The Tower Family Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, is encouraging all wireless industry companies and stakeholders to make an end of year tax-deductible donation to the organization prior to December 31, 2019. All contributions to the Tower Family Foundation are granted directly to eligible tower workers and/or their families to help assist them in paying for their immediate needs and …
Vertical Bridge closes out the year with record-breaking philanthropy funding driven by employees
Vertical Bridge REIT, LLC, the largest private owner and operator of communications infrastructure in the United States, has announced that, with its matched employee donations, it has donated more than $1.5 million to charitable organizations in 2019. This is the firm’s largest annual contribution since its founding in 2014 and a nearly 20% increase over last year. Since Vertical Bridge’s founding …
A dangling upside-down tower tech in Alabama leads Fast-Forward Friday news
GUY SNAPS HURLING TOWER TECH 40 FEET UP AN ALABAMA TOWER A tower tech last Friday dangled 40-feet in the air upside-down when a guy wire snapped while he was on the ground catapulting him upwards on the tower. The tech, employed by Douglasville, Georgia-based Bennett Communications, didn’t hit the tower on the way up. The Atmore News covered the …
Four NATE Directors re-elected as Cobb joins Board for the first time
The National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) today released the results of their 2020 Board of Directors election. The Association announced that Jimmy Miller, President of MillerCo, Inc. in Gulfport, Mississippi; John Paul Jones, President of Tower & Turbine Technologies LLC in Austin, Texas; Kevin Dougherty, President of Millennia Contracting, Inc in New Castle, Delaware; and Bryan Lee, President of …
FCC gives 5G a green light as the agency maintains existing RF exposure limits
Following proposed modifications to its radio frequency (RF) exposure rules originally released in 2013, and to allay concerns about 5G transmitters and devices, the FCC has released a decision maintaining existing allowable RF exposure limits while simplifying the process for determining whether devices are exempt from RF exposure testing. The agency voted unanimously last week to keep in place RF …
Having saved more lives than he ever knew, Winton ‘Dub’ Wilcox Jr. passes at age 74
Simply said, what Guglielmo Marconi did for radio, Winton (Dub) Wilcox Jr. achieved for climber safety as he took a cottage industry with loosely knit safety practices to a heightened professional awareness to save tower techs’ lives through his advocacy and establishment in 1995 of one of the first schools to teach tower climbing safety – ComTrain. He passed away …
American Tower and SBA’s tower source in Brazil has now become their key competitor
For many years, both SBA Communications and American Tower Corp. have eyed Brazil as an excellent country to buy and build wireless infrastructure to serve the world’s fifth-largest country with 210 million people. Adding to their portfolios, in 2012 American Tower acquired 1,800 towers from Telefonica’s Vivo. Also, in 2012, SBA inked a deal for 800 towers from Vivo …
FCC scraps 4G subsidy program and plans to dole out $9 billion for 5G in rural areas
The FCC said yesterday that it plans to scrap a $4.5 billion subsidy program for 4G LTE in rural areas and in its place launch a $9 billion fund to bring 5G wireless to hard to reach parts of the country. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said the new fund will help carriers pay for 5G deployments in sparsely populated, hard-to-reach …
Toppling a 500-foot structure, ice isn’t nice to a Nebraska tower
A weekend winter blizzard in Chadron, Nebraska that included freezing rain and heavy snow powered by 50-60 mph winds, collapsed a 500-foot guyed tower owned by Eagle Communications, Inc., headquartered in Hays, Kansas The Saturday storm knocked out Eagle’s Double Q Country/KQSK radio station in addition to disrupting service for the Dawes County Sheriff’s Office, Northwest Rural Public Power District, …
NATE member Petrilla to serve on Department of State’s International Telecommunications Advisory Committee
The National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) announced today that Jesse Petrilla has been selected to serve on the U.S. Department of State’s International Telecommunications Advisory Committee (ITAC). The purpose of the ITAC is to advise the Department of State with respect to telecommunications and information policy matters related to United States participation in the work of the International Telecommunication …
SBA gets an unwanted assist from Mother Nature in Pennsylvania tower swap-out
In 2017, SBA Towers II, LLC petitioned the Ferguson Township, Pennsylvania Board of Supervisors to replace an existing 181-foot self-supporting tower located at 200 Jackson Trail in the Rothrock State Forest. SBA entered into a ground lease in 1995 with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, but the tower became structurally unsound over the years and in 2017, SBA said that the tower …
Crazy lady opens fire on two tower techs working on a Crown Castle North Carolina tower
Two tower techs working on a 290-foot Crown Castle guyed tower in Taylorsville, North Carolina were targets of choice for a deranged 61-year-old woman who began shooting at them with a 22-caliber revolver. Thankfully, her aim was just as off balance as she was and the men were not injured. According to Alexander County Sheriff’s Office authorities, Susan Lynn Moose …
Employer of inexperienced 1099 tower tech who died Saturday was laden with OSHA violations
Neither OSHA nor Oktibbeha County authorities have released the employer’s name of 43-year-old John Wayne Womack of Mountain View, Arkansas who passed away on Saturday after falling from a 348-foot self-supporting tower that was being erected in Longview, Mississippi, but according to knowledgeable sources, the company was Pegasus Tower, Inc., an OSHA citation-laden company from Calico Rock, Arkansas. Pegasus …
Crosby warning workers to take out of service certain 7/8” shackles
The Crosby Group has determined the listed 7/8” shackles above may have a condition that can reduce the ultimate load capacity from the published catalog values. The shackle bow may have a previously undetected defect, and continued use may result in loss of load, property damage, severe injury, or death. By use of the production identification code (PIC) symbols appearing …
Pai chooses public auction for C-band spectrum as Intelsat sinks
The FCC is ready to start a public auction for C-band spectrum with the objective of developing 5G wireless connectivity in the mid-band spectrum, according to an announcement today from FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. Pai made his plans clear today, in a letter to Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. Pai had …
Arkansas tech dies in Mississippi during erection of 348-foot self-supporting tower
An Arkansas tower technician died Saturday after he fell approximately 80 feet from a self-supporting tower being constructed in Mississippi. It was the eighth industry fatality this year. Oktibbeha County Coroner Michael Hunt identified the deceased as 43-year-old John Wayne Womack of Mountain View, Arkansas. Womack’s employer, provided to Wireless Estimator by an individual knowledgeable about the fatality, could not be …
Afraid of having its contractors fail or bolt, Sprint introduces its ‘Same Day Pay’ financing program
Stating that it was concerned that it might not be able to maintain 5G construction crews, Sprint has unveiled its all-new ‘Same Day Pay’ financing program, providing day-of compensation to its 5G network builders and suppliers by shortening administrative overhead and collapsing the overpayment process as far as it can go. The Sprint ‘Same Day Pay’ program is a part of the …
Mexican telecom battle broadens at the border over 700 MHz interference
Thousands of Verizon customers, from El Paso, Texas to San Diego, California, are still fighting to get decent coverage that is being blocked after Mexican wholesaler Altán Redes introduced service three months ago In August, Mexican-based Altán Redes launched wireless service along the border using the 700 MHz band, the same one that Verizon Wireless uses, resulting in Verizon subscribers …
‘Pay to play’ Avetta has industry’s contractors concerned about it becoming a monopoly
Concerns about the time, expense and frustration of contractors that are forced to use client onboarding companies such as BROWZ and Avetta surfaced on January 30, 2019, when Wireless Estimator released the survey results of financial and administrative roadblocks set up by carriers and towercos that could derail America’s race to 5G. Two weeks later on February 14, 2019, Avetta announced the …
After T-Mobile throws contractors under the bus it provides lofty merger promises
When T-Mobile announced its new commitments Thursday to sway legislators to put pressure on 10 state attorneys general to settle their Sprint merger lawsuit, one of its top initiatives upon completion of the merger, was to create more job opportunities than either standalone company. The new employee count is impressive, an additional 11,000 by 2024. However, the Communications Workers of …
