TSI Tower Services, Inc., a Chandler, Arizona-based contractor with operations across Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada, ceased operations in mid-August, leaving as many as 80 employees without their final paychecks.
In the weeks since, multiple former TSI employees have contacted Wireless Estimator directly, describing missed pay dating back to early August, a company health insurance policy that lapsed May 31 while premiums continued to be deducted from paychecks for weeks afterward, and no clear timeline for when — or whether — they will be made whole.
Employees: Missed pay and a lapsed insurance policy
According to employees who contacted Wireless Estimator, TSI missed a payroll cycle in early August, then failed to produce final paychecks or back pay when operations were suspended around August 18. Internal company correspondence reviewed by Wireless Estimator shows TSI’s own finance leadership was aware of a separate, earlier problem: in a July 20 email, TSI’s Director of Finance confirmed to staff that health insurance premiums had “continued to be deducted from employee paychecks after the policy termination date of May 31, 2026.”
Payroll records reviewed by Wireless Estimator show those deductions continuing across at least four consecutive pay periods after the termination date. A reimbursement of those premiums, promised to employees in an August 10 internal email as being included “with payroll this week,” did not materialize on that timeline. At least one employee has described a medical bill of roughly $500 incurred after a doctor’s visit taken while believing coverage was still active. That same employee’s family includes a dependent child who requires ongoing medical care and had an appointment come due during the coverage gap, leaving the family uncertain whether that care would be covered.
According to one administrator, financial cracks were widening in early 2026. In early July, a company-wide announcement thanked employees for adapting to ‘anticipated issues’ with their RAMP fuel cards, directing them to an assigned WEX card instead.
A combination of challenges rather than one client
Chris Trout, TSI’s President and CEO, responded to questions from Wireless Estimator ahead of publication. He characterized TSI’s collapse as the cumulative result of a multi-year industry slowdown and margin compression across the wireless construction sector, rather than any single client. “TSI’s current situation isn’t the result of any single customer, project, or event,” Trout wrote. “The company encountered a combination of challenges over the last several years that ultimately created a liquidity situation we are currently challenged with.”
Trout said resolving unpaid payroll remains his top priority. “The unpaid employees are by far the most difficult part of this situation for me,” he wrote, adding that TSI is “continuing to work through the company’s financial resources to address those obligations.”
In a follow-up exchange, Trout told Wireless Estimator that funds exist that “will be taking care of the employees once received,” and that all improperly withheld insurance deductions will be reimbursed. In a company-wide email sent to employees September 4, Trout apologized for the continued delay but declined to commit to a specific date, writing that he did not want to “provide a specific date or make a promise until I know with certainty that the funds are available.”
Why available funds may already be spoken for
Arizona corporate filings reviewed by Wireless Estimator show TSI’s capital structure is more encumbered than Trout’s public statements indicate. Trout, who had been employed by TSI as a project manager in 2010, and then served as the company’s general manager for nine years, acquired TSI in November 2022 from its founding Johnston family ownership group, financed in part through a $2 million loan from the Johnston Family Trust.
That loan is secured, not unsecured — the Trust holds a pledge on 100 percent of the ownership shares in TSI Tower Services, Inc. held by the acquiring entity, TSI Group LLC — but it is explicitly subordinate to a senior secured position held by Western Alliance Bank, according to the recorded security agreement.
A separate blanket lien filed in May 2026 by Seamless Funding LLC, a Brooklyn, New York-based lender, reaches TSI Tower Services and more than a dozen affiliated entities, along with TSI’s own employee profit-sharing plan and a personal guarantee from Trout.
That structure matters directly for employees waiting on back pay: any funds TSI receives would likely first be subject to claims from one or more senior secured creditors before reaching unsecured obligations like employee wages, unless those creditors specifically release or subordinate their claims. Trout’s statements to Wireless Estimator and to employees have not specified whether the funds he has referenced are free of those competing claims.
Employees aren’t the only ones owed money
Employees are not the only party describing unpaid obligations. Multiple contractors and vendors have separately contacted Wireless Estimator claiming TSI owes them money, and the company reportedly also owes money to Verizon’s Minor Materials Distributor, the vendor through which TSI would have procured materials for Verizon projects. That leaves employees as one of several creditor classes with claims on what appears to be a limited and already-encumbered pool of company assets.
A Hail Mary with Verizon
Trout told Wireless Estimator that Verizon accounted for roughly 30 percent of TSI’s business. TSI had recently been selected as one of five preferred vendors in its Verizon market under the carrier’s regional RFP process — the same process Wireless Estimator has documented producing pricing reductions off 2021 rates in every market reviewed, despite Verizon’s commitment to the FCC and NATE to adjust its matrix pricing for inflation.
Winning that selection while accepting pricing consistent with what Wireless Estimator has documented elsewhere in the industry would have made profitability on the contract unlikely from the outset — closer to a Hail Mary than a stabilizing win, for a company already carrying a heavy debt load.
Wireless Estimator asked Trout how much TSI had to discount its pricing off the 2021 matrix to win the selection — a concession contractors across the industry have reported making simply to stay in business, even as some now describe that same discounted pricing as what may ultimately keep them from staying in business at all. Trout did not answer that question.
Verizon’s qualification standards for preferred vendors have reportedly required contractors to carry annual revenue a minimum of several times the value of the Verizon work being awarded. Given TSI’s documented financial position at the time of its selection, and its weakening client base, including the secured debt and blanket liens already on file, it is unclear how the company’s revenue would have supported that multiple relative to a new Verizon award — raising the question of whether Verizon verified the standard it has told contractors and regulators it applies.
Since Verizon went from approximately 450 contractors to approximately 80 in 2026, it wouldn’t be difficult for its Ireland administrators to ensure compliance.
In June, Wireless Estimator exposed evidence that Verizon’s internal communications had requested discount pricing in all U.S. markets from a five-year-old matrix that did not include inflation. In an earlier article regarding Verizon’s lack of transparence with NATE and the FCC, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said on X, “If Verizon is not living up to their commitments, then that would be a problem.”
It is unknown whether the FCC is investigating Verizon’s compliance with the FCC-NATE-Verizon framework agreement — or whether the agency’s new enforcement chief, Hunter Deeley, will take any action against the carrier, which reports approximately 147 million total wireless retail connections and claims it is the nation’s largest mobile carrier.
Another question Trout didn’t answer
Wireless Estimator asked Trout directly whether any funds available to pay employees were free of claims from secured or secondary lenders. Trout did not respond to that specific question, answering surrounding questions about reimbursements and TSI’s standing as a preferred Verizon vendor but leaving the encumbrance question unaddressed.
From about 120 employees to about 80
TSI employed approximately 120 people at the time of Trout’s 2022 acquisition, according to employees familiar with the company’s history. Under his ownership, that workforce shrank to roughly 80 by the time operations ceased, according to multiple current and former employees.
That headcount is relevant to one legal question employees have raised: the federal WARN Act, which requires 60 days’ advance notice of a plant closing or mass layoff, applies only to employers with 100 or more employees. At roughly 80 employees, TSI would fall below that threshold, meaning no WARN Act notice was legally required regardless of how abruptly operations ended.
Trout said he takes responsibility for the decisions made under his ownership of TSI, while noting that active financial and legal matters limit how much additional detail he can discuss. “I take responsibility for the decisions under my ownership and leadership of TSI,” he wrote. “At the same time, our team has been fighting extremely hard to navigate an extraordinary period in the wireless construction market and to build a path forward for the company.”
