The National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE), National Wireless Safety Alliance (NWSA) and Sioux Falls Tower & Communications today jointly hosted FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr on an industry training and climbing experience site visit. The event was held at the Sioux Falls Tower & Communications new corporate headquarters and state-of-the-art training center in Sioux Falls, S.D. During the event, management …
AT&T expected to meet FirstNet deployment targets sooner than anticipated
AT&T said it is planning to deploy public safety LTE service on 700 MHz Band 14 spectrum quicker than it anticipated, with approximately one-third of the projected buildout to be completed by the end of next March or earlier, according to AT&T Chief Financial Officer John Stephens. During an interview by Colby Synesael of Cowen and Company at the company’s …
From the Bronx to Boston, Crown’s employees made a meaningful difference
More than 1,700 Crown Castle employees participated in a day of service earlier this month, contributing more than 7,036 hours of planting, building, painting and cleaning up the nation’s parks. On May 9, Crown hosted the day of service as part of its Connected by Good community parks initiative. Doubling its efforts from last year, Crown identified 22 parks in …
Crop duster pilot killed as he topples 1,040-foot Oklahoma tower
Update: May 31, 2018 -Andrew Deterding, 57, of Pond Creek, Okla., owner of Andy Deterding Ag Aviation, who was flying an S2R-T34 Thrush plane on Wednesday when the aircraft struck a radio tower guy wire, has been identified as the deceased pilot. A post on his Facebook page, written by one of his children, states Deterding’s memories and stories will live on through “every …
Kicking osprey nest off of tower riles neighbors, but not environmental police
A homeowner living off of Center Hill Rd. in Plymouth, Mass. contacted the Massachusetts Environmental Police (EP) on May 17, informing them that she was watching ospreys nesting near the top of a nearby cell tower when “I saw men in harnesses come up the tower and, whey they got to the top of the platform, kick the nests off.” …
Training coupled with a drone provides for a tech’s safe self-rescue
A tower technician in Biloxi, Miss. rappelled safely to the ground yesterday evening after being stuck in a man basket for a few hours after a crane lost its hydraulic system. While performing maintenance work on the Alpha Media radio tower, the unnamed tech got stranded 140 feet up in the air. The tower is located just behind WLOX’s TV …
‘Un-towerco’ says there will be some pain with a T-Mobile/Sprint merger
If the marriage of Sprint and T-Mobile is approved by regulators, the majority opinion of towerco executives at Connect (X) in Charlotte, N.C. last week was that business would still be robust. Jay Brown, President and CEO of Crown Castle, said during the View From the Top presentation, “It will almost be irrelevant how many carriers we have.” He said …
Geek guy Pai enthusiastically wants America to win the 5G race
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, a self-described lover of geeking out infrastructure issues, three weeks ago scaled a utility pole in Gainesville, Fla., to get an up-close and personal view of how difficult it is to string aerial fiber. He also spent time with representatives of MillerCo, a Gulfport, Miss. nationwide wireless contractor, to learn about the exacting requirements of site …
Dish’s foray into 5G is already a soothing shot in the arm for nation’s towercos
Dish Network Chairman Charlie Ergen said that his company will be building a full-blown 5G wireless network that will cost $10 billion in an interview Wednesday at the Wireless Infrastructure Association’s Connect (X) conference in Charlotte, N.C. by former FCC Commissioner Rob McDowell. Ergen pointed out that current wireless networks are designed for approximately 300 million smart phone users in …
AT&T settles for a record $30 million to injured tower technician’s family
With a Philadelphia, Pa. jury trial scheduled to begin today to determine whether AT&T and other defendants were negligent and contributed to a tower technician falling 50 feet to the ground and causing him to sustain severe and permanent injuries, the carrier agreed to a $30 million settlement, the largest recorded payment in the U.S. to an injured wireless infrastructure worker, …
O’Rielly opens up about opening up more wireless services spectrum
During an interview by Kathleen Quinn Abernathy yesterday, special counsel for Wilkinson, Barker Knauer at ConnectX in Charlotte, N.C., Commissioner Micael O’Rielly discussed FCC priorities, emphasizing the need to open up more wireless services spectrum and to further streamline deployment. He noted one “bad actor” community that recently wanted to charge $4,000 per small cell for deployment. The company nixed …
FCC’s 2020 repack deadline is questionable following first year’s bleak build
After assessing the progress of the first 12 months of the broadband repack, and the immense pressure put upon the small cadre of contractors that specialize in tall tower broadcast work, the NAB is again championing the need for the FCC to address what the trade group and tower companies believe is an “unrealistic schedule” and the organization is urging …
PerfectVision and Trylon team up to ensure successful wireless rollouts
PerfectVision Manufacturing, a leading manufacturer of satellite, broadband, and wireless products, and Trylon, an end-to-end wireless infrastructure developer and tower manufacturer, have entered into a partnership agreement for a long-term joint manufacturing and distribution relationship to support the growing demands of the industry. The alliance will drive continued improvement in the quality and cost of products in the wireless marketplace by aligning …
All tower techs get to bask in the limelight on appreciation day
The National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) today unveiled a commemoration declaring Wed., May 9, 2018 as Tower Technician Appreciation Day. For the second consecutive year, a day has been set aside by NATE to coincide with OSHA’s National Safety Stand-Down Week in order to pay tribute to the important work that tower technicians conduct on a daily basis to …
FCC Commissioner Carr gets an enlightening Cook’s tour of tower site work
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr today conducted a site visit to a communications tower located in Noblesville, Ind. The tour was facilitated by representatives from NATE, Crown Castle and Heartland Solutions Corporation. During his time spent on site, Carr visited with technicians and staff from NATE member companies Heartland Solutions and Crown Castle to discuss the work that is conducted on …
Risk categorization in accordance with ANSI/TIA-222-H and the 2018 IBC detailed
The Wireless Industry Association and the Telecommunications Industry Foundation published a white paper today to provide clarity and insight regarding the risk category for a new or existing communication structure by comparing the risk categories from Rev H (Table 2-1) to the risk categories defined in IBC for buildings and other structures. The document is available here. The ANSI/TIA-222 Standard …
FCC’s O’Rielly wiggles by an ethics violation with a wrist slap
FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly violated a federal ethics law when he called for the re-election of President Trump at a panel discussion with fellow FCC Republicans Ajit Pai and Brendan Carr at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on February 23, according to the US Office of Special Counsel (OSC). The violation came to light after the OSC’s Deputy Chief …
Bet on the Sprint/T-Mobile mega merger wounding towercos
If the proposed T-Mobile and Sprint merger announced Sunday is approved by federal regulators, both companies said that they expect the marriage creating the nation’s second largest carrier would be sometime in July 2019. However, it’s been identified by the carriers that fully combining the companies is another three to four years, possibly longer. Displaying their lack of fundamental industry …
T-Mobile and Sprint agree to merge creating severe competition for rival AT&T
After years of negotiations, T-Mobile and Sprint announced today that they have finally agreed to tie the knot and will merge in an all-stock transaction of 9.75 Sprint shares for each T-Mobile US share. Based upon Friday’s closing share prices this represents a value of approximately $59 billion for Sprint and approximately $146 billion for the combined company. The new company will …
India tower deal drops American Tower to the world’s third largest towerco
India’s Bharti Infratel Ltd has agreed to merge with Indus Towers, in a deal that creates the world’s second largest telecom tower company, a title that American Tower formerly held. The new company with more than 163,000 towers has an estimated equity value of $14.6 billion Indus Towers’s tower total lags considerably behind the world’s largest tower owner, China Tower …
