The National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) today released a video entitled “Rooftop Safety: Don’t be Complacent” in order to shine a spotlight on the specific hazards, guidelines and best practices associated with wireless rooftop deployment activities. NATE has taken an active industry role in ensuring that workers are safe in any environment and has tackled the often overlooked complexities and …
WIA awards raise over $400,000 for wireless workforce development
The second annual WIA Awards generated over $400,000 for wireless workforce education and training initiatives. The awards honored champions of the wireless workforce by celebrating members of Congress, the FCC, and industry who have made major contributions to develop the wireless workforce needed to build America’s 5G wireless networks. The event was held last night at the Conrad Hotel in …
Hightower and Tilson escort the benefits of TIRAP in apprenticeship’s new video
Hightower Communications and Tilson workers along with their company CEOs are featured in a new Wireless Industry Association (WIA) video promoting the benefits of joining the Telecommunications Industry Registered Apprenticeship Program (TIRAP) along with 27 other companies that have had 2,000 apprentices participate in the program. The video was unveiled at Tuesday’s WIA awards dinner in Washington, DC that raised …
Cell tower gets reporter’s clean bill of health as tap water becomes the next cancer-causing agent
After four students were diagnosed with cancer in Ripon, Calif., parents attacked the usual maligned suspect, a cell tower on school property which Sprint later removed after community pressure. Wireless Estimator debunked the RF testing methods used by an independent consultant hired by concerned parents. The next suspicious agent was the drinking water at the Weston Elementary School since Ripon shut …
Swarztrauber, FCC Chairman Pai’s new policy advisor, is well-versed on towers and wireless infrastructure
UPDATE: September 30, 2019 – In the FCC’s official statement announcing that FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has appointed Evan Swarztrauber as his policy advisor, Pai said, “I’m pleased to have Evan join our team. Having served in Commissioner Carr’s office, he brings a wealth of experience on telecom issues and is well positioned to advance our policy agenda.” Commissioner Brendan Carr …
NATE receives DOL grant for nationwide wireless rooftop deployment training
The National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) announced today that it has been selected by the U.S. Department of Labor – OSHA to receive a $160,000 Susan Harwood Targeted Topic Training Grant for the 2019-2020 program year. The Susan Harwood Training Grant Program awards grants to nonprofit organizations on a competitive basis. Awards are issued annually based on Congressional appropriation. …
T-Mobile stops paying its contractors, keeping its market managers in the dark
Commentary In late August, Wireless Estimator broke the story that T-Mobile had pulled many of their contractors’ purchase orders and would not be providing any additional fourth quarter builds throughout the nation, forcing wireless contractors to assess their financial position in order to maintain the additional crews that they staffed early in the year to meet T-Mobile’s promised projects. It’s …
U.S. pales in comparison to India’s unauthorized tower climbers
Since Americans are largely exposed to national headlines when an unauthorized person climbs a cell or broadcast tower and has to be talked down, there might be a perception that the U.S.’s towers are fertile ground for unbalanced individuals doing a high steel balancing act. Such was the case in Orlando, Fla. yesterday when a reportedly disturbed man climbed to the …
Starks rips into Huawei, stating that a ‘rip and replace’ equipment program could cost $1 billion
In an address to attendees of the Competitive Carriers Association’s convention in Providence, Rhode Island yesterday, FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said he’s focused on communications network security and slammed Chinese manufacturer Huawei, stating they pose a national security risk. His message was of great interest to the regional operators in the audience, many of them who have the suspect gear …
OSHA’s elevates Scott Ketcham to Directorate of Construction
The U.S. Department of Labor has selected Scott Ketcham as the new director of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Directorate of Construction (DOC) in Washington, D.C. Ketcham had served as deputy director of DOC since February 2017 following the passing of DOC Dean McKenzie. Prior to coming to OSHA’s national office, Ketcham worked for 19 years as an …
Six drones capture picture-perfect Virginia 540-foot guyed tower drop
Typically shaky cell-phone videos of communication tower demolitions were bested by six drones Saturday morning when a crew from Electronics Research Inc. (ERI) felled a 540-foot guyed tower in Norfolk, Virg. Once the guy wires were cut, the bottom third of the tower built in the mid-1970s hit the ground and the rest fell within a radius of 200 feet. …
AT&T had a temporary stop work order from authorities following site stabbing
The Chenango County, New York Sheriff’s Office arrested a tower technician on Wednesday after he allegedly stabbed a co-worker multiple times when the two got into an argument at a tower site in the Town of Otselic. Lt. Joshua Gould informed Wireless Estimator that the men were working on an AT&T installation at a tower site off of Rt. 26 …
Journal retracts paper alleging RF dangers coverup; author says ‘Big Wireless’ made them do it
Magnetochemistry, a peer-reviewed international scientific journal, retracted an article they published on May 5, 2019 from a controversial New Zealand researcher who believes that scientists are suppressing evidence that people are being harmed by radiofrequency radiation. Susan Pockett, a psychologist at the University of Auckland in her paper titled “Conflicts of interest and misleading statements in official reports about the …
BTC, Aliv battling to bring back cell phone coverage in the Bahamas
Bahama Telephone Company (BTC) and new entrant Aliv are sparing no effort to restore service to their networks after Dorian, a category 5 Hurricane that had gusts of 200 mph devastated many parts of the Bahamas. As of this afternoon the death toll has reached 50. BTC’s cell services in many areas of Abaco, Grand Bahama, Berry Islands and Bimini …
Crown asks court to rule on California county’s unlawful node application fees
Crown Castle Fiber LLC, in a U.S. District Court of Western California filing, is requesting that the court restrict Santa Barbara County, California from charging unlawful, unreasonable and excessive fees in order to deploy wireless infrastructure within the county’s rights-of-way. Crown said the county is putting it in the untenable position of having to pay fees in excess of what …
Heat-exhausted Texas tech is rescued from monopole by firefighters
UPDATE: September 9, 2019 – According to individuals knowledgeable of Friday’s incident in Katy, Texas where a tower tech was rescued by firefighters, the technician at first thought that he was having a heart attack and firefighters immediately arrived at the scene following a 911 call. The tech was checked out at the local hospital for heat exhaustion and …
Canadian climber succumbs from injuries received in an August 16 fall
Services were held Tuesday for a 22-year-old tower tech, Maxime Asselin, who passed away on August 26, 2019 after suffering serious injuries from a fall off of a monopole in Candiac, Quebec on August 16, 2019. Asselin is survived by his wife Elodie Julien, his parents Josée Langelier and Marco Asselin, his brothers and their spouses Jean-François Asselin (Cindy), Francis …
Climbing Commissioner Carr puts boots on the steel again in South Dakota
Last month, South Dakota picked up a monumental $705.5 million out of the FCC’s $5 billion rural broadband funding. And yesterday, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr was in the state getting an elevated view as to how those funds will benefit rural America. Carr climbed to the 100-foot level of a 330-foot guyed tower in Mitchell to view first-hand the installation …
South Carolina’s cell sites getting walloped by Hurricane Dorian
Florida was spared Hurricane Dorian’s wrath Wednesday with the FCC identifying that of the affected counties that total 9,711 cell sites, there were only 13 outages, 3 that were damaged, 9 out due to transport problems, typically issues with wireline networks that route traffic to and from cell sites, and only 1 out of service due to a power outage. …
NATE co-founder and former Chairman Snyder testifies at U.S. Senate Commerce Subcommittee hearing
NATE Co-Founder and Former Chairman Craig Snyder, CEO at Vikor Teleconstruction, provided expert witness testimony at today’s U.S. Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation and the Internet hearing in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The hearing, “Transforming Rural America: A New Era of Innovation”, was convened by U.S. Senator John Thune, R-SD, who serves as chairman of the Subcommittee. During …
