A federal judge in California has rejected AT&T’s attempt to temporarily halt state rules requiring the company to keep providing basic telephone service, dealing the carrier a setback in its broader campaign to exit copper infrastructure nationwide. U.S. District Judge Linda Lopez of the Southern District of California denied AT&T’s request for a preliminary injunction on July 16, ruling from …
TIF and NATE release deep-dive training video on proper monopole collar ring mount installation
The Telecommunications Industry Foundation (TIF) and NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association have released a new training video providing contractors with a detailed look at the proper installation of collar ring mounts on monopoles—one of the most critical steps in building a safe and level antenna platform. The latest installment in the organization’s ongoing educational series emphasizes that proper planning …
From crisis support to college funding: Tower Family Foundation awards 40 scholarships and supports 29 returning recipients
The Tower Family Foundation, which supports the wireless construction industry’s men and women and their families in their time of greatest need following fatalities or serious injuries, has announced the recipients of its merit-based scholarship program for the 2026-2027 academic year. The Tower Family Foundation scholarship program provides a limited number of merit-based scholarships to employees of NATE member companies …
WIA report and independent analysis agree: Satellites can’t replace cell towers as BEAD pulls back satellite funding
The timing lines up in a way that’s hard to ignore. Just as a new report commissioned by the Wireless Infrastructure Association — alongside a separate, independent analysis reaching similar conclusions — argues that satellite direct-to-device service can’t replace terrestrial cell towers, the federal government is moving to strip roughly half the broadband locations awarded to satellite providers under the …
American Tower’s rights to Detroit cell site upheld a second time, case heads back to appeals court
Adamo Construction, LLC has filed a new appeal with the Michigan Court of Appeals challenging a Wayne County Business Court ruling that, for the second time, rejected the company’s bid to unwind American Tower’s rights to a cell tower site on Detroit property Adamo bought secondhand for $45,000 after it was sold off in a tax foreclosure. American Tower’s interest …
AT&T, Ericsson show cell towers can spot drones — interception is still somebody else’s job
AT&T and Ericsson demonstrated something with real security implications outside AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX on Friday, July 10: standard 5G cell towers, already blanketing American cities, can detect and continuously track multiple drones in real time using nothing but software layered on equipment that’s already up there. What it does not do is stop one. This was a sensing …
America’s 5G was built to download videos; AI needs it to upload instead. U.S. has real work to do to catch up.
For two decades, the mobile industry has marketed one number above all others: peak download speed. A new report from Ookla, the company behind Speedtest, argues that number no longer tells you whether a network is any good — and the United States is a clear example of the mismatch. American carriers dedicate a smaller share of their networks to …
AT&T to FCC: We won’t fix 600 copper outages — Here’s where they all happened, city by city
AT&T filed a 606-page application with the FCC on July 6, seeking emergency authorization to permanently suspend voice service at 600 locations across 16 states, rather than repair the copper facilities damaged at each site. Wireless Estimator reviewed the full exhibit, which lists every incident individually, and the underlying data tells a clearer story than the filing’s legal boilerplate does. …
CITCA expands Midwest training reach with new regional safety training facility in North Jackson, Ohio
CITCA – Construction Industry Training and Certification Academy, headquartered in Bradley, Illinois, announced the addition of a new regional safety training facility in North Jackson, Ohio, through a partnership with Tri-County Tower LLC. This new location gives CITCA customers expanded access to hands-on tower, rooftop, and industry-specific safety training in a real-world environment. The facility further strengthens CITCA’s ability to …
Carrier capex says the money’s still there. Help wanted postings say the legitimate companies aren’t.
Across the wireless construction industry, a complaint has become too common to dismiss as isolated grumbling: legitimate wireless communications contractors say they can no longer compete with illegal 1099 crews and foreign nationals working outside U.S. labor law, who are underbidding compliant companies on price because they carry none of the costs — insurance, workers’ compensation, proper tax withholding, safety …
WIA lands $29.9 million to grow registered apprenticeships for telecom workforce
The Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA) today announced it has been selected as one of five organizations nationwide to receive funding through a $29.9 million US. Department of Labor (DOL) cooperative agreement designed to help employers establish and maintain registered apprenticeship programs. The award will enable WIA to provide participating employers with pay-for-performance incentives that support the development, expansion, and long-term …
Maybe-faux marriage proposal atop Empire State Building ends in eight charges and supervised release
Two people climbed to the top of the Empire State Building’s broadcast antenna Wednesday afternoon, unfurled a banner, and got engaged in front of millions of social media viewers and a wave of well-wishers already dreaming up a wedding to rival Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s. Except the engagement increasingly looks like scripted performance art, according to the bride-to-be’s father, …
DISH bankruptcy filing puts numbers on who gets paid and who doesn’t — And a $2.4B fund only covers some of it
DISH DBS Corporation, DISH Wireless L.L.C. and 16 affiliates filed prepackaged Chapter 11 petitions June 30 in Houston, formalizing the wind-down of DISH Wireless’s facilities-based 5G network following EchoStar’s spectrum sales to AT&T and SpaceX. DISH Network, Sling TV, Boost Mobile and Hughes are all expected to continue operating without interruption — it’s DISH Wireless alone that’s being decommissioned. The …
Verizon’s move on Carolina West Wireless gives FCC Chairman Carr a clear leverage point on contractor commitments
Carolina West Wireless, a 35-year-old rural carrier serving 11 counties in western North Carolina, announced today that it has entered into an agreement to transition its wireless network to Verizon and will discontinue wireless services effective September 30, 2026. Terms were not disclosed. The deal marks the end of an independent wireless provider that was born from a partnership among …
Westlake, Texas refuses to surrender: Town appeals fed’s order to grant cell tower permit to Vertical Bridge
The Town of Westlake, Texas — the wealthiest municipality in the Lone Star State — took another step this month in its ongoing fight against a federally ordered cell tower permit, filing its record excerpts with the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on June 1 as the appeal moves into active briefing. The filing, lays out …
NATE cuts the ribbon on new South Dakota headquarters, marking a milestone three decades in the making
One year after breaking ground on a new home for one of the wireless infrastructure industry’s most important trade associations, NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association officially opened the doors of its new headquarters last week, welcoming members, partners, friends, and community leaders to experience what had been, just twelve months earlier, nothing more than a vision on paper. The …
Jim Tracy, a wireless industry icon steps into a global spotlight he was perhaps always meant to occupy
When Jim Tracy was building cell towers across North America, Alaska, Hawaii, the Pacific Rim, and Antarctica, there were no podcasts, no social media platforms, no YouTube channels, and no global speaking circuits hungry for authentic voices on personal and cultural issues. Had those avenues existed decades ago, one would have to wonder whether Legacy Telecommunications would ever have been …
Two men, one competition, and a redemption story: FordCom Wireless claims Tough Tower crown
Their victory was a year in the making. After earning a bronze finish in last year’s competition, tower technicians Chris Smith and Frankie Newman of FordCom Wireless in East Palestine, Ohio, returned to Tough Tower with unfinished business. The duo climbed, competed, and conquered their way to first place in the 2026 competition, besting six other two-man teams in a …
AT&T reports 90% drop in louisville copper theft, but Eastern Kentucky remains under siege
Copper wire theft in Louisville, Kentucky, has plummeted by 90% over the past year, according to AT&T — a dramatic turnaround the carrier credits to a sustained partnership between the city, law enforcement, and the telecom industry. But even as Louisville celebrates measurable progress, AT&T warns the problem has migrated east, where rural communities are paying a steep price in …
Pennsylvania is moving forward. Verizon’s union workers got a 17.62% raise. Non-union broadband contractors got the shaft.
Pennsylvania’s $711 million in BEAD funding is finally moving. Contracts will be signed. Fiber will be laid. Rural communities that have waited years for reliable internet will, in theory, get connected within four years. On the surface, it looks like a win. But the surface rarely tells the full story — as Wireless Estimator has documented since February, first on …
