Just one week after broadband infrastructure company Allstate Sales Group, Inc. (ASG) abruptly froze operations and delayed paychecks, leaving an estimated 500 workers jobless, a federal class action lawsuit has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. The complaint, brought by former ASG Vice President of Electrical Sales Joseph Horling on behalf of himself …
AT&T Mexico withholding rent puts $300M a year at risk for American Tower, clouding its cash flow
AT&T Mexico—a legally separate subsidiary from AT&T Mobility (U.S.) with its own master lease—has been withholding tower rent since early 2025, American Tower told investors last Friday in a late afternoon SEC filing. In 2024, AT&T Mexico contributed about $300 million of AMT tenant revenue, roughly 3% of AMT’s total property revenue. By contrast, AT&T Mobility (U.S.) accounts for approximately …
Infrastructure contractor ASG freezes operations and delays paychecks; roughly 500 workers laid off
UPDATE, Sept. 9, 2025 – A class action WARN Act lawsuit has been filed against Allstate Sales Group and two of its executives. Telecom infrastructure contractor Allstate Sales Group (ASG) has laid off roughly 500 employees who say they haven’t been paid and will soon lose health insurance, according to multiple individuals who shared internal emails with Wireless Estimator and …
Tilson’s $22 million sale to ITG Communications underscores the deep discount of a distressed auction
Wireless Estimator’s early presumption that Tilson would ultimately sell at a “fire sale” price following its bankruptcy has proven correct. Despite the company’s July balance sheet superficially showing more than $361 million in assets, Tilson announced in a press release Friday that it had selected an offer from ITG Communications, LLC for approximately $22 million as the highest and best …
500-foot broadcast tower toppled, $500K in damage—but sentences seen as too lenient
Two Oklahoma residents received what many consider light sentences after a copper theft that collapsed a 500-foot FM tower and caused more than $500,000 in damage, knocking Payne Media Group’s K95.5 (KITX) off the air in January 2024. Prosecutors said Candice Marie Logan and Matthew Carl Wilson cut a guy-wire at the KITX site near Hugo in the early hours …
New Mexico’s $40,433-per-doorstep BEAD fiber should face a tech-neutral sanity check
Commentary: Valley Telephone Cooperative is slated for $40,433 per passing (300 locations), the highest line item in New Mexico’s final BEAD proposal. Oso Internet Solutions isn’t far behind at $39,253 (729 locations). In parts of Valley’s footprint, the typical home value hovers near $100,000, so U.S. taxpayers are being asked to fund a single pass that approaches half—or more—of a …
AT&T to buy EchoStar spectrum for $23B, adding 600 MHz and 3.45 GHz licenses across ~400 U.S. markets
AT&T said it will acquire a nationwide bundle of wireless spectrum from EchoStar for about $23 billion in cash, a move the company says will bolster its 5G coverage and capacity and accelerate growth in both wireless and home-internet services. The deal, which is subject to regulatory approvals, is expected to close in mid-2026. Under a related agreement, AT&T and …
NATE’s Tough Tower video captures skill, safety, speed—and Verità’s win
NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association has released a new video that highlights the skill, safety, and teamwork on display at the 2025 Tough Tower Event in North Jackson, Ohio, held in June. The annual competition, built around real-world tasks in climbing, safety, rescue, rigging, installation, and speed, is designed to showcase the technicians who keep America’s communications networks running. …
Radio Activo wins order to stop American Tower from tearing down Nevada broadcast site; power shutoff stands for now
A federal judge in Nevada granted Radio Activo Broadcasting LLC a temporary restraining order (TRO) blocking American Towers LLC and Insite Towers, LLC from decommissioning, dismantling, or removing the 190-foot self-supporting tower that carries the broadcaster’s signal, but declined to require American Tower to restore electrical service to the site immediately. American Tower provides power for the site, constructed around …
DigitalBridge-led capital fuels Vantage’s new $25 billion 1.4-GW “Frontier” data center in Texas
Vantage Data Centers, a DigitalBridge Group-backed hyperscale data center portfolio company, has announced its most significant investment to date of over $25 billion to develop a mega-scale 1.4GW data center campus in Shackelford County, Texas. The state-of-the-art campus, “Frontier,” will lead to advancements in AI and employ more than 5,000 individuals across construction and ongoing operations. DigitalBridge manages the capital, …
Harmoni moves fast to remove 295-foot tower above Alabama highway after foundation failure was discovered
A 295-foot, multi-tenant self-supporting tower perched about 60 feet above an Alabama highway is being dismantled by crane this week after inspectors found it leaning and at risk of collapse in Cullman County late last week. The structure, owned by Harmoni Towers and located along Highway 69 in Bremen, northeast of Jasper, was undergoing a scheduled maintenance visit when it …
‘Tracking device’ ruling: Court upholds $92M fine; T-Mobile and Sprint’s pay-first move ends jury bid
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld $92 million in Federal Communications Commission forfeitures against T-Mobile and Sprint for failing to safeguard customer location data. Writing for a unanimous court, Judge Florence Y. Pan, joined by Judges Karen LeCraft Henderson and Brad Garcia, rejected the carriers’ bid to vacate penalties tied to 2018–2019 …
Cell tower legal showdown: Developers score wins in two out of three federal siting cases
Three separate rulings in New Hampshire, Virginia, and Florida over the past week have reshaped the legal landscape for wireless infrastructure deployment on the East Coast. From outright victories for developers to partial wins for a local government, the decisions highlight both the legal guardrails of the federal Telecommunications Act (TCA) and the consequences of procedural missteps by municipalities. Rapidan, …
SpaceX blasts Virginia’s $613M broadband plan as wasteful, biased against Starlink
SpaceX has accused the Commonwealth of Virginia of wasting hundreds of millions in federal broadband funds and rigging its Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program in favor of high-cost fiber projects at the expense of faster, cheaper, and already available satellite service. In an August 13, 2025 letter to the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), SpaceX …
CTIA names Verizon’s Kyle Malady Chairman, succeeding LT Therivel following UScellular’s sale to T-Mobile
CTIA has appointed Kyle Malady, Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of Verizon Business, as Chairman of CTIA’s Board of Directors, effective immediately. He succeeds Laurent “LT” Therivel, who is stepping down following UScellular’s completion of the sale of its wireless operations to T-Mobile on August 1, 2025. Malady previously served as CTIA Vice Chairman. An industry expert with …
DigitalBridge and Crestview to take WOW! private in $1.5 billion deal, offering a 63% premium to shareholders
WideOpenWest, Inc. (WOW!) has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by investment funds affiliated with DigitalBridge Investments, LLC and Crestview Partners for $5.20 per share in cash, valuing the transaction at approximately $1.5 billion. The all-cash deal, approved unanimously by WOW!’s board of directors on the recommendation of its special committee, represents a 37.2% premium over the unaffected …
Array Digital CEO Douglas Chambers joins WIA Board as the new towerco posts strong Q2 results
The Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA) today announced the appointment of Douglas W. Chambers to its Board of Directors. Chambers, formerly U.S. Cellular’s CFO, is now serving as Interim President and CEO of Array Digital Infrastructure, the newly spun-off tower and spectrum-focused company. “WIA is pleased to welcome Doug Chambers to WIA’s Board,” said WIA President and CEO Patrick Halley. “His …
Fallen communication tower, not cell tower, knocks out power to 25,000 in Carol Stream, Illinois
More than 25,000 ComEd customers lost electricity Friday after a communication tower collapsed onto a high-voltage transmission line in Carol Stream, Illinois, knocking out power across several DuPage County communities. The outage began in the afternoon and affected a wide swath of customers in Carol Stream, with ripple effects in Glen Ellyn, Winfield, and Wheaton. Power was restored to nearly …
AT&T chooses a $45/month romance over a long-term relationship with copper at $25K
In a recent FCC filing, AT&T Services, acting on behalf of Southwestern Bell Telephone Company (AT&T Texas), requested permission from the FCC to permanently discontinue TDM‑based Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) to a single residential customer in the Forrest Lake area of Houston, Texas The outage began on May 25, 2025, when 872 feet of copper cable were stolen from …
Deadly consequences: NATE survey seeks to prevent rope-related incidents
Rope failure in the telecommunications industry isn’t just inconvenient — it can be deadly. Despite the critical role ropes play in rigging, fall protection, and rescue operations, the industry continues to see rope-related incidents, some with catastrophic consequences. Now, NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association, is sounding the alarm and calling on workers and leaders across the industry to take …
