Midwest Underground Technology Inc./Sabre Industries (MUTI), in partnership with the U.S. Department of Labor, today announced its continued support for Registered Apprenticeship Programs as part of the second annual National Apprenticeship Week. MUTI said it is proud to offer the first registered apprenticeship for Telecommunication Tower Technicians in the country. Going into its second year, the apprenticeship program has trained …
What you need to know about the new tower safety consensus standards
Subject matter experts Don Doty and Gordon Lyman conducted a live NATE webinar yesterday, entitled Game Changers! What You Need to Know About the New ANSI/ASSE A10.48 and TIA 322 National Tower Safety Consensus Standards. Through a coordinated and collaborative effort led by NATE, the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) and the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE); along with other key …
Trump’s election might have kayoed OSHA’s new tower industry regs
The election of Donald Trump as the nation’s 45th president may provide ancillary benefits to contractors and stop – or at least delay – new OSHA regulations directed at the wireless construction industry that were expected to be proposed in 2017. According to John Newquist, a former OSHA assistant regional administrator from Chicago, it is likely that the new administration …
New Secretary of Labor for OSHA expected to draw upon talents of current leaders
When the new Secretary of Labor for OSHA is appointed by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the United States Senate in 2017, it is likely that he will keep and rely upon his key officials that have helped guide the agency throughout the years. One such executive is Dean McKenzie, who was appointed by OSHA Secretary of Labor Dr. …
American Tower reacts to Sprint and T-Mobile merger rumors
Update: Nov. 14, 2016 – SBA Communications Corp. provided an update to its exposure to both companies in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. In the papers, SBA said that as of the end of Q3, T-Mobile and Sprint each represented around 16% of its total site leasing revenue. Revenue generated from each of T-Mobile and Sprint overlapping sites represents …
Trump’s impact on telecom is anyone’s guess at this point
Trying to identify what Donald Trump’s election as the country’s 45th president of the U.S. will mean for the telecommunications industry is a daunting task since he has offered very few specifics as to how he will stimulate innovation and build out America’s infrastructure through re-purposing spectrum and supporting 5G through licensed and unlicensed spectrum. Trying to research where he …
Checkered contractor loses lawsuit after two tower tech deaths
Based upon substantial evidence to support their findings, a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has kayoed a wireless contractor’s final attempt to vacate the company’s serious violations of OSHA’s General Duty Clause and $7,000 in fines they received following an accident that killed two of their employees on May 28, 2013. Both men, employees …
Alyssa Runner joins Wireless Estimator in key advertising and marketing role
Wireless Estimator is pleased to announce the appointment of Alyssa Runner to the position of Marketing/Advertising Consultant. Alyssa has been crusading the digital marketing arena for more than seven years, specializing in copywriting, lead generation, data-driven strategies and conversion rate optimization. With a Bachelor’s degree in Advertising and Public Relations and a Master’s in Public Administration, she focuses her time …
Concerns about anchor corrosion detailed in new NATE video
The National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) today unveiled an Anchor Corrosion video as part of the Association’s acclaimed Climber Connection campaign. The video provides detailed information on the conditions and factors that contribute to anchor corrosion on guyed-towers. The video also includes practical testimonial footage from a tower climber highlighting the options available to the industry to mitigate and …
Services set for tech who fell from a 160-foot Oklahoma monopole
UPDATE: Nov. 7, 2016 – Services have been announced for Steven Lamar Hill, 44, of Chandler, Okla. by the Barnes Friedrich Funeral Home, 1820 South Douglas Blvd., Midwest City, Okla. beginning at 1:00 p.m., Nov. 9, 2016. Interment will follow at Elmwood Cemetery in Choctaw, Okla. UPDATE: Nov. 3, 2016 – Authorities have released the name of the deceased tower …
American Tower registers its unease about ‘complicated’ towers, U.S. and Canadian crews
American Tower Corporation (ATC) informed the FCC on Monday that their phased approach to transition TV stations to new channels, with an ambitious completion deadline of 39 months, should take into consideration same phase tower assignments, complicated sites, the availability of tower crews, and the assumption that Canadian crews may not be available to assist in the repacking efforts following the spectrum …
WIA explores crucial role municipalities will play in efficient deployment of networks
Wireless carriers and wireless infrastructure providers need “common-sense regulations and predictable timetables” in order to deliver new mobile services such as 5G to cities and towns across the country, according to a new report published by the Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA). The white paper – titled “Unleashing the Economic Benefits of Mobile Broadband Expansion” — explains how municipalities would benefit …
Crown Castle picks up FPL FiberNet for $1.5 billion, adding another 11,500 route miles
Crown Castle International Corp. announced this morning that it has entered into an agreement to acquire FPL FiberNet Holdings, LLC and certain other subsidiaries of NextEra Energy, Inc for approximately $1.5 billion in cash. FiberNet is a fiber services provider that owns or has rights to approximately 11,500 route miles of fiber installed and under construction in Florida and Texas, …
CenturyLink’s $25 billion deal to buy Level 3 puts it at #2 behind AT&T
CenturyLink on Monday announced that it would buy Level 3 Communications for approximately $25 billion, a move that will allow one of the country’s largest providers of data, voice and video transmission for large enterprises to continue to be competitive with AT&T and Verizon. The deal will make Century Link the second largest provider to business in the U.S., behind …
Tower arsonist thought radio wave head problems would be solved following bombing
After an arsonist attempted to knock out more than a dozen broadcast towers on Sandia Peak in Albuquerque, N.M on Oct. 2, 2016 with gallon-sized Molotov cocktails, a Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson informed Wireless Estimator that they had identified a suspect, but would not release his name. On Oct. 18, 2016 they arrested 53-year-old Brian Dorais of Madrid for …
Investors shrug off Fool’s American Tower ‘big risk’ report
Last Wednesday, an article in The Motley Fool cautioned investors about a proposed Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) change that would be a huge risk to American Tower’s business model, and the author implored the nation’s second largest tower owner to take immediate steps to alert Wall Street as to how they were going to address that concern. As of …
Time Warner deal could affect AT&T’s wireless network capex/build-out
In discussing AT&T’s deal to acquire Time Warner for $85 billion, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said in a conference call yesterday morning, “We’re convinced this combination of Time Warner and AT&T is a perfect match for both companies.” In a canned statement, Stephenson said, “We intend to give customers unmatched choice, quality, value and experiences that will define the future …
NATE’s new WIN program will serve the wireless landscape with 60 ambassadors and liaisons
A national and international who’s who of 60 industry movers and shakers will be chaperoning the success of the Wireless Industry Network (WIN), a coast-to-coast grassroots program designed to promote the National Association of Tower Erectors’ (NATE) regional, state and local efforts, support existing state and national wireless organizations and facilitate communication between all stakeholders in the wireless industry. NATE …
Tallest, shortest, oldest and longest employed tower techs to be featured
Wireless Estimator is seeking out ‘tall tower workers’ – not the folks with boots on high steel, but tower technicians who are truly ‘tall’ in height – to publish a feature article about the tallest one in the U.S. or Canada. In addition to The tallest tower climber, Wireless Estimator is also in quest of locating: The shortest tower climber …
Survivor of horrific TV tower collapse killing seven shares his story after 45 years
On Sept. 7, 1971 in Shoreview, Minn., 32-year-old top tower hand Don Barnard’s supervisor asked him to handle some matters on the ground and he did not climb on that fateful day to assist his 20-year-old brother, Wayne, and five other members of the tall tower crew as they began to lift a section for the 1,280-foot tower’s candelabra platform. …
