President Trump nominated Danielle Thumann Severs, currently senior counsel to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, to fill one of two open seats on the five-member commission, the White House announced Friday. For an industry that spends considerable time navigating FCC wireline, public safety, and infrastructure policy, the nomination carries a detail worth flagging directly: Thumann Severs spent a year in the …
NATE applauds FCC Chairman Carr’s plan for big auction of prime mid-band spectrum
NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association today applauded FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s and the Commission for voting at its July 22 Open Meeting on a draft order to auction 160 megahertz of prime, mid-band spectrum in the Upper C-Band (3.98-4.14 GHz). The draft order will harmonize terrestrial wireless operations across the full C-Band, creating a contiguous 440 megahertz “super-band” spanning …
TIF and NATE release deep-dive training video on proper monopole collar ring mount installation
The Telecommunications Industry Foundation (TIF) and NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association have released a new training video providing contractors with a detailed look at the proper installation of collar ring mounts on monopoles—one of the most critical steps in building a safe and level antenna platform. The latest installment in the organization’s ongoing educational series emphasizes that proper planning …
Carrier capex says the money’s still there. Help wanted postings say the legitimate companies aren’t.
Across the wireless construction industry, a complaint has become too common to dismiss as isolated grumbling: legitimate wireless communications contractors say they can no longer compete with illegal 1099 crews and foreign nationals working outside U.S. labor law, who are underbidding compliant companies on price because they carry none of the costs — insurance, workers’ compensation, proper tax withholding, safety …
Maybe-faux marriage proposal atop Empire State Building ends in eight charges and supervised release
Two people climbed to the top of the Empire State Building’s broadcast antenna Wednesday afternoon, unfurled a banner, and got engaged in front of millions of social media viewers and a wave of well-wishers already dreaming up a wedding to rival Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s. Except the engagement increasingly looks like scripted performance art, according to the bride-to-be’s father, …
DISH bankruptcy filing puts numbers on who gets paid and who doesn’t — And a $2.4B fund only covers some of it
DISH DBS Corporation, DISH Wireless L.L.C. and 16 affiliates filed prepackaged Chapter 11 petitions June 30 in Houston, formalizing the wind-down of DISH Wireless’s facilities-based 5G network following EchoStar’s spectrum sales to AT&T and SpaceX. DISH Network, Sling TV, Boost Mobile and Hughes are all expected to continue operating without interruption — it’s DISH Wireless alone that’s being decommissioned. The …
Verizon’s move on Carolina West Wireless gives FCC Chairman Carr a clear leverage point on contractor commitments
Carolina West Wireless, a 35-year-old rural carrier serving 11 counties in western North Carolina, announced today that it has entered into an agreement to transition its wireless network to Verizon and will discontinue wireless services effective September 30, 2026. Terms were not disclosed. The deal marks the end of an independent wireless provider that was born from a partnership among …
NATE cuts the ribbon on new South Dakota headquarters, marking a milestone three decades in the making
One year after breaking ground on a new home for one of the wireless infrastructure industry’s most important trade associations, NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association officially opened the doors of its new headquarters last week, welcoming members, partners, friends, and community leaders to experience what had been, just twelve months earlier, nothing more than a vision on paper. The …
Jim Tracy, a wireless industry icon steps into a global spotlight he was perhaps always meant to occupy
When Jim Tracy was building cell towers across North America, Alaska, Hawaii, the Pacific Rim, and Antarctica, there were no podcasts, no social media platforms, no YouTube channels, and no global speaking circuits hungry for authentic voices on personal and cultural issues. Had those avenues existed decades ago, one would have to wonder whether Legacy Telecommunications would ever have been …
Two men, one competition, and a redemption story: FordCom Wireless claims Tough Tower crown
Their victory was a year in the making. After earning a bronze finish in last year’s competition, tower technicians Chris Smith and Frankie Newman of FordCom Wireless in East Palestine, Ohio, returned to Tough Tower with unfinished business. The duo climbed, competed, and conquered their way to first place in the 2026 competition, besting six other two-man teams in a …
Verizon has become the anti-construction carrier — and broadband workers are paying the price
Commentary — There is a pattern to how Verizon treats the construction workforce, and it is worth naming plainly. In tower construction, maintenance, and modifications, Verizon has been among the carriers most aggressively pushing matrix pricing — the carrier-imposed rate structures that compressed contractor margins to unsustainable levels, drove experienced companies out of the industry, and pushed legitimate tower construction …
FCC’s $2.4 Billion EchoStar escrow: Industry celebrates, but deliverance may be the devil in the details
The wireless infrastructure industry scored what many are calling a landmark victory Tuesday when the Federal Communications Commission approved EchoStar’s $42.6 billion spectrum sale to SpaceX and AT&T — attaching a condition that EchoStar establish a $2.4 billion escrow account to cover potential obligations owed to tower companies, contractors, and infrastructure providers left behind when Dish Wireless walked away from …
Tower Technician Appreciation Day 2026: Honoring the skilled workers behind every call, stream, and connection made at Connect (X)
As thousands of wireless infrastructure professionals gathered in Fort Lauderdale this week for Connect (X) 2026 to debate the future of AI, spectrum, and next-generation networks, NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association offered a timely reminder of who makes it all possible. Wednesday, May 6 marks the ninth consecutive Tower Technician Appreciation Day — a commemoration honoring the men and …
Tower industry champion Craig Snyder named to esteemed 2026 Wireless Hall of Fame
The Wireless History Foundation has announced its 2026 Wireless Hall of Fame inductees, and for those in the infrastructure and contracting community, one name stands front and center: Craig Snyder. Snyder, founder and Chairman of VIKOR, will be inducted this October in recognition of a career that has consistently bridged the gap between boots-on-the-steel field experience and the engineering, standards, …
Federal broadband permitting bill could be a game-changer for telecom siting and contracting
A bill working its way through Congress could be one of the most significant boosts the tower and telecom siting and contracting industry has seen in years — and it may be one step closer to becoming law by tonight. H.R. 2289, the American Broadband Deployment Act, introduced by Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.), is a sweeping federal bill designed to …
Verizon’s promise of transparency for contractors is a fiction — and the FCC should take notice
Commentary — Verizon made a promise. It made that promise not in a private email or an offhand remark at a trade show, but in a formal framework agreement — one that its own representatives negotiated with NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association and, by extension, with the Federal Communications Commission. The promise was straightforward: fair pricing reviews, regional flexibility, …
Carr tops out at 2,000 feet: FCC Chairman climbs NC broadcast tower, shines spotlight on tower crews
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr went 2,000 feet above ground on April 9, 2026, ascending one of the tallest broadcast towers in the United States in New Bern, North Carolina—an effort aimed at highlighting the work of America’s telecommunications workforce. The climb took place on the 1,999-foot WCTI/WYDO tower, owned by Sinclair Broadcasting and serving WCTI-TV and co-located WYDO. A crew …
Mike Rowe quits PureTalk after learning its network is built on the backs of underpaid tower crews
Mike Rowe, the nation’s most recognizable champion of skilled trades and PureTalk’s lead spokesperson, has abruptly terminated his relationship with the mobile carrier after a Reddit post and a chance encounter with a tower crew exposed what he described as “two uncomfortable truths I can’t unknow” — one about the company he represented, and one about the industry that makes …
Kiss Cam love story ends the moment Verizon’s terms were unveiled last night
For approximately 12 seconds yesterday, the telecom contractors industry achieved something remarkable: everyone looked happy. AT&T and Verizon executives had invited NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association’s directors and administrators to a Washington Nationals game, a gesture of appreciation following the much-discussed framework agreement among the carriers, NATE, and the FCC. Under the stadium lights, it looked like progress had …
Verizon’s new sourcing model promises scale—but no guarantees; contractors call it a financial trap
Verizon’s latest push to consolidate its network construction and maintenance work into a handful of “preferred suppliers” is being pitched as a pathway to stability and scale. But contractors reviewing RFPs say the reality is far different: a system that most—and possibly all—qualified general contractors cannot financially meet, even if they win. At the center of the concern is a …
