Crown Castle International Corp had reportedly made an offer to acquire Lightower Fiber Networks for more than $7 billion, including debt, according to Reuters. Another company courting an acquisition of Lightower was Uniti Group Inc., Reuters said. Formed by Berkshire Partners, Lightower’s network extends over 33,000 route miles throughout the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Midwest, providing dense connectivity to over 22,000 service …
SBA chief takes a payday; Crown takes new Florida office space
SBA Communications CEO Jeffrey Stoops recently sold 94,289 shares of SBA stock at an average price of $133.76 for a total value of $12,612,096. However, the chief executive is still hanging on to 329,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44 million. The company’s shares hit an all-time high on June 2, closing at $138.69. The all-time low …
FCC investigating unlawful transactions after contractor takes ownership of 40-plus towers
A Wisconsin wireless contractor discovered a flaw in the FCC’s Antenna Structure Registration (ASR) database, and changed the ownership of more than 40 towers from multiple carriers and tower owners into his company’s name during the past five months without the rightful owners being notified by the agency, according to FCC documents and sources knowledgeable of the illegal transfers. Sprint, …
Response time to rescue tower tech was way too long claims caller
Update: June 14, 2017 – According to tower technician Jake Caldwell of Avon, Ind., he had been on the tower and had a mishap with a grinder and cut his arm pretty badly. “Upon hearing my screams, one of my buddies on the ground came up and rescued me. All in all it took seven minutes to get me from tower …
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 …
Crown inks lease for new 56K sq. ft. Alpharetta, Georgia office
Crown Castle has signed a 55,622 square-foot lease at 8000 Avalon, a 224,000 square-foot office development that was completed last month in Alpharetta, Ga. It is expected that they will move their current Alpharetta operations, less than three miles from 8000 Avalon, in November to the new high rise office building. The 86-acre complex offers almost a half-million square feet …
Crown sues Rye as SBA’s bread winner sells $12.6 million of his stock; AT&T strike ends
Crown Castle International has filed a lawsuit against the City of Rye, N.Y. after the City Council rejected a proposal that allowed Crown to install wireless equipment in the community’s rights of way. In its complaint, Crown said Rye improperly refused to grant the company access to public rights of way to expand an existing network of small cells, or …
Simon and DeBroux will chair new FCC broadband deployment working groups
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has appointed members to serve on two Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC) working groups. The Competitive Access to Broadband Infrastructure Working Group will be chaired by Ken Simon, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Crown Castle, and Removing State and Local Regulatory Barriers Working Group’s chairman is Robert DeBroux, Director, Public Policy and Federal Regulatory Affairs, …
Tower tech’s 150-foot fall in Mississippi is nation’s second 2017 fatality
Update: May 3, 2017 – Kris Edward Runyon, 39, has been identified as the tower technician who fell from a Crown Castle guyed tower near Meridian, Miss. yesterday evening and was pronounced dead at the scene. A resident of Portsmouth, Ohio, Runyon had been working for D&K Nationwide Communications Inc. of Bristol, Conn. for the past year, but according to the …
Crown ‘s California fiber miles increase by 1,900 with Wilcon buy
Crown Castle International Corp. announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held Wilcon Holdings LLC for approximately $600 million from Pamlico Capital and other unit holders of Wilcon. Wilcon is a fiber services provider that owns approximately 1,900 route miles of fiber, primarily in Los Angeles and San Diego. Pro forma for the proposed acquisition, …
WIN’s Arizona meeting will feature Women of NATE, safety initiatives
The National Association of Tower Erector’s (NATE) Wireless Industry Network (WIN) will be hosting a Southwest Regional Meeting on Wed., May 3, 2017 at the Hilton Phoenix Airport in Phoenix, Ariz. The event will focus on key industry safety initiatives and offer tremendous networking and professional development opportunities for attendees. A feature session will be on Women of NATE (WON), presented …
FCC appoints WIA members and leaders to broadband deployment committee
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai today announced that members and leaders of the Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA) were selected to serve on the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC), a new federal advisory committee charged with exploring ways to accelerate deployment of high-speed Internet access nationwide and to close the digital divide. WIA members named to the Committee include: Marc Ganzi, Chief …
American Tower pulls out of Florida’s corporate row, affecting 56 employees
American Tower Corporation (ATC) will be closing its office in Boca Raton, Fla. at 750 Park of Commerce Blvd., and laying off many of their 56 employees, according to a Florida worker adjustment and retraining notice dated March 1. Terminations are scheduled to begin on May 1. The office is located within a stone’s throw of Digital Bridge’s headquarters and …
NATE releases an updated detailed resource for tower site drone usage
The National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) today released the 2nd Edition of the NATE Unmanned Aerial Systems Operations Around Vertical Communications Infrastructure resource document available to all interested parties at no charge. The newest edition of this valuable safety resource is a by-product of collaboration between the NATE Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Committee and other prominent representatives from the commercial …
Bankrupt Limitless Mobile wants to reject 140 cell tower leases; creditors cry foul
UPDATE: January 27, 2017 – The bankruptcy court has agreed to a revised motion to reject the leases of Limitless Mobile. It stated, “For each Lease, any Tower Equipment remaining on or at the Tower or the associated premises is hereby deemed abandoned pursuant to section 554 of the Bankruptcy Code, effective January 30, 2017.” Tower owners can now remove …
Limitless Mobile’s bankruptcy hits contractors, towercos and suppliers
At the end of November, Limitless Mobile’s subscribers in central Pennsylvania knew something was amiss when their cell service was cut off, and if they went to the Susquehanna Valley Mall in Selinsgrove this past weekend they would have been greeted with an empty store with a note on the security gate that said the store had been closed and …
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, …
