The Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA) today announced that Steven Marshall, Executive Vice President and President of the U.S. Tower Division at American Tower Corp., was elected to serve as Chairman of the WIA’s Board of Directors. Marshall has served on the WIA Board of Directors since 2010 and brings a depth of industry experience and business leadership to WIA. He …
Crown socks Southeastern N.Y. with multiple rights of way-involved lawsuits
Crown Castle filed another lawsuit in federal court on Thursday against the Town of Oyster Bay, N.Y. seeking to have its permits reissued to install microcells in residential neighborhoods. The action follows a recently filed complaint against the Town of Hempstead as reported by Wireless Estimator on Friday where Crown Castle sued over a consultant’s delaying tactics and high fees …
Crown sues Hempstead, N.Y. over consultant’s delay tactics and high fees for DAS nodes
National DAS-provider and tower owner Crown Castle has brought suit against the Town of Hempstead, N.Y., alleging that the Town unlawfully delegated its review authority to a third-party consultant for 14 initial applications for authorization to install, operate and maintain DAS facilities in the Town’s public rights of way. Crown, in its complaint, said that the consultant, Center for Municipal …
American Tower cracks the mighty ‘500’; Crown Castle is catching up
Fortune has debuted their 2017 Fortune 500 List, described as the ultimate testament to a company’s success, and American Tower went from an aspiring vertical realtor at position No. 526 last year to breaking into the exclusive club in 2017 to position No. 449 with revenues of $5.8 billion. Crown Castle International, the only other industry candidate vying to join …
Crown sued for not having climbing safety devices on Texas tower
A Michigan tower tech is suing a lift manufacturer and a tower owner in Harris County Texas District Court for more than one million dollars, alleging their negligence caused him to fall and suffer injuries in Richardson on January 29. Stevin Ammerman filed a complaint May 31 in Harris County Texas District Court against Safway Group Holdings LLC, Crown Castle …
Tower foreman certification credential’s program being developed by NWSA
The National Wireless Safety Alliance (NWSA) announced today that its Board of Governors has approved proceeding with the development of a new certification and credential for Telecommunication Tower Foreman. The new certification will create a credentialing system for industry workers who supervise crews that work on communications structures, whether they are antenna and line crews, construction crews, or structural modification …
Calculating the job risk online, cell tower technicians are ‘doomed’ – but it’s unlikely
A study that has been kicking around since it was published by researchers at Oxford University in 2013, has gained a second life in the last few months after two online entrepreneurs made it easy to find out how susceptible 702 occupations were to being replaced by machines. The university report by Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael A. Osborne was created …
CCA slams AT&T again, this time asking FCC to reject FiberTower spectrum buy
The Competitive Carriers Association (CCA) believes that AT&T will not allow their carrier members to remain competitive if the FCC allows AT&T to acquire bankrupt FiberTower’s 650 terminated licenses. In a filing with the FCC Wednesday, CCA said that instead of the planned acquisition, the FCC should recover and re-auction the unconstructed spectrum in the 39 GHz band, and potentially …
Industry applauds OSHA / FCC’s long-awaited Communication Tower Best Practices guide
The FCC and OSHA today released their Communication Tower Best Practices guide following a concerted joint effort on industry safety when the two agencies began the initiative with a workshop in Washington, D.C. in 2014 and continued the effort with another group of industry stakeholders in 2016. Although the guide is advisory in nature, and is not a standard or regulation, …
WIA launches new industry education and training programs
The Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA) today announced the creation of the Telecommunications Education Center (TEC), a new program and online portal that aims to provide the wireless telecommunications industry with a series of education and training courses with the goal of building a stronger and more diverse workforce. TEC (www.tec-online.org) aims to improve safety and quality, reduce costs of wireless …
FCC Enforcement Bureau adds another three violations to broadcaster’s tally
It is likely that Cortaro Broadcasting, a Coolidge Ariz. company that owns, KCKY-AM, a Spanish language religious broadcaster, might hold the title for operating a small station with the most FCC violations when last week Cortaro was cited for not having a property fence, and the gates in both individual tower fences were held closed with a loose loop of chain …
UAS focus conference features NATE’s new epic drone video
The National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) today unveiled an Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) safety video as part of Volume 2 of the popular Climber Connection series. The UAS Operations video was showcased by NATE during a main stage presentation at the 2017 Drone Focus Conference in Fargo, N.D. The 2017 Drone Focus Conference is a prominent annual gathering of …
NATE’s in O’Rielly’s corner on common sense obstruction marking provisions
The National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) today applauded FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly for his common sense approach to the tower obstruction marking provisions currently confronting the communications tower industry. The broad-based tower marking requirements were part of the FAA Extension, Safety and Security Act of 2016 and mandate improved physical markings and/or lighting on towers ranging from 50’ – …
Commissioner O’Rielly addresses tower lighting, crews and siting concerns at WIA
FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly took Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA) conference attendees yesterday in Orlando, Fla. down a somewhat pessimistic two-year overview of troubling issues he addressed in 2015 before WIA in Hollywood, Fla. One key concern he had was that In 2014, the Commission eliminated unnecessary tower marking and lighting burdens on the industry while ensuring the safety of aircraft, …
Single structure towerco wins siting suit in Oklahoma Supreme Court
The owner of a successful Oklahoma tower and lighting maintenance company saw an opportunity to provide homeowners in a severely underserved area east of Muskogee with cell service – in some homes non-existent – and constructed a 250-foot self-supporting tower that a major carrier was interested in co-locating on in 2010. But as soon as it was built, homeowner Ken …
FCC chief chides AT&T for 911 outage that could have been prevented
Ajit Pai said today that AT&T’s 911 outage in March could have been prevented if the carrier had implemented network reliability best practices. On March 8, 12,539 Americans who were AT&T customers tried to call 911. But they couldn’t reach emergency services because of a nationwide outage of AT&T’s VoLTE 911 network. When they placed that call, they heard fast …
NWSA’s practical examiner workshops will begin on June 12
The National Wireless Safety Alliance (NWSA) has announced the scheduling of four additional Telecommunications Tower Technician Practical Examiner Accreditation Program Workshops for 2017. Attending this event will allow applicants to both complete their practical exam to become certified as a Telecommunications Tower Technician and to become an NWSA-accredited Practical Examiner. As a Practical Examiner, individuals will be authorized to administer practical exams to …
NATE releases its Anchor Inspection/Safe to Climb Protocol document
The National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) has released its long-awaited Anchor Inspection/Safe to Climb Protocol document to assist workers and owners in assessing whether a structure’s anchor system is in a condition that could easily cause a catastrophic incident. Corrosion, an electrochemical process, returns refined steel back to its native state, and a lingering question in the tower industry …
Weekend strike threatened by AT&T’s 21,000 wireless workers
More than 21,000 AT&T wireless workers may go on strike this coming weekend if their union can’t reach a deal on a new contract by Friday at 3 P.M. ET. Workers from 36 different states have been working without a contract since February. “Going on strike is a decision that is not made lightly. Your bargaining team has worked countless …
Mobilitie musters another siting snafu requiring removal of its tower
When the the City of Goliad, Tex. informed Mobilitie that they had illegally installed a 120-foot tower in their right of way off of West Fannin St. on April 2 and they were to remove it no later than May 1, a Mobilitie spokesperson informed them that it could take a couple of weeks since they were constrained by safety …
