President Trump, Vice President Vance, and four former presidents and officials gathered at ceremonies in Washington, New York, and Shanksville this morning commemorating the 25th anniversary of September 11, with the names of the people killed read aloud, a bell tolling between each. Amid the tributes, President Trump offered a line that captured the day’s tone: “We were all New …
From towers, buildings and fiber, 12 industry groups rally behind Danielle Thumann Severs for FCC commissioner
NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association today led a coalition of 12 communications industry, broadband, and public safety organizations in a letter to Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation Chairman Ted Cruz and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell urging the Committee to favorably report the nomination of Danielle Thumann Severs to serve as a Commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission …
TSI, a key Southwest Verizon-approved contractor, is gone — and so are its employees’ last paychecks
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 …
After two lean years, AT&T’s 600 MHz buildout points to a stronger 2027 for contractors
The FCC’s clearance of AT&T’s EchoStar spectrum deal is starting to look like more than a paper transaction to the contractors who’ll actually build it out. With formal entitlement work now getting underway, industry sources tell Wireless Estimator that a real construction ramp is taking shape behind the scenes — one that could mark a turning point after a stretch …
AT&T’s John Stankey has a chance no other carrier CEO has taken. Will he take it?
COMMENTARY: John Stankey, AT&T’s chairman and CEO, recently posted a thought on LinkedIn worth reflecting on: technology doesn’t build itself, and the people who build it deserve to be seen. That’s a good instinct, and a true one. We’d like to see it extended to a tower crew, too. Stankey used LinkedIn to make the case that human intelligence, not …
NATE’s ClimbCast puts Women of NATE’s growth, and its case for reaching everyone, front and center
The latest episode of NATE’s ClimbCast turns its focus to Women of NATE, the association’s leadership and development focus group, with host Brian Bicknese, NATE’s director of safety and education, sitting down with two of the group’s key leaders: Bessie Garcia, president of Tower Techniques in Dallas, and chairwoman of Women of NATE, and Jessica Cobb, owner of MDTS and …
AT&T bundles Amazon Leo satellite broadband into fiber and 5G, but keeps its AST SpaceMobile bet alive too
AT&T Business and Amazon Leo announced a strategic agreement today that makes AT&T the first major U.S. carrier to bundle Amazon’s low-earth-orbit satellite broadband into a single managed service alongside its fiber and 5G networks. The deal targets AT&T’s roughly 2.5 million business and public sector accounts, offering satellite as a third network layer rather than a standalone product — …
One arrest, others sought in Hawkins County, TN, tower vandalism case
A man is in custody after vandals knocked out communications towers across Hawkins County, Tennessee, overnight Saturday into Sunday, September 6, temporarily disrupting the county’s emergency communications system before deputies made an arrest within hours. Charles McDonald Cheeld V was detained on a bond revocation and has been charged with burglary and theft of property over $10,000. The sheriff’s office …
The Lords of the Network: Has wireless contracting become corporate feudalism?
Editor’s note: This op-ed runs long — but it’s the most direct argument we’ve published on carrier-contractor power dynamics in years, and it doesn’t stop at complaining. Clif Peterson names the problem, backs it with sourcing, and puts three specific asks on the table for AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. Worth the read. By Wireless Estimator Contributor Clif Peterson For nearly …
Hunter Deeley named FCC enforcement chief in move toward national-security-focused oversight
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr named Hunter Deeley Chief of the Commission’s Enforcement Bureau on August 31, elevating him from Chief of Staff and Deputy Bureau Chief to lead the office responsible for policing compliance with the Communications Act across every regulated entity the FCC oversees, wireless infrastructure included. Deeley succeeds Patrick Webre, who moves into a senior role in the …
Illinois becomes the final domino as NTIA approves all 56 BEAD plans
Nearly five years after Congress created the $42.45 billion BEAD program, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration says every state and territory finally has an approved plan for spending it. NTIA announced August 26 that it had signed off on the last of the 56 state and territorial Final Proposals, with Illinois closing out a list that has been shrinking …
Clear the room: NWSA tightens the rules for taking its online exams
The National Wireless Safety Alliance (NWSA) today reminded certification candidates and industry stakeholders that its previously announced zero-tolerance policy for exam environment requirements will take effect September 1, 2026. The policy reinforces NWSA’s commitment to maintaining the integrity, fairness, validity, and reliability of its professional trade certification programs for the communications infrastructure industry. Beginning September 1st, candidates whose testing environments …
FCC rules RF limits protect humans only, clearing way for Harmoni Towers’ 260-foot Montana tower
The FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau has cleared the way for Harmoni Towers to build a 260-foot cell tower in Montana’s Swan Valley, ruling against a group of local residents who argued the site would harm nesting eagles and other wildlife. The August 20 decision does more than resolve one tower fight — it puts the Commission on record stating, more …
NATE, EHSCP pack six panels and a two-speaker keynote into Minnesota safety symposium
NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Associationand the Environmental, Health & Safety Communications Panel (EHSCP) packed six panels, a two-speaker keynote luncheon, and a full slate of committee meetings into three days in Bloomington, Minnesota, closing out the 2026 NATE-EHSCP Summer Symposium Powered by NATE WIN with a session titled, fittingly, “Hot and Spicy Safety Topics.” The event ran August 11 …
Crop duster crashes into Basin Mediactive’s 45-year-old AM tower array near Olene, pilot critically injured
A crop duster pilot suffered major injuries Thursday morning after his aircraft struck a Basin Mediactive, LLC AM radio tower near Olene, Oregon — one of a four-tower directional array that has stood on the site since 1981, 45 years before the crash. A witness pulled the pilot from the burning wreckage before emergency crews arrived. Pilot Gus Macy, described …
Dish Wireless’s bankruptcy exit slides to December as tower companies press their $7.6 billion claim
Dish Wireless’s exit from Chapter 11 keeps sliding to the right, and tower companies are the reason why. A Houston bankruptcy judge said last week that if Crown Castle, American Tower and SBA Communications get the trial they’re pushing for on roughly $7.6 billion in disputed lease claims, the hearing to confirm Dish’s bankruptcy plan won’t start before December 2 …
New York’s ConnectALL broadband grants got $38 million more expensive and 34,000 connections smaller
New York quietly widened the price tag on its two flagship broadband grant programs by roughly $38 million over the past two years — while cutting the number of homes and businesses those same programs promise to connect by about 34,000, according to an analysis published August 18 by the Advanced Communications Law & Policy Institute (ACLP) at New York …
New York Times’ Paxton cell tower ownership story asks one real question — Then answers none of it
COMMENTARY Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Texas, is facing a new round of financial scrutiny after The New York Times reported August 10 that he has drawn six-figure income for years from a cell tower company he co-founded in 2005 — one that landed a site on the grounds of a Frisco, Texas …
Dehydrated tower tech pulled from 275-foot level of Rockford, IL broadcast tower after three-hour rescue
A tower tech was rescued Monday afternoon from a broadcast tower at WTVO-TV/WQRF-TV in Rockford, Illinois, after suffering what officials believe was a dehydration-related medical emergency 275 feet above ground, according to WTVO. Rockford Fire and the Northwest Fire Protection District responded to the station at 1917 N. Meridian Road just after 3 p.m. Monday, according to WTVO. The climber …
SpaceX’s terrestrial network has a timing problem: Nobody’s buying new phones
SpaceX’s plan to compete with AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon runs into a market reality that has nothing to do with satellites, spectrum, or rooftop small cells: people are holding onto their phones longer than they have in years, at the exact moment SpaceX needs them to buy new ones. A network that requires new hardware, launching into a slumping upgrade …
