The Los Angeles City Council on Friday moved to require future cell phone towers to be designed and built with a 1.5 importance factor over the current design code, EIA/TIA-222-G, so that if there ever was a severe earthquake in the city, cell towers would “still be functional.” However, their concern about the current code not being adequate was heavily …
Some wireless industry musicians and singers can easily quit their day job
A traditional scathing barb heard when garage band musicians try to imitate legendary rock stars is: “Don’t quit your day job.” But at last Wednesday’s PCIA – The Wireless Infrastructure Association’s, All-Star Jam Session in Hollywood, Fla., it was obvious that the only things being skewered, were buffet offerings as PCIA members led a rousing session that made the house …
Thousands of revelers pay $30 to watch a Crown Castle tower burn in North Carolina
UPDATE: A spokesperson for Crown Castle International, the owner of a self-supporting tower that caught fire on Saturday when a number of wayward lanterns set some transmission lines on fire during a festival at the Carolina Speedway, said that the extent of the damage is still unknown. Spencer Humiston, the Lantern Fest event director, said that his and Crown Castle’s …
Vertical realtor Crown Castle makes a $1 billion bet on going horizontal
Crown Castle International’s appetite for a fiber rich footprint in major cities across America expanded last week with the acquisition of Sunesys for approximately $1 billion. The wholly owned subsidiary of Quanta Services, Inc. owns or has rights to nearly 10,000 miles of fiber in major metropolitan markets across the U.S. such as Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, Atlanta, Silicon Valley, …
Industry veteran “Tam” Murray takes the reins of PCIA’s Board of Directors
The Board of Directors of PCIA – The Wireless Infrastructure Association elected new officers during its conference in Hollywood, Fla. last week, selecting Thomas “Tam” Murray, the founder and managing member of Community Wireless Structures, as the new PCIA Board Chairman; Steven Marshall, the Executive Vice President & President of the U.S. Tower Division of American Tower, is the new …
PCIA’s ‘view from the top’ shows a little bottoming out; tall tower crew shortage possible
A common thread throughout yesterday’s PCIA – The Wireless Infrastructure Association’s Hollywood, Fla. conference was that AT&T has pulled back on their builds, Sprint is almost in a holding pattern and T-Mobile is providing a number of opportunities. Verizon, however, is seen as a steady engine that is assisting a slower than expected build in the second quarter. “Verizon continues …
New unraveled electromagnetism theory will not unhinge the tower industry
As PCIA – The Wireless Infrastructure Association kicks off its conference with an infrastructure developers meeting this afternoon in Hollywood, Fla., it’s unlikely that the demise of cell towers will be a hot topic, but media pundits frequently disagree, citing new technology that will replace them with palm size transceivers. One industry editor recently said, the traditional cell tower infrastructure …
NATE Trade show innovator is retiring while companies continue hiring
Included in this week’s Business Briefs roundup, Ken Meador, who kindled the National Association of Tower Erectors’ trade show’s explosive growth, is retiring; Telforce Group has picked up Paul Barone to head its Dallas office; Mark Nellis joins B+T group as its controller; Christopher Felder joins the ranks of Maser Consulting; and Mitch Bateman will be leading obstruction lighting manufacturer Flash …
Subcarrier’s Houston expansion bolsters its ever increasing tower and rooftop count
An industry pioneer in high performance wireless infrastructure services, with a portfolio of some of the country’s best towers in high demand locations, New Jersey-based Subcarrier Communications, announced its Southwest market expansion and the hiring of key executives Dudley Norman and Greg Weger to lead market operations from their new Houston, Tex. office. As demands for wireless connectivity prove to …
Former EHS Sprint chief Slagle joins National Wireless Safety Alliance efforts
The National Wireless Safety Alliance (NWSA) announced today that they have entered into a professional consulting agreement with former Sprint Environmental Health and Safety Executive, Chuck Slagle. Slagle, who recently retired from Sprint after nearly a 38 year career, will be tasked with spearheading several NWSA project initiatives and assist in getting the NWSA national assessment and certification programs to …
As it mulls new tower safety rules, OSHA strongly urges everyone to comment
For the first time in the long history of the wireless construction industry, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is reaching out to all stakeholders, especially tower climbers, to assist it in obtaining information about the causes of employee injuries and fatalities that are occurring among technicians working on communication towers. OSHA is also seeking comments on safe work practices …
Lawsuit win sees contractor’s claim doubled and ownership of 32 towers up for grabs
A court decision requiring the owners of tower consolidator Horizon Towers of Marblehead, Mass. to have 32 of their towers “liquidated and distributed or otherwise used to satisfy the creditors of debtor Eastern Towers, Inc.,” also awarded Timberline Construction of Canton double its owed $264,774 for new site builds due to an unfair or deceptive act. The open market will …
Vertical Bridge, InSite Wireless, Poole, SBA, TI and TSC are in the news
With today’s Business Briefs, iHeartMedia delivers its first set of towers to Vertical Bridge, InSite Wireless jumps to being the 7th largest tower owner in the U.S., the sale of California’s iconic Mt. Wilson towers is near, SBA’s new board member is entrenched in everything telco, Tower Innovations gets a new chief and TSC Tower Specialists takes on Michigan. Vertical Bridge …
Near electrocution of two techs requires a review of safe practices
Update: April 6, 2015 – According to an individual knowledgeable of the incident where two tower technicians were shocked as their lift came in a contact with a power line on April 1, 2015, the techs did not have to jump to the ground as stated by a Beloit, Wisc. fire official, but were lowered to the ground by the …
April Fools’ news caught many off guard including site’s server
April Fools’ Day is the Super Bowl Sunday for internet pranks, and since it’s not common for wireless infrastructure media to join in, Wireless Estimator thought it might be something that could work. It did. In fact, so much so, that after a news bulletin was sent out to over 27,000 subscribers yesterday with bogus, but believable article headlines, the …
American Tower takes AT&T to court and wins a $132 million judgment
American Tower Corporation stood behind a New Jersey construction manager who used a creative approach to comply with an AT&T program manager’s directive on a new monopole cell site’s location, while suffering with hurt feelings, and was awarded $132 million by a Sloatsburg, Tex. jury today. In a statement issued by the Boston-based tower owner following the verdict, the company said, …
From broadband to a blues harp, PCIA Chief splits his time with Broadway
Whereas some vertical realtor executives spend their limited free weekends volunteering at ice cream socials with their employees to put easily detonated protective dye packs in their tenants’ leasehold agreements, PCIA – The Wireless Infrastructure Industry CEO Jonathan Adelstein finds playing to sold-out crowds on Broadway and at Carnegie Hall to be the answer for achieving a perfect work-life balance. The …
Anritsu’s global success tagged to God and one misspelled word in 1844
On May 24, 1844, Samuel Morse dispatched an experimental telegraph message from the U.S. Capitol to Alfred Vail at a railroad station in Baltimore, Md. The message – “What hath God wrought?” – was telegraphed back to the Capitol a moment later by Vail. Unfortunately, members of Congress witnessing the event began drooling over the opportunity to heavily tax …
Woman’s death linked to her boyfriend’s tower tech profession in Texas
It is not known why 28-year-old Stephanie Gurney of San Angelo, Tex. was on or fell from an SBA Communications 500-foot tower in a rural area 10 miles east of Eden on Saturday at approximately 11:15 a.m., but it is has been established, that her boyfriend, Stephen Butler, who met Stephanie in September of 2014, was a tower technician for …
Goodman Networks lays off 340 as construction managers’ lawsuit advances
Following a layoff of workers in December, Goodman Networks, a family-owned end-to-end wireless network deployment firm, let go an additional 340 employees on March 10, 2015, according to information reviewed by Wireless Estimator. It is not known, however, whether the downsizing was necessary due to a cutback in AT&T’s capex since a company spokesperson said Monday that Goodman Networks will …
