A 28-year-old tower technician was killed Friday afternoon in an industry accident that occurred off of NM 14 northeast of Albuquerque, N.M. According to sources knowledgeable of the incident, David Fernandez of Las Cruces, N.M., employed by Enertech of New Braunfels, Tex., was performing a Sprint antenna change-out on a water tower in an all-terrain man lift when he fell …
Concrete seen as a culprit in Corning’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium DAS design failure in IBM lawsuit
Successfully teaming with Corning Optical Communications Wireless, Inc. to build a strong fiber-based WiFi and DAS network for Texas A&M’s Kyle Field in 2015, IBM again partnered with Corning to provide a DAS and WiFi system in the new 71,000-seat Atlanta Falcons Mercedes-Benz Stadium that opened Aug. 26, 2017. But the short-lived relationship began to unravel following the inking of a …
T-Mobile/Sprint merger would cause substantial harm to nation’s workforce: CWA
The Communications Workers of America (CWA) has again reached out to the FCC, blasting the proposed $26 billion acquisition of Sprint by T-Mobile, alleging that the carriers’ claims that the merger would provide “robust competition to the 5G era” is a red herring and it will likely result in pink slips for 30,000 jobs across the nation. Last August, the …
Tata exits 30,000 American Tower leases for a payment of $320 million
Tata Teleservices is settling with American Tower for $320 million following its early exit from 30,000 tower leases in India after it sold its mobility business to Bharti Airtel. The sale paves the way for the Tata group to close its agreement with Bharti Airtel which required that the conglomerate would need to clear all liabilities from earlier agreements. The telco entered …
Fed’s findings could stymie new OSHA tower rule and lead to adoption of A10.48 Standard
An extensive 266-page report from The Small Business Advocacy Review Panel (SBAR) regarding a possible new OSHA standard that would apply to all work activities performed on cell, broadcast and all other communications towers was released this week with 10 key recommendations (below) for OSHA to consider if they’re going to introduce a new industry safety rule. OSHA is required …
Cumulus DC cluster evacuated over suspicious package leads Fast-Forward Friday articles
Fast-Forward Friday is Wireless Estimator’s latest news offering that provides an overview of relevant industry news stories presented during the week by other media that were not covered by our staff, along with a link to the article to go upstream and read it in its entirety. After all, the articles’ authors did all the heavy lifting, and capsuling their content and …
Carriers’ fuzzy Hurricane Michael outage math doesn’t add up
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai last week chided carriers for their slow progress in restoring wireless service in areas close to where Hurricane Michael made landfall. He called it “completely unacceptable.” Yesterday, he complimented broadcasters for their stellar job. “Another familiar aspect is local radio and TV broadcasters were unsung heroes in their first informer roles and in the aftermath,” Pai …
FCC wants input on tower and other costs to be incurred by repacking
The FCC released their “catalog of potential expenses and estimated costs” yesterday for LPTV stations and TV translator facilities, and for FM radio stations, expected to be incurred as a result of broadcaster repacking, and is asking for public comments. “While we believe the catalog is relatively comprehensive, it does not cover every possible expense for every situation, nor is it …
Verizon taking lion’s share of blame for continuing Hurricane Michael site outages
Hard-hit Bay County, Fla. is showing, according to FCC data, that 30% of its cell sites are still down as of Oct. 22, 2018 from Hurricane Michael. A week ago, that percentage was at 62%. (See data below.) Recent news reports indicate that Verizon, a key carrier for Panama City and outlying suburbs in Bay County is still struggling to …
NATE UNITE 2019’s keynote luncheon address will feature Duck Dynasty’s Willie Robertson
The National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) announced today that Willie Robertson will deliver the keynote address at the NATE UNITE 2019 Conference in Grapevine, Texas. The event will take place February 4-7, 2019 at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center. NATE UNITE is widely regarded as the premier and most comprehensive education event in the wireless and broadcast …
Leaving cell sites far below, FCC Commissioner Carr breaks through the clouds at 2,000’
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr on Friday conducted a site visit to the KDLT TV broadcast tower located near Rowena, S.D. and climbed the top portion of the 2,000-foot tower. On Thursday, it was an almost balmy – for South Dakota – 50 degrees. But when Carr arrived on site it was 30 degrees and snowing. During his site visit, …
‘Hallelujah’ heard from Mexico Beach Mayor as Verizon service is restored on his phone
Hard-hit by Hurricane Michael’s devastating winds and cut fiber lines, Bay County, Fla. saw little improvement yesterday in the number of cell sites that were down, going from 216 the day before to just 214, but this afternoon there was a marked improvement in service as the dominant carrier in Panama City and Mexico Beach, Verizon, brought service back to …
Florida’s Governor calls out Verizon and AT&T’s poor service in hard-hit Bay County, Florida
Florida Governor Rick Scott at a press conference yesterday regarding Hurricane Michael restoration efforts said, “One of the most frustrating problems is telecommunications.” “Now, after clearing the roads, communications are the first priority, and power. We have an unbelievable problem in Bay County — Verizon is down and AT&T is up, but the county services are on Verizon. In other …
Hurricane Michael mauls cell service in three states after cutting through Georgia
When Hurricane Florence slammed into North Carolina on Sept. 17, it kayoed 718 cell sites, according to the FCC’s Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) which listed the counties that could suffer service interruption in four states. Hurricane Michael, the third-most powerful storm on record to hit the U.S., and the worst in 50 years, has almost doubled the number of …
Motorola’s Florida half-billion dollar payday approval leads Fast-Forward Friday articles
Fast-Forward Friday is Wireless Estimator’s latest news offering that provides an overview of relevant industry news stories presented during the week by other media that were not covered by our staff, along with a link to the article to go upstream and read it in its entirety. After all, the articles’ authors did all the heavy lifting, and capsuling their content and …
Wireless infrastructure failed his city’s first responders: Panama City Beach Mayor
Panama City Beach saw some catastrophic damage, and localized flooding and power outages, but faired considerably better than its sister community 15 miles east, Panama City, which also took a severe hit, and many locations look like a wasteland after Hurricane Michael, the third-most powerful storm on record to hit the U.S., and the worst in 50 years, devastated Florida …
Whether Dish Network builds 50,000 towers or collocates, contractors will benefit
Although media headlines state that Dish Network is considering building 50,000 towers throughout the nation at a cost of $10 billion to launch a new 5G network, it’s doubtful that they will, but collocations are a strong possibility for towercos. FierceWireless broke the story that Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen said at an investor’s conference that the company could spend up …
Some site acqs might have to confront ‘colo in a can’
In the past, site acquisition professionals had to debunk the belief that cell sites were going to be so small in the future that communities would be left with an abundance of unnecessary rusted, teetering macro sites. The newest hurdle they might face is that Drexel’s College of Engineering has published research that they have found a method for spraying invisibly …
NATE hosts UAS operations showcase event in D.C. Beltway at Crown Castle site
Key stakeholders from federal government agencies, industry and media participated in the inaugural NATE Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Operations “Field Day Showcase” yesterday. This dynamic drone experience was held at a Crown Castle tower site located in Gainesville, Va., in close proximity to the Washington, D.C. beltway. At the event, attendees were provided an opportunity to witness live flight demonstrations …
FirstNet’s 72-dedicated deployable network assets ready for Hurricane Michael
Public safety agencies subscribing to FirstNet now have access to the full fleet of 72 dedicated deployable network assets. And many of them might be needed later this week if Tropical Storm Michael reaches hurricane status and comes ashore in Florida. AT&T said it is ready for Hurricane Michael and has “an arsenal of disaster response equipment and personnel on standby.” Florida Gov. Rick …
