President Donald Trump has rescinded his renomination of FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly to serve another five-year term at the FCC. The reversal issued late Monday came just days after O’Rielly gave a speech in which he indicated his opposition to President Trump’s executive order to try to limit liability protections for social media companies. The president and many other Republicans …
Helicopter cell site project crash kills pilot and passenger
Update: August 3, 2020 – The passenger who died in a helicopter crash last Wednesday has been identified as LaDonna Stroud, a longtime friend of the pilot, James “Jim” Robinson, the owner of St. Louis Helicopter (SLH), who also passed away while preparing for cell tower work near Pioche, Nevada. Stroud was a nurse practitioner and a former member of …
Two dead in a small plane crash in Utah that collapsed a Crown Castle tower
A single-engine North American Navion plane crashed in Iron County, Utah on Sunday morning, killing its pilot and passenger, authorities confirmed. The plane struck a 397-foot Crown Castle guyed tower about eight miles southwest of the Cedar City Regional Airport near 6500 W. 4000 South about 9:30 a.m., said Iron County Sheriff’s Lt. Del Schlosser in a statement. There was …
Yielding to investor pressure, Crown Castle unveils a 72 skidoo board of directors plan
After pressure from major investor Elliott Management, Crown Castle said Tuesday it will begin a mandatory Board retirement policy of age 72, with several directors, including its founding chairman J. Landis “Lanny” Martin, 73, not being renominated for their positions over the next two years. The move came as Crown Castle reported net income of $200 million for the second …
NATE’s survey initiates conversations to fix troubling compliance company concerns
NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association today unveiled the results of the Association’s 3rd Party Compliance Company Experience Survey. NATE conducted the survey in May of 2020 in order to assist the Association in identifying many of the onboarding “pain points” and assess the impact these practices have on member contractor firms. Over the course of the month, 205 NATE …
SBA Communications heralds 100 injury-free days milestone
In 1989 when SBA Communications was the nation’s first company to actively build and acquire towers the company entered unchartered waters but was fully aware of the 1986 requirement to maintain their OSHA 200 log of recordable injuries and illness and maintain a safe environment for their employees. But as Boca Raton, Florida-based SBA staffed up over the years to …
Complī takes on industry giant Avetta to provide a risk management compliance alternative
World-wide vendor management leader Avetta which appears to have the oil and gas and other industries locked up now has a formidable competitor in wireless, Complī, a platform available from ABIS Solutions, a leading technology firm that has made inroads with NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association and the National Wireless Safety Alliance (NWSA). Introducing the company’s qualification and compliance software …
Thriller in Manila: American Tower to get all nationwide permits in 16 days, but telcos could be seized
Philippine government officials threw the nation’s towercos a sweet sixteen party last week with the signing of an Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) joint memorandum circular (JMC) titled Streamlined Guidelines for the Issuance of Permits, Licenses, and Certificates for the Construction of Shared Passive Telecommunications Tower Infrastructures (PTTIs). With the signed JMC, the oversight agencies have reduced the requirements and processing …
Arrest made following theft of Sprint network routers that took down carrier’s service in Texas
A Texas man, possibly a Cisco certified technician, who appeared to have codes to enter cell tower sites and keys to access Sprint equipment that permitted him to steal routers from dozens of compounds was arrested Monday in Fort Worth and is currently in jail awaiting a detention hearing this morning. Fort Worth Police Detective Stephanie Phillips, assigned to the …
Critical defects on low-stretch kernmantle ropes is ‘near zero’ but Petzel is requesting inspections
Petzl is providing the industry with an inspection notice regarding their Petzl low-stretch kernmantle ropes. Although only one client found two critical defects, and to date, no other client has reported similar defects, and no accident or injury is known, Petzl is erring on the side of caution and asking companies and workers to inspect certain ropes. The full inspection …
Video challenges industry to look at suspension trauma response from a new perspective
NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association today released a video on the topic of suspension trauma. The video is the third to debut in Volume 5 of the Association’s popular #ClimberConnection series. The video includes important information that all tower technicians, trainers and first responder personnel need to know regarding how to respond effectively to a suspension trauma situation at …
Compound expansion agreement will streamline 5G build and protect historic properties
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr today announced that the Commission, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP), and the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers (NCSHPO) have reached an agreement that will support wireless infrastructure builds while continuing to protect historic properties. It does so by amending the Nationwide Programmatic Agreement for the Collocation of Wireless Antennas (Collocation NPA) that …
A safe out of plumb monopole is most likely caused by the thermal ‘Sunflower Effect’
Many of us have seen and experienced the Sunflower Effect. Most of us remember the first time we pulled up to a monopole and saw a severe case of it. It seems as if the pole is leaning or is damaged in some way. However, upon further assessment it appears that there is no damage and as the day goes …
Tower techs put their life in danger if they accidentally disable a cartel’s ‘parasite’ antenna in Mexico
A tower tech in Mexico turned off the power to an American Tower site to perform routine maintenance and within minutes three armed men in fatigues embroidered with a prominent drug cartel logo braced him in the site’s compound since their “parasite” antennas on the structure for their narco-network went down. He was released with a warning “I was so nervous… …
Tower crews who had the ‘hard part’ in the nation’s successful repack singled out by FCC chief
On yesterday’s 39-month repack deadline date, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai expressed sincere thanks to broadcasters, wireless and tower companies, tower crews, Congress and his staff for making the broadcast spectrum repack a success. During remarks he made during a webinar panel presentation to the American Consumer Institute, Pai lauded individuals responsible for the world’s first incentive spectrum auction and transition starting …
Alphabet’s beaming over its successful Internet coverage Loon launch in Kenya
Loon’s airborne armada of balloons started delivering internet service to Kenya on Tuesday, ensuring online service to tens of thousands of people in the first commercial deployment of high-altitude cell sites. Loon expects to have 35 or more balloons in their fleet following additional testing. Loon, a division of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, harnessed its technology to balloons providing internet …
Internet speeds increase 15.8% on mobile with AT&T winning best in show in Q2
The reliable Q2 2020 Speedtest United States Market Report by Ookla, based upon data from over 1.6 million unique mobile user devices and 18.9 million fixed broadband devices, shows that AT&T is the fastest and most consistent mobile network, but T-Mobile has the competition beat on 5G availability. Ookla revealed yesterday that the median download speed over mobile in the U.S. …
No more guessing, Georgia clearly identifies where broadband isn’t available
A new tool that will bring more transparency about the internet marketplace and clarify which Georgia households do not have access to high-speed internet is getting high traffic after it was officially introduced last week. The Georgia’s Broadband Availability Map enables the private sector to better see where Georgians lack access to high-speed internet, improve open-market competition, and help providers explore partnerships …
NWSA to develop Spanish language telecommunication tower technician assessments
The National Wireless Safety Alliance (NWSA) today announced that its Board of Directors has approved proceeding with the Spanish language translation of assessment tests for the Telecommunications Tower Technician 1 (TTT-1) and Telecommunications Tower Technician 2 (TTT-2) trade certifications. MasTec Network Solutions is sponsoring the effort with a generous contribution to cover the cost of translating written tests and associated …
Shaving $1.7 million from AT&T’s cell towers’ value upheld by Missouri tax court
The Missouri State Tax Commission (STC) affirmed a $1.7 million assessment reduction for 23 AT&T Mobility LLC cell towers, rejecting arguments from five county assessors that a hearing officer last year erroneously applied a “revenue procedure” rather than a depreciation table that is only used “for purposes of mass depreciation.” The tax court also found that the record supported that the …
