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 …
Top towerco execs enthusiastic about the industry’s future
Executives gave upbeat assessments of the tower industry on the “View From the Top: Tower Executive Roundtable,” moderated by Jonathan Adelstein, President and CEO of the Wireless Industry Association during its virtual Connect (X) All Access conference yesterday afternoon. Panelists included Jay Brown, President and Chief Executive Officer, Crown Castle; Alex Gellman, Chief Executive Officer, Vertical Bridge; Jeffrey Stoops, President …
DISH’s ‘badass’ tower climber Martha Ramos leads Fast-Forward Friday news
Meet Martha: DISH’s ‘badass’ tower climber When Martha Ramos climbed her first cellular tower, it wasn’t so much being up high that made her nervous, it was learning to let go. “If you’re working on equipment on a tower, you have to have both of your hands free,” said Ramos, a tower climber for DISH. “You hook yourself to a …
Tower techs still road warriors as COVID-19 cancels industry’s shows and non-essential travel
Last week, most wireless infrastructure companies were supporting a mostly “business as usual” mentality regarding the COVID-19 outbreak, but they’re now reassessing their preventative plans daily as the industry finds itself struggling to keep abreast of the almost hourly information being provided by news media, health organizations and government agencies. Bernard Borghei, Executive Vice President of Operations, Vertical Bridge REIT, LLC, …
Crown Castle monopole site is the latest victim of a Memphis cell tower arsonist
A 145-foot Crown Castle monopole site had equipment damaged by fire on February 17, 2020 in Memphis, Tennessee, and Memphis fire officials are stating that it appears to have been intentionally set, causing approximately $75,000 in damage at the 4087 Summer Avenue site which is surrounded by apartments and a shopping plaza. Although the fire was first reported about 11:00 …
NATE’s quarter century show expected to be the best ever
Raleigh, North Carolina will host NATE UNITE 2020 beginning Monday as communications infrastructure contractors and suppliers come together to benefit from the association’s 25th conference and exposition, widely regarded as the premier wireless infrastructure show in the nation. Trying to identify the best educational or training sessions to attend is challenging because they’re all exceptional and are being presented by …
Third copper thief in a gang of five pleads guilty of stripping 80-plus towers
An Illinois man pleaded guilty Wednesday to a federal charge accusing him of shutting down power to more than 80 cellphone towers across Missouri and Illinois to steal copper from the sites. He was arrested in Pike County, Missouri when a County Sheriff’s Office deputy saw the lights go out on a guyed tower near Eolia, and was indicted on …
