. January 14, 2020 – Four Billings, Montana men were killed Saturday in a plane crash when...
Border Protection seeking your suggestions on how to protect a 320-foot tower with vulture-proof netting
Federal officials are asking the industry to rescue a Customs and Border Protection self-supporting tower that has been taken over by 300 vultures in Kingsville, Texas. They’ve issued a Request for Information (RFI) to obtain viable sources of supply,...
Scripps pays $1,130,000 to FCC to settle tower lighting issues
Scripps Broadcasting Holdings LLC has agreed to pay a $1,130,000 penalty to settle an FCC investigation into malfunctioning TV tower lights used to alert nearby airplanes. The settlement order adopted by the FCC concludes an agency investigation that began...
Ninth inning for T-Mobile merger begins Wednesday with closing arguments
Final arguments in the T-Mobile-Sprint merger lawsuit are slated for this Wednesday and it’s expected that U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero will issue a ruling in February. Last week, states suing to block the $26.5 billion mega merger said...
Tower Family Foundation, students and the Fallen Seven Harley rider fund benefit from NEWA tourney
The New England Wireless Association (NEWA) on Thursday presented the Tower Family Foundation with a generous donation to help fund their outreach programs. The foundation assists in providing financial assistance to family members of a severely injured, permanently disabled,...
Two bills presented, one for California backup power, another for power to Florida for siting
Two bills are being introduced, one in California for a mandatory backup power requirement and another in Florida that would allow for the state to bypass local governments for siting if public safety is at risk. After reviewing data...
Puerto Rico’s out of service towers expected to be operational by Sunday
Power is expected to be slowly restored to all homes in Puerto Rico over the coming days in the aftermath of a 6.4 magnitude earthquake that left many cell sites down yesterday with 31.7% out of service. Today, according...
3M issues advisory on its DBI-SALA EZ-Stop shock absorbing lanyard
3M is emphasizing that their EZ-Stop Lanyard portfolio remains safe to use as it meets all aspects of the relevant OSHA regulation (OSHA 29 CFR 1926.502), but they are issuing an advisory and not a recall. The company said...
FCC data assails Chicago Tribune’s cell phone RF concerns, possibly collapsing lawsuits
In August, the Chicago Tribune published test results indicating that several popular cell phones can emit radiation-causing exposure up to five times higher than current limits allow. The smart phone models were tested by an independent testing laboratory, RF...
Pure Safety Group recalls SRLs with stainless steel or web lifelines
Pure Safety Group (PSG) has issued an immediate recall and stop-use alert for its Guardian Fall Protection Self-Retracting Lifelines that use a stainless steel or web lifeline. “A small number of SRLs were identified as noncompliant with ANSI Z359.14-14 and must...
T-Mobile axing its projects led a baker’s dozen top news stories during 2019
The top stories in 2019, according to Wireless Estimator readership analytics, followed previous years’ subject matter favorites based upon the site’s in depth and exclusive articles as well as its comprehensive coverage of industry fatalities. T-Mobile’s unexpected new build...
Fatal falls from heights are at a five year low, but not for the nation’s tower techs
The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) has released its Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries Report for 2018, and OSHA and media have been heralding the marked 14% decrease from 2017 of fatal falls to a lower level totaling 615,...
Two tower workers on the mend after 30-foot fall from Pennsylvania tower
Two unnamed men were injured this afternoon when the tower they were working on in Hempfield Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania collapsed. According to multiple news reports the men were taken to a hospital with serious but not life-threatening injuries...
Tower Family Foundation awarded $295K to climbers in 2019 and needs your support
The Tower Family Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, is encouraging all wireless industry companies and stakeholders to make an end of year tax-deductible donation to the organization prior to December 31, 2019. All contributions to the Tower Family Foundation...
Vertical Bridge closes out the year with record-breaking philanthropy funding driven by employees
Vertical Bridge REIT, LLC, the largest private owner and operator of communications infrastructure in the United States, has announced that, with its matched employee donations, it has donated more than $1.5 million to charitable organizations in 2019. This is the...
A dangling upside-down tower tech in Alabama leads Fast-Forward Friday news
GUY SNAPS HURLING TOWER TECH 40 FEET UP AN ALABAMA TOWER A tower tech last Friday dangled 40-feet in the air upside-down when a guy wire snapped while he was on the ground catapulting him upwards on the tower....
Four NATE Directors re-elected as Cobb joins Board for the first time
The National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) today released the results of their 2020 Board of Directors election. The Association announced that Jimmy Miller, President of MillerCo, Inc. in Gulfport, Mississippi; John Paul Jones, President of Tower & Turbine...
FCC gives 5G a green light as the agency maintains existing RF exposure limits
Following proposed modifications to its radio frequency (RF) exposure rules originally released in 2013, and to allay concerns about 5G transmitters and devices, the FCC has released a decision maintaining existing allowable RF exposure limits while simplifying the process...
Having saved more lives than he ever knew, Winton ‘Dub’ Wilcox Jr. passes at age 74
Simply said, what Guglielmo Marconi did for radio, Winton (Dub) Wilcox Jr. achieved for climber safety as he took a cottage industry with loosely knit safety practices to a heightened professional awareness to save tower techs’ lives through his...
American Tower and SBA’s tower source in Brazil has now become their key competitor
For many years, both SBA Communications and American Tower Corp. have eyed Brazil as an excellent country to buy and build wireless infrastructure to serve the world’s fifth-largest country with 210 million people. Adding to their portfolios, in...
FCC scraps 4G subsidy program and plans to dole out $9 billion for 5G in rural areas
The FCC said yesterday that it plans to scrap a $4.5 billion subsidy program for 4G LTE in rural areas and in its place launch a $9 billion fund to bring 5G wireless to hard to reach parts of...
Toppling a 500-foot structure, ice isn’t nice to a Nebraska tower
A weekend winter blizzard in Chadron, Nebraska that included freezing rain and heavy snow powered by 50-60 mph winds, collapsed a 500-foot guyed tower owned by Eagle Communications, Inc., headquartered in Hays, Kansas The Saturday storm knocked out Eagle’s...
NATE member Petrilla to serve on Department of State’s International Telecommunications Advisory Committee
The National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) announced today that Jesse Petrilla has been selected to serve on the U.S. Department of State’s International Telecommunications Advisory Committee (ITAC). The purpose of the ITAC is to advise the Department of...
SBA gets an unwanted assist from Mother Nature in Pennsylvania tower swap-out
In 2017, SBA Towers II, LLC petitioned the Ferguson Township, Pennsylvania Board of Supervisors to replace an existing 181-foot self-supporting tower located at 200 Jackson Trail in the Rothrock State Forest. SBA entered into a ground lease in 1995...
This Thanksgiving consider recognizing wireless industry volunteers’ year-round efforts
For more than 15 years, Wireless Estimator has been privileged to reach your computer screen or smartphone every day, providing information and advocacy to an industry that we are proud to serve. For that, we are thankful. More importantly,...
Crazy lady opens fire on two tower techs working on a Crown Castle North Carolina tower
Two tower techs working on a 290-foot Crown Castle guyed tower in Taylorsville, North Carolina were targets of choice for a deranged 61-year-old woman who began shooting at them with a 22-caliber revolver. Thankfully, her aim was just as...
Employer of inexperienced 1099 tower tech who died Saturday was laden with OSHA violations
Neither OSHA nor Oktibbeha County authorities have released the employer’s name of 43-year-old John Wayne Womack of Mountain View, Arkansas who passed away on Saturday after falling from a 348-foot self-supporting tower that was being erected in Longview, Mississippi,...
Crosby warning workers to take out of service certain 7/8” shackles
The Crosby Group has determined the listed 7/8” shackles above may have a condition that can reduce the ultimate load capacity from the published catalog values. The shackle bow may have a previously undetected defect, and continued use may...
Pai chooses public auction for C-band spectrum as Intelsat sinks
The FCC is ready to start a public auction for C-band spectrum with the objective of developing 5G wireless connectivity in the mid-band spectrum, according to an announcement today from FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. Pai made his plans clear...
Arkansas tech dies in Mississippi during erection of 348-foot self-supporting tower
An Arkansas tower technician died Saturday after he fell approximately 80 feet from a self-supporting tower being constructed in Mississippi. It was the eighth industry fatality this year. Oktibbeha County Coroner Michael Hunt identified the deceased as 43-year-old John...
Afraid of having its contractors fail or bolt, Sprint introduces its ‘Same Day Pay’ financing program
Stating that it was concerned that it might not be able to maintain 5G construction crews, Sprint has unveiled its all-new ‘Same Day Pay’ financing program, providing day-of compensation to its 5G network builders and suppliers by shortening administrative overhead and...
Mexican telecom battle broadens at the border over 700 MHz interference
Thousands of Verizon customers, from El Paso, Texas to San Diego, California, are still fighting to get decent coverage that is being blocked after Mexican wholesaler Altán Redes introduced service three months ago In August, Mexican-based Altán Redes launched...
‘Pay to play’ Avetta has industry’s contractors concerned about it becoming a monopoly
Concerns about the time, expense and frustration of contractors that are forced to use client onboarding companies such as BROWZ and Avetta surfaced on January 30, 2019, when Wireless Estimator released the survey results of financial and administrative roadblocks set up...
After T-Mobile throws contractors under the bus it provides lofty merger promises
When T-Mobile announced its new commitments Thursday to sway legislators to put pressure on 10 state attorneys general to settle their Sprint merger lawsuit, one of its top initiatives upon completion of the merger, was to create more job...
SBA sets NWSA certified climbers at 25% next year, 50% in 2021
SBA Communications (SBA), the nation’s third largest tower owner, has released the percentages of National Wireless Safety Alliance (NWSA) certified climbers that contractors will have to maintain when doing work on their sites. Prior to climbing any SBA structure,...
Wireless industry’s veterans deserve a heartfelt double tip of the hard hat
When some veterans repeatedly hear “thank you for your service” they say at times they are slightly annoyed because it often comes across as an empty gesture, sort of like a knee-jerk “bless you” to a sneeze. If you...
No reason given after an expected slam dunk Mississippi site approval gets denied
Verizon Wireless was barred from erecting a sorely-needed cell tower in the southern part of Jackson, Mississippi, after a single resident raised concerns about RF dangers and the aesthetic value of a 150-foot monopole, according to a lawsuit filed...
California fires out of control, but carriers winning battle in service restorations
More than a dozen wildfires are currently raging across California and increased winds are expected to worsen the problem, but there’s a slimmer of good news as carriers’ cell site outages dropped in today’s FCC report to 1.8%, down...
AT&T exits the tower business with $680 million sale, eventual owners are still unknown
AT&T, the nation’s seventh-largest tower owner, slightly behind InSite Wireless Group, is exiting the business, selling more than 1,000 of their towers for $680 million to Peppertree Capital Management, Inc.(Peppertree) according to an announcement by the company preceding yesterday’s earnings...
Court documents state luxury hotel’s AT&T coverage should be excellent even with one bar
The Court of Appeals of the Second District of Texas at Fort Worth has upheld the ditching of an injunction caused by a wireless leasing dispute that blocked the owner of the historic Fort Worth Sinclair building’s rooftop renovation...
Mid band drives the dialogue at MWC LA 2019’s opening keynote
Former FCC Commissioner and current CTIA CEO Meredith Atwell Baker said during yesterday’s opening keynote at MWC Los Angeles that the U.S. has the first and fastest 5G networks in the world, reveling in the knowledge that “innovators now...
Colorado bows out of T-Mobile merger lawsuit for promises of new employment and rural 5G network
The state of Colorado has removed itself from the lawsuit led by New York and California to stop T-Mobile’s $26 billion merger with Sprint. The move follows Mississippi’s recent departure from the lawsuit. Colorado struck a deal with T-Mobile...
Cause of Arizona 495-foot tower collapse still unknown, anchor failure is a suspect
A 495-foot Verizon-owned guyed tower collapsed in Three Points, Arizona last Wednesday, but the reason the structure failed is still unknown. The multi-tenant tower’s collapse interrupted service for thousands of people in the small community located 30-miles from Tuscon in...
The pink carrier continues to put contractors in the red as they withhold payments
When T-Mobile canceled 5G upgrades and new builds nationwide in late August, a spokesperson informed Wireless Estimator that they were managing capital expenditures “as we do every year, and we continue to invest billions to build out our network aggressively,...
T-Mobile-Sprint merger passes along party lines at FCC, but deal is still in limbo until December
The FCC approved the controversial T-Mobile-Sprint $26.5 billion merger along party lines today, closing the FCC’s review. Democratic Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks voted against the deal, with Rosenworcel being the most vociferant. “We’ve all seen what happens...
South Dakota’s wireless technician training program will assist in connecting the state to 5G
The South Dakota Board of Technical Education has approved the creation of a Wireless Infrastructure Technician Certification program through a partnership with Southeast Technical Institute (Southeast Tech) and VIKOR. VIKOR, formerly Sioux Falls Tower & Communications, is one of...
CommScope alleges competitor Rosenberger stole trade secrets
Seventy-seven days after CommScope filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey against Rosenberger’s worldwide companies, CommScope issued a short press release yesterday announcing the complaint that alleges Rosenberger misappropriated CommScope’s trade secrets related...
Broker’s certificate of insurance ‘boilerplate’ loses in T-Mobile’s lawsuit against contractor’s insurer
Selective Insurance Company of America (SICA) must cover T-Mobile’s costs in a lawsuit alleging the carrier’s antenna installation contractor damaged a building in the Bronx, NY, a split State of Washington Supreme Court said Thursday, settling a critical issue...
Carriers hiding 5G maps from the FCC as it readies 130 construction permit auctions and 22 more articles
ARS Technica says AT&T and other mobile carriers are trying to hide detailed 5G maps from the public despite constantly touting the supposed pace and breadth of their 5G rollouts, while Inside Radio reports that the FCC is preparing...
160 NATE STAR Initiative companies accorded the safety ‘Gold Standard’ clients are seeking
The National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) today announced the member companies who have been formally approved to participate in the STAR Initiative program for the 2019-2020 year. NATE has proudly accepted 160 participating companies in this year’s STAR...
AT&T to exit Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands for $1.95 billion, will support FirstNet
AT&T has announced that it plans to sell its wireless and wireline operations in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to Liberty Latin America. The transaction includes network assets, including spectrum; real estate and leases; customers, including 1.1...
Fraud felony agreed to by contractor whose worker’s death started insurance investigation
A 2016 fatality of a 19-year-old West Virginia tower technician in Kentucky has resulted in the young man’s employer and the company’s owner entering pleas to the felony offense of engaging in a scheme to defraud Brickstreet Mutual Insurance...
Rooftop safety complacency and best practices highlighted in NATE’s newest video
The National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) today released a video entitled “Rooftop Safety: Don’t be Complacent” in order to shine a spotlight on the specific hazards, guidelines and best practices associated with wireless rooftop deployment activities. NATE has taken...
WIA awards raise over $400,000 for wireless workforce development
The second annual WIA Awards generated over $400,000 for wireless workforce education and training initiatives. The awards honored champions of the wireless workforce by celebrating members of Congress, the FCC, and industry who have made major contributions to develop...
Hightower and Tilson escort the benefits of TIRAP in apprenticeship’s new video
Hightower Communications and Tilson workers along with their company CEOs are featured in a new Wireless Industry Association (WIA) video promoting the benefits of joining the Telecommunications Industry Registered Apprenticeship Program (TIRAP) along with 27 other companies that have...
Cell tower gets reporter’s clean bill of health as tap water becomes the next cancer-causing agent
After four students were diagnosed with cancer in Ripon, Calif., parents attacked the usual maligned suspect, a cell tower on school property which Sprint later removed after community pressure. Wireless Estimator debunked the RF testing methods used by an independent...
Swarztrauber, FCC Chairman Pai’s new policy advisor, is well-versed on towers and wireless infrastructure
UPDATE: September 30, 2019 – In the FCC’s official statement announcing that FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has appointed Evan Swarztrauber as his policy advisor, Pai said, “I’m pleased to have Evan join our team. Having served in Commissioner Carr’s office,...
NATE receives DOL grant for nationwide wireless rooftop deployment training
The National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) announced today that it has been selected by the U.S. Department of Labor – OSHA to receive a $160,000 Susan Harwood Targeted Topic Training Grant for the 2019-2020 program year. The Susan...
T-Mobile stops paying its contractors, keeping its market managers in the dark
Commentary In late August, Wireless Estimator broke the story that T-Mobile had pulled many of their contractors’ purchase orders and would not be providing any additional fourth quarter builds throughout the nation, forcing wireless contractors to assess their financial...
U.S. pales in comparison to India’s unauthorized tower climbers
Since Americans are largely exposed to national headlines when an unauthorized person climbs a cell or broadcast tower and has to be talked down, there might be a perception that the U.S.’s towers are fertile ground for unbalanced individuals doing...
Starks rips into Huawei, stating that a ‘rip and replace’ equipment program could cost $1 billion
In an address to attendees of the Competitive Carriers Association’s convention in Providence, Rhode Island yesterday, FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said he’s focused on communications network security and slammed Chinese manufacturer Huawei, stating they pose a national security risk....
OSHA’s elevates Scott Ketcham to Directorate of Construction
The U.S. Department of Labor has selected Scott Ketcham as the new director of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Directorate of Construction (DOC) in Washington, D.C. Ketcham had served as deputy director of DOC since February 2017...
Six drones capture picture-perfect Virginia 540-foot guyed tower drop
Typically shaky cell-phone videos of communication tower demolitions were bested by six drones Saturday morning when a crew from Electronics Research Inc. (ERI) felled a 540-foot guyed tower in Norfolk, Virg. Once the guy wires were cut, the bottom...
AT&T had a temporary stop work order from authorities following site stabbing
The Chenango County, New York Sheriff’s Office arrested a tower technician on Wednesday after he allegedly stabbed a co-worker multiple times when the two got into an argument at a tower site in the Town of Otselic. Lt. Joshua...
Journal retracts paper alleging RF dangers coverup; author says ‘Big Wireless’ made them do it
Magnetochemistry, a peer-reviewed international scientific journal, retracted an article they published on May 5, 2019 from a controversial New Zealand researcher who believes that scientists are suppressing evidence that people are being harmed by radiofrequency radiation. Susan Pockett, a...
Day of remembrance includes American Tower subsidiary’s 13 employees who died on September 11
The pain of the world will be revisited each year on this day of remembrance and prayer, especially for those at a tower company who knew many of those people in a sister company who died in the collapse...
BTC, Aliv battling to bring back cell phone coverage in the Bahamas
Bahama Telephone Company (BTC) and new entrant Aliv are sparing no effort to restore service to their networks after Dorian, a category 5 Hurricane that had gusts of 200 mph devastated many parts of the Bahamas. As of this...
Crown asks court to rule on California county’s unlawful node application fees
Crown Castle Fiber LLC, in a U.S. District Court of Western California filing, is requesting that the court restrict Santa Barbara County, California from charging unlawful, unreasonable and excessive fees in order to deploy wireless infrastructure within the county’s...
Heat-exhausted Texas tech is rescued from monopole by firefighters
UPDATE: September 9, 2019 – According to individuals knowledgeable of Friday’s incident in Katy, Texas where a tower tech was rescued by firefighters, the technician at first thought that he was having a heart attack and firefighters immediately...
Canadian climber succumbs from injuries received in an August 16 fall
Services were held Tuesday for a 22-year-old tower tech, Maxime Asselin, who passed away on August 26, 2019 after suffering serious injuries from a fall off of a monopole in Candiac, Quebec on August 16, 2019. Asselin is survived...
Climbing Commissioner Carr puts boots on the steel again in South Dakota
Last month, South Dakota picked up a monumental $705.5 million out of the FCC’s $5 billion rural broadband funding. And yesterday, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr was in the state getting an elevated view as to how those funds will...
South Carolina’s cell sites getting walloped by Hurricane Dorian
Florida was spared Hurricane Dorian’s wrath Wednesday with the FCC identifying that of the affected counties that total 9,711 cell sites, there were only 13 outages, 3 that were damaged, 9 out due to transport problems, typically issues with...
NATE co-founder and former Chairman Snyder testifies at U.S. Senate Commerce Subcommittee hearing
NATE Co-Founder and Former Chairman Craig Snyder, CEO at Vikor Teleconstruction, provided expert witness testimony at today’s U.S. Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation and the Internet hearing in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The hearing, “Transforming Rural America:...
Louisiana tower tech passes after sustaining serious injuries from a July fall
Services have been announced for Devon Cornelius Masico Smith, a 35-year-old Tower Tech ll for Midwest Underground Technology, Inc., who passed away August 31, 2019 after succumbing from critical injuries he received when he fell from a 390-foot Kansas...
American Tower stock spikes following AT&T lease deal and its Grain 400 tower buy
In a post Labor Day down day on Wall Street with the DOW losing over 340 points at noon, American Tower Corp.’s (ATC) stock was up $6.70 largely based upon an announcement that the towerco has signed a new...
Three tower techs in Germany die after their man basket failed at 164 feet
Three tower technicians were killed this morning in Germany when the man basket they were working from broke loose from a TV broadcast tower at the 164-foot level, throwing them to their death. According to multiple news reports, they...
Hurricane Dorian still in a gray area of where it will strike Florida this weekend
It’s still unknown where the potential landfall will be for Hurricane Dorian in Florida, a possible Category 4 major hurricane with wind speeds beginning at 130 mph. For the past two days, projections have changed from it hitting Cape Canaveral...
T-Mobile cancels 5G upgrades and new builds nationwide, possibly crippling some contractors
Beginning last Friday, contractors started getting calls from T-Mobile’s market managers informing them that most purchase orders they had for new builds and 5G upgrades were going to be put on hold until 2020 unless materials for the project...
Color privilege, gen sets, graffiti used as ploys to deny 5G deployments: WIA
The Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA) has petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to clarify its rules to facilitate broadband deployment by promoting collocations on existing wireless facilities. As part of its request, WIA has asked the FCC to rectify an unnecessary barrier to broadband...
In America’s most barren broadband district, Congressman Mullin tours an ATC tower site
On Monday, U.S. Congressman Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) conducted a site visit to a communications tower located in Muskogee, Oklahoma. The tour was facilitated by representatives from the National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE), the Association’s Wireless Industry Network (WIN)...
With a likely fine on the horizon, AT&T reaches a truce in an FTC data throttling lawsuit
AT&T has reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in a 2014 lawsuit that alleged the wireless carrier of deceiving its unlimited-data subscribers when it slowed their connection speeds, according to a court filing Friday. The parties...
South Dakota picks up monumental $705.5 million in FCC’s $5 Billion rural broadband funding
Taking further steps to close the digital divide, the FCC has authorized over $4.9 billion in support over the next decade for maintaining, improving, and expanding affordable rural broadband for 455,334 homes and businesses served by 171 carriers in...
FCC is clueless on how many people don’t have broadband leads Fast-Forward Friday
FCC LIKELY COUNTS MILLIONS OF UNSERVED HOMES AS HAVING BROADBAND A new broadband mapping system is starting to show just how inaccurate the Federal Communications Commission’s connectivity data is. Research indicates that it’s likely that millions of homes nationwide...
El Paso border crossing signal crisis has Verizon reaching out to the FCC for a resolution
Verizon would like to tell a Mexican cell carrier’s signals to go back to where they came from in order to fix their spotty service in El Paso that they are blaming on new cell sites that have been...
Following FCC’s scathing outage report, CenturyLink might be bracing for a serious fine
The FCC has released a scathing report detailing the cause and impact of a nationwide CenturyLink network outage that occurred late last year, along with recommendations to help prevent similar outages from occurring in the future. It could be...
Mobilitie looks to foreign investment fund to fuel 5G wireless deployment – gets $1 Billion
Mobilitie has announced a $1B exclusive arrangement with an unnamed foreign investment fund to fuel the next five years of growth around 5G infrastructure. The partnership represents a tremendous opportunity for the company to speed both U.S. and international 5G growth...
Contractor didn’t anticipate dress rehearsal for monopole pour and erection, leads Fast Forward Friday
THE SECOND TIME AROUND WILL BE TO CHARM THE BUILDING INSPECTOR For unknown reasons, a tower erector in Arkansas didn’t call for inspections when they poured the foundation and erected a 150-foot monopole. They didn’t have a third-party inspection...
Sixth 2019 tower tech death was kept quiet for over six weeks
After six weeks of investigating leads, Wireless Estimator has confirmed that an 18-year-old tower technician working on an AT&T installation project fell from a New Jersey monopole and died upon impact. The New York resident’s death had not been...
Tower techs and families are major benefactors of T-Mobile’s 6th annual golf tournament
T-Mobile hosted its 6th Annual Invitational Golf Tournament on Wednesday, July 24 in Newcastle, Washington. At the event, T-Mobile and the event’s 41 industry sponsors continued their generous track record by presenting $235,000 directly to the Tower Family Foundation...