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In a surprise move, SBA walks out with cash and away from its investment in DAS

In Featured News by Wireless Estimator

Five year DAS ride for SBA unexpectedly ends In a deal that took many industry observers by surprise, DAS developer ExteNet Systems, Inc. announced that Digital Bridge Holdings and Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners will recapitalize the company with more than $1 billion dollars, and Digital Bridge’s CEO Marc Ganzi will assume the position of Chairman of the Board. Key members of …

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Tower contractor’s owner refutes report that his worker fell from a tower

In Featured News by Wireless Estimator

A Massachusetts contractor said that, although he had a worker who sustained jobsite injuries, his tower technician did not fall from a Crown Castle International tower yesterday in Gorham, Maine, as reported by a Maine newspaper. In a Portland Press Herald article, based upon a police ‘news release,’ an employee of Centerline Communications of Raynham, fell from the 300-foot guyed tower while …

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In lieu of double time pay, New Jersey police have tech spending time in jail

In Featured News by Wireless Estimator

While most industry workers were celebrating July 4th with a well-deserved day off, tower technician Louis Lucas, 45, was one of the few that had to be on duty to service a cell site at 1191 Williamstown Rd., Gloucester Township, N.J. That’s the story he told Gloucester Township Police Corporal M. Pickard, but upon further investigation after Pickard saw Lucas …

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Former Crown Castle chief and three key leaders to be inducted into Wireless History Foundation

In Associations News, Featured News by Wireless Estimator

The Wireless History Foundation (WHF) announced today that it will honor four individuals at its annual awards dinner on September 8, 2015 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Las Vegas. The inductees are John Kelly, Brian McAuley, Larry Movshin and Sue Swenson. The key industry movers and shakers join wireless luminaries such as Marty Cooper, inventor of the cell phone …

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Crown Castle severs ‘International’ with its Australian tower unit sale

In Featured News by Wireless Estimator

Houston-based Crown Castle International announced that it is selling its Australian subsidiary, CCAL, to Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets for $1.6 billion, of which they’ll net $1.3 billion after transaction fees and other expenses. “The sale of CCAL allows us to redeploy capital towards our growing small cell networks, which we expect will be accretive to our long-term AFFO and …

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Some wireless industry musicians and singers can easily quit their day job

In Associations News, Featured News by Wireless Estimator

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 …

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Thousands of revelers pay $30 to watch a Crown Castle tower burn in North Carolina

In Featured News by Wireless Estimator

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 …

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Vertical realtor Crown Castle makes a $1 billion bet on going horizontal

In Featured News by Wireless Estimator

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, …

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PCIA’s ‘view from the top’ shows a little bottoming out; tall tower crew shortage possible

In Featured News by Wireless Estimator

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 …

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Competitive spirit can be cutthroat in leasehold ground wars of towercos

In Featured News by Wireless Estimator

Although the nation’s major tower owners present a public face of spirited friendly competition and collective initiatives to ensure worker safety, when it comes to protecting their interests it can be a no holds barred battle between them to keep their most valuable assets, their long-term leases. One clash got so nasty that the counter-complainant wanted a leasehold aggregator’s executives …

Crown is exploring sale of its Australian towers and settling in the US

In Vendor News by Wireless Estimator

Crown Castle International Corp. announced today that it plans to explore the potential sale of its Australian subsidiary (CCAL). “In light of recent unsolicited offers we have received for our interest in CCAL, we have determined that fully exploring the options available to us will ensure the best long-term results for our shareholders,” stated W. Ben Moreland, Crown Castle’s President …

ATC leads slightly over Crown with their $5 billion 11,324 Verizon tower deal

In Featured News by Wireless Estimator

American Tower Corporation today announced that it has been the successful suitor in acquiring the rights to approximately 11,324 wireless communications towers and purchase approximately 165 additional towers from Verizon Communications, Inc. for $5.056 billion. Under the agreement, American Tower will have the exclusive right to lease and operate the Verizon towers for a weighted average term of approximately 28 …

Almost 1,000 Crown Castle antennas will support Super Bowl network needs

In Vendor News by Wireless Estimator

Crown Castle pulled back the curtain Tuesday on its $32 million-plus distributed antenna systems in Glendale, Ariz. just in time for Super Bowl XLIX on Feb. 1, 2015 at the University of Phoenix stadium.  The state of the art network includes the stadium and Gila River Arena as well as the Renaissance Glendale Hotel & Spa, and throughout the Glendale …