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2015’s 50 most popular news stories according to views

In Featured News by Wireless Estimator

A news article that doesn’t have as many views as another story doesn’t mean that it wasn’t important to industry readers. It just meant that it appealed to a more select group of viewers. The below articles had the most views on Wireless Estimator from the more than 694,00 unique viewers that visited the site in 2015. Articles are in calendar order from January …

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FCC’s wireless competition report has its Commissioner and association adversaries

In Featured News by Wireless Estimator

The Federal Communications Commission released its 18th report to Congress on competition in the wireless industry which sheds little light on whether or not carriers are competitive. The Wireless Telecommunications Bureau said in its report that the goal of the Commission is to promote competition and it “must continue to play an essential role in the mobile wireless industry,” hopefully …

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Slim’s Telesites towerco spinoff is off to a rocky start

In Daily News Briefs by Wireless Estimator

Telesites SAB, a spinoff from Carlos Slim’s America Movil SAB, has a majority of analysts recommending selling the shares. The wireless-tower company started trading in Mexico this week and after its debut on Monday when there appeared to be market interest, it proceeded to drop yesterday 2.9 percent to 11.99 pesos ($.70). Mexico City-based Telesites, created to manage the operator’s …

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NATE’s 2016 educational campaign will also be tough on social media nonsense

In Daily News Briefs, Safety by Wireless Estimator

The National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) today released a video trailer promoting its upcoming 2016 Climber Connection marketing campaign that will combat climbers on social media whose dangerous activities set poor examples for an industry with tens of thousands of technicians who work safely. Equally as important, it will highlight safe work practices. The Climber Connection campaign was developed …

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AT&T work is a top Christmas wish list item for contractors and suppliers

In Featured News by Wireless Estimator

Last year’s holiday gifts from AT&T came in the form of canceled construction purchase orders bandaged in cheerfully-colored stress-relieving bubble wrap, painstakingly selected by CEO Randall Stephenson. And although Stephenson told investors last week that “there’s going to be a continual downward pressure on our capital spending,” possibly signaling another coal stocking stuffer, some analysts believe that AT&T is going …

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Appeals court rules FCC didn’t abuse its discretion with its wireless siting order

In Featured News by Wireless Estimator

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled today that the Federal Communications Commission was within its rights to interpret legal terms in its Wireless Siting Order which adopts new environmental exemptions for DAS and small cells and gives a detailed interpretation of Section 6409(a) of the Spectrum Act that includes a new 60-day shot clock designed to …

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Tractel fall arrest product alert in the U.S. proves to be a false alarm

In Featured News, Safety by Wireless Estimator

Tractel North America says that an industry news report that triggered Facebook posts today identifying that the company sent a “product alert to the tower industry” stating that their retractable fall arrester Blocfor 10AES should be checked for a possible device problem in the U.S., is inaccurate since the affected products that were manufactured in the U.K., not in Germany …

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Free February train-the-trainer and fall prevention worker training courses readied by NATE

In Featured News, Safety, Training News & Initiatives by Wireless Estimator

The National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) today announced the opening of the registration process for the first two Susan Harwood Training grant-enabled courses the organization will be hosting in 2016. NATE, in conjunction with curriculum and training provider Safety Controls Technology (SCT), is offering a five-day Train-the-Trainer Course from Feb. 21 to Feb. 25 at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside in New Orleans, …

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Former PCIA chief and wireless pioneer Jay Kitchen passes at age 70

In Daily News Briefs by Wireless Estimator

Emmett Benjamin “Jay” Kitchen, 70, one of the industry’s first and most respected advocates for a wireless America, passed away on Dec. 13, 2015 after battling Parkinson’s disease for 16 years. When Kitchen took over leadership of the Personal Communications Industry Association (PCIA) in 1994, he hit the ground running and put the organization structure in place to help win …

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FCC and DOL announce second workshop on tower climber safety and apprenticeship program

In Featured News, Training News & Initiatives by Wireless Estimator

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Employment and Training Administration (ETA) have announced preliminary details of a second workshop on tower climber safety and the Telecommunications Industry Registered Apprenticeship Program (TIRAP). The first joint FCC-DOL workshop on these subjects was held on October 14, 2014. The upcoming workshop, to be …

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Wi-Fi discreet street furniture finds a new home underground

In Featured News by Wireless Estimator

Antenna manufacturer Kathrein, in collaboration with Switzerland’s Swisscom, introduced its manhole antenna solution in a PR blitz last week to emphasize that additional street furniture isn’t always necessary to provide increased city coverage. Virgin Media, however, has already struck gold underground in the UK and is installing its ‘Smart Pavements’ free public Wi-Fi in manholes in Chesham, England through wireless …

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Kathrein offers ‘Street Connect’ for wireless densification in high traffic locations

In Daily News Briefs, New Product News by Wireless Estimator

LTE antenna provider Kathrein has introduced an innovative solution for wireless densification in cities. In collaboration with Swisscom, Switzerland’s leading telecom provider, Kathrein developed “Kathrein Street Connect”, an in-ground antenna system that enhances mobile capacity at hotspots with high data traffic. Following a trial period in Bern, Switzerland, the antenna will be deployed in selected cities in early 2016. According to Swisscom, …

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New FAA tower lighting standard will cut costs and cut down on avian deaths

In Featured News, Standards by Wireless Estimator

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has published its newest Obstruction Marking and Lighting advisory circular that became effective Friday. It includes significant changes to the telecom industry’s lighting requirements since the last time the agency revised Advisory Circular 70/7460K in 2007. A key change in the new document — that has been proposed by the industry for a number of years …

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Safety LMS’s new leadership greatly expands its tower training methods and locations

In Daily News Briefs, Safety, Training News & Initiatives by Wireless Estimator

Safety LMS, a tower construction safety training company headquartered in Austin, Tex., has announced it has expanded its capabilities with a new leadership team and additional locations for training. Under new ownership, 39-year tower industry safety expert John Paul (JP) Jones has taken over as President of Safety LMS  with 25-year industry veteran Jimmy Hurt as Vice President and Director …

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Harbinger’s LightSquared loses appeal after $1.9 billion lawsuit is tossed

In Daily News Briefs by Wireless Estimator

The Second Circuit in New York on Monday upheld a decision by the Manhattan federal court in February dismissing Harbinger Capital Partners LLC’s $1.9 billion suit claiming three GPS makers hid market information and drove its startup LightSquared Inc. into bankruptcy. The court said it found a lack of a relationship between the companies, Garmin, Trimble and Deere and the …

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Industry expert is banking upon AT&T ramping up spending for its U.S. wireless network

In Featured News by Wireless Estimator

AT&T CapEx – No more guessing! By John Celentano AT&T’s capital expenditures (capex) have been in the tank for the past year, and tower owners and installation contractors along with the original equipment manufacturers that support AT&T’s network all continue to feel the pain of the company’s significant capex cutbacks since mid-2014. Many marketers across the supply chain still are trying …

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NATE members elect four incumbents and one new director to its board

In Associations News, Featured News, Safety, Training News & Initiatives by Wireless Estimator

The National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) today released the results of the 2016 Board of Directors election. The Association announced that candidates John Paul Jones, President of Tower & Turbine Technologies LLC in Cedar Park, Tex.; Bryan Lee, President of Lee Antenna & Line Service, Inc. in Springtown, Pa.; Jimmy Miller, President of MillerCo, Inc. in Gulfport, Miss. and Don …

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GME Supply’s new Atlanta location showcases its multi-million-dollar expansion

In Daily News Briefs by Wireless Estimator

GME Supply Co  has announced the opening of its newest facility in a strategic location in Atlanta, Ga. With this multi-million dollar expansion, the company has added an additional 30,000 square feet of stocked warehouse space, all with the aim to better serve its wireless infrastructure customers in the Southeast. The Atlanta facility features the company’s unique “Safety Experience Zone,” where …

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Mt. Wilson’s iconic Poole complex acquired by InSite Towers

In Featured News by Wireless Estimator

A deal to buy the multi-tower Poole Tower complex on Mount Wilson in California that was expected to be close to being inked in April, according to a report in Wireless Estimator, took another seven months, but finally closed last week, according to Media Services Group’s Bob Heymann, Jr. who served as the broker for Poole Properties, in announcing the …

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Removing five diagonals and loosening 12 others cited for causing deaths, injuries

In Featured News, Incident Report News, Safety, Standards by Wireless Estimator

Four lawsuits that were filed in June against a tower owner and the contractor it hired to design and manage a structural reinforcement project in West Va. where two tower technicians died and two were injured after a tower collapsed, have worked their way from circuit court to federal court, and the defendants are alleging that it was the tower …