Since the text of the infrastructure bill was released earlier this month, industry media have been surgically dissecting the limited details in the $1.2 trillion act that provides $65 billion for the nation’s broadband development. What is known is that $42.45 billion will be funneled to states to fund projects each state approves independently, if their telecommunications provider can offer speeds …
Catherine Piche to lead Crown Castle’s tower division as its EVP and COO
Crown Castle International Corp. has announced that Catherine Piche has been appointed to succeed Robert C. Ackerman as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer–Towers, effective September 1, 2021. Ackerman plans to retire following a 50-year career that included 23 years in various senior leadership roles at Crown Castle, and he has agreed to remain with Crown Castle in an …
San Antonio police seeking to solve Crown Castle monopole arson
San Antonio, Texas Police and Crime Stoppers are seeking the help of the general public to track down a suspected arsonist that set a fire at a Crown Castle monopole site in the 1800 block of Hunt Lane on May 24. Police issued the announcement on Sunday. Authorities said that the man, pictured, above, used an accelerant to ignite the …
American Tower is convinced Crown Castle’s early Dish builds is not a long-term concern
American Tower Corp. EVP, Treasurer and CFO Rod Smith said at Monday’s J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Communications conference call that he’s not concerned that a competitor is expected to get a larger than typical share of Dish Network colocations. Although J.P. Morgan Managing Director Phil Cusick did not mention Crown Castle as the competitor in his interview, he …
Long Island town believes it has the right to deny applications for nodes with ugly antennas
The Town of Hempstead in Long Island, NY, last week aggressively replied to a summary judgment bid from Crown Castle that accused Hempstead of unfairly blocking the towerco from building 48 DAS nodes. In their response, Hempstead said that on January 18, 2017, Crown Castle submitted applications for the first 14 of 48 DAS nodes in the town’s right-of-way. The …
Verizon signs C-band deals with Crown Castle and SBA Communications
Verizon inked deals with Crown Castle and SBA Communications, two vertical realtors already hosting Verizon infrastructure equipment, to speed deployment of C-band equipment in preparation for the launch of 5G Ultra Wideband and fixed wireless broadband service on this newly acquired spectrum. Verizon secured an average of 161 MHz of C-band spectrum nationwide in the recent FCC auction, which will allow Verizon to …
Pittsburgh is ‘illegally’ pocketing $580 on street light small cell fees says AT&T in a lawsuit
AT&T is suing the City of Pittsburgh for allegedly failing to meet the FCC’s shot clock requirements and for asking excessive fees for new cell structures in the city’s rights-of-way. The carrier states that the fees and delays for installing small-cell network equipment along city roadways have prevented AT&T from providing service to the area and violates the federal Telecommunications …
Early vertical realtor David Grain pulls together $3.75 billion in investment funding
Washington, D.C.-based Grain Management, a leading private investment firm focused on broadband technology and the global communications sector, announced today that it has closed on $3.75 billion in funding the past year, exceeding its targets for purchase of spectrum and other investments. Grain participated in the Federal Communications Commission’s Auction 107 (“C-Band Auction”), the largest auction of mid-band 5G spectrum …
Colocations unknown as a sealed deal with American Tower provides DISH with it final site selections
American Tower Corporation and DISH Network Corporation announced today that they have entered into a master lease agreement through which DISH may lease space on up to 20,000 American Tower communications sites. Through the agreement, DISH will secure access to American Tower’s extensive U.S. portfolio of communications sites as it deploys its new nationwide 5G network, and American Tower will …
Crown Castle sues after it’s told that its landlords have to agree to not build a competitive structure
Crown Castle Towers, AT&T, and Sprint have brought a federal lawsuit against the Town of Riverhead, N.Y., the Town Board, Zoning Board of Appeals, Planning Board and the Town’s building administrator for alleged “unreasonable delays” and “unsupportable effective denials” of their application to erect a 120-foot monopole. The template nature of the complaint, in part, is similar to the many …
SBA inks a master lease agreement with DISH for its 5G network
DISH and SBA Communications Corporation today announced a new long-term master lease agreement providing DISH access to SBA’s extensive nationwide portfolio of wireless communication sites. The announcement builds upon DISH’s continued progress in acquiring access to the essential infrastructure needed to deploy its greenfield 5G network coast to coast. As part of the agreement, DISH will lease towers from SBA, …
American Tower is undaunted by Dish’s 20,000 tower deal with Crown, they’ll wait for their turn
When questioned as to whether Crown Castle will become the main beneficiary of Dish Network’s entry into the carrier space during a UBS Global TMT conference call earlier this month, American Tower CFO and Treasurer Rod Smith said that history might be the best prophet to identify if his company will profit. Smith said he thought it was “great” that …
Crown Castle shaves 250 from its employee ranks as part of its ‘long-term goals’
Rumors of layoffs at Crown Castle began in early October when an anonymous poster on layoff.com wrote that the company had laid off 70 people in the West. On November 6, there was a report that an additional 57 layoffs were made on the business’s tower side. Last Thursday, another poster said that hundreds of people were let go, identifying them …
Digital Colony is interested in Crown Castle’s fiber business – Reuters
Digital Colony Partners has contacted Crown Castle International Corp to signal interest in buying a minority stake in its fiber-cable business, according to three people familiar with the matter, according to a report by Reuters today. The exclusive article states that Marc Ganzi, CEO of Digital Colony , a major investor in data centers, cell towers, fiber networks and small cell networks, has spoken …
Elliott alleges Crown Castle ‘seems to know there is a problem, but refuses to acknowledge it’
After Activist investor Elliott Management Corporation (Elliott) last month registered its concerns about the operation of Crown Castle’s fiber business, the company appeared to have yielded to its pressure and unveiled a mandatory Board retirement policy of age 72, with several directors, including its founding chairman J. Landis “Lanny” Martin, 73, not being renominated. Last Thursday, Crown Castle also announced …
Is Ganzi’s Colony Capital at $2 an opportunity for those who missed out on profitable towerco stocks?
SBA Communications stock price closed at $311.28 Friday with American Tower’s stock at $257.61 and Crown Castle trailing at $168.19, but it’s still a price that cautious investors might shy away from during uncertain times. However, well-known wireless infrastructure magnate Marc Ganzi has what he believes is a wise investment, a $2 stock which he’s convinced has huge potential — …
SBA is doubling down on data centers after successful Chicago edge experiment
SBA Communications jumped into edge computing almost a year ago with the purchase of Chicago data center New Continuum to learn how to maximize their interest in the growing field that their competitors were taking an active role in, and the experiment was successful. During Monday’s Q2 earnings call, CEO Jeffrey Stoops announced that the company has bought their second …
Yielding to investor pressure, Crown Castle unveils a 72 skidoo board of directors plan
After pressure from major investor Elliott Management, Crown Castle said Tuesday it will begin a mandatory Board retirement policy of age 72, with several directors, including its founding chairman J. Landis “Lanny” Martin, 73, not being renominated for their positions over the next two years. The move came as Crown Castle reported net income of $200 million for the second …
Major stockholder activist blasts Crown Castle’s fiber line of attack
Although Elliott Management Corp. doesn’t make Crown Castle International Corp.’s top ten list of institutional investors, a $1 billion investment in the Houston, Texas-based communications infrastructure giant could allow the tail to wag the dog, especially when Elliott pounds the public relations pavement as it did yesterday in a press release, castigating Crown for its underperformance in its $16 billion …
Double homicide cell site victims identified; deceased company owner’s partner puts up a $5,000 reward
For the three team members of Harley and Sibs Logistics LLC of Thomaston, GA, last week’s scopes of work required them to install power plants, batteries and equipment at three AT&T cell sites, a project that the company has performed many hundreds of times in the past. After picking up the equipment in their rented Penske box truck at a …
