On Monday, December 1, at approximately 10:30 a.m., a tower technician fell from a cell tower and later succumbed to his injuries, according to the Douglas County, Wisconsin Sheriff’s Office in a brief statement. Sheriff Matt Izzard said his agency received a report that a male worker had fallen roughly 100 feet from a structure located off Industrial Park Road …
From the Hill to harness: SBA, NATE & Banner give DC staffers a hands-on view of wireless rollout challenges
NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association and member companies SBA Communications, an independent provider of critical wireless infrastructure, and contractor firm Banner Enterprise LLC, recently hosted a unique cell tower climbing experience and legislative advocacy event at an SBA tower site in Ashburn, Virginia. The event welcomed Capitol Hill staffers, government agency representatives from the U.S. Small Business Administration, as …
Texas tower tech dies after fall at Little Rock antenna farm; sheriff identifies victim as Toby Cole
A Texas man died Friday after falling from a tower along Two Towers Road west of Little Rock, AR, an area known for its cluster of broadcast and communications structures on Shinall Mountain. The Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office said deputies were dispatched at about 2:09 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, to 19008 Two Towers Road. The office later identified …
Tower crews lose work as Boost’s open RAN ambitions as the nation’s fourth carrier collapse
The prospect of Boost Mobile emerging as an actual “fourth national carrier” has collapsed following EchoStar’s multi-billion-dollar spectrum sales to AT&T and SpaceX. Together, the transactions dismantle Dish/EchoStar’s original 5G greenfield buildout and confirm that the U.S. market will remain dominated by the Big Three—AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile—for the foreseeable future. AT&T deal: Spectrum sale and RAN takeover In late …
Rural South Dakota 275-foot SBA Communications tower crumples under force of derecho-like storm
Winds exceeding 90 miles per hour swept through Lincoln County, South Dakota, on Monday night, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. The intense storm, described by emergency officials as containing straight-line winds potentially stronger than some tornadoes, uprooted trees, flattened barns, tore the roofs off buildings, and toppled a 275-foot cell tower located off of 29140 County Highway …
Starting July 1, no more rogue 1099 crews on Verizon sites—NATE reporting agreement takes effect
On July 1, 2025, a landmark agreement between Verizon and NATE, the Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association, will provide contractors with an opportunity to report to Verizon those who may be performing construction services for the carrier without their knowledge and with improper 1099 status. This monitoring promises to reshape the field for many hundreds of subcontractors. After years of contractor complaints …
Historic charm meets bathroom chic: The saga of SBA’s toilet paper tower, which gained an extra roll
A telecommunications tower off Line Street in downtown Charleston, South Carolina, has been a source of debate since its completion in 2023. Historic preservation advocates are pushing for changes, arguing that the structure deviates significantly from its initially approved design. Based on the initial designs, the Historic Charleston Foundation, one of the organizations involved in the review of the structure, …
Mount Wilson towers remain intact as FCC reports minimal communication disruptions from deadly LA fires
Yesterday, the Eaton Fire in Los Angeles County threatened Mount Wilson, which houses the transmitting towers of nearly every Los Angeles TV station, many of its FM radio stations, and other critical communications facilities in Southern California. At one point, the fire advanced quickly to the bottom of some structures, and it appeared that the broadcast compounds would be sheared …
NTSB report supports SBA Communications’ defense in $50 million lawsuit for tower lighting outage
Houston helicopter air tour company National Helicopter Solutions promoted on their website, “We promise to deliver safe, professional, and exciting helicopter travel in the skies over the city of Houston and Greater Texas.” Sadly, one such tour on October 20, 2024, piloted by Samantha Grandbouche, broke that promise when the 42-year-old pilot crashed the helicopter into an SBA Communications 1,000-foot …
Helicopter slams into SBA’s Houston 999-foot radio tower, igniting blaze, collapsing it and killing all aboard
UPDATE – October 22, 2024 – SBA Communications has released a press statement to address what it described as “incomplete and/or inaccurate information” circulating in news reports concerning the helicopter crash that occurred in Houston, Texas on Sunday. The accident involved the towerco’s 999-foot guyed tower that collapsed, resulting in four fatalities. According to Wireless Estimator yesterday, a Notice to …
American Tower’s CEO gets $20 million annually, and employees are paid $60K, but is it accurate?
American Tower’s CEO has the industry’s highest salary at $19,709,245, while its employees—compared to other public companies in the U.S. such as MasTec, Crown Castle, and SBA Communications—receive the lowest salary at $59,881. Conversely, a DigitalBridge employee’s median annual salary is $259,500, while its CEO’s salary is the lowest in the executive group, with $7,270,094. (SEC-required company profiles of CEO …
Forget the filters: In earnings call Viavi CEO Khaykin delivers a dose of harsh reality about infrastructure builds
In a refreshing twist from the typical earnings call script, Viavi Solutions Inc.’s President and CEO, Oleg Khaykin, left analysts and investors buzzing with straightforward commentary during Thursday’s Q3 FY24 earnings discussion. Departing from the usually reserved tone of such calls, Khaykin’s blunt assertion, “Money talks and bullshit walks,” underscored his frustration with the prevailing cautious spending behaviors among Tier …
NYC Comptroller Lander leverages pension fund clout for tower worker safety reporting, but is it necessary?
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, representing the five New York City pension funds, has successfully secured agreements with leading telecommunications infrastructure firms—SBA Communications Corporation (SBA), American Tower Corporation (American Tower), and Crown Castle—to improve their reporting on worker safety at communication tower sites. Lander emphasized the difficult conditions faced by tower workers, noting, “From dizzying heights to challenging …
DigitalBridge is betting a quarter billion dollars on its competitors becoming more profitable
On Monday, during its second-quarter earnings call, SBA Communications cited a slowdown in U.S. carrier activity, similar to previous announcements by American Tower Corp. and Crown Castle, whose Q2 activity had declined a whopping 50%. DigitalBridge Group, whose tower arm Vertical Bridge has 11,000 owned and master-leased towers, will release its quarterly report on Friday and takes no comfort in …
Dish meets its 70% buildout deadline with assistance of three major towerco partners
Dish Wireless announced yesterday that as of June 14, the carrier is offering 5G broadband service to over 70 percent of the U.S. population, giving more than 240 million Americans access to its technology. This marks a significant milestone for Dish and the U.S. telecom industry, as Dish designed, built, and deployed a first-of-its-kind 5G network in three years. Dish …
Aggravated over aggregator Everest’s ‘multi-million dollar scheme’, Vertical Bridge files a lawsuit
Vertical Bridge REIT, LLC has filed a lawsuit against competitor Everest Infrastructure Partners (EIP), alleging that it ran an unfair “multi-million dollar scheme to unlawfully improve its market share” at Vertical Bridge’s expense through trade secret misappropriation, interfering with existing contractual relations and false advertising. Vertical Bridge, the tower arm of Digital Bridge, requests that EIP provide an accounting of …
‘Amazing’ milestone of 10,000-plus trade certifications in a six-year time span achieved by NWSA
The National Wireless Safety Alliance (NWSA) announced that the organization has officially surpassed 10,000 trade certifications issued to workers in the communications infrastructure industry. NWSA reached the 10,000 credentials mark in a six-year time span, having started offering trade certification programs to the industry in late 2016. “I would like to congratulate the National Wireless Safety Alliance on achieving this …
The backstory of a teen tower climber rescue: It took a village
A Fox 8 News viewer yesterday afternoon sent Wireless Estimator an email with a link to an article on the Ohio TV station’s website that a 15-year-old boy had been rescued off of a 190-foot cell tower. With few details, it stated, “As the fire department’s ladder was not tall enough, rescuers had to put together a climbing crew, which took a …
Fatal fall of a 29-year-old tower tech from a 300-foot Louisiana tower is industry’s first 2022 death
OSHA is investigating the death of a 29-year-old tower technician who fell from a guyed tower in Florien, LA, late Friday afternoon. According to multiple sources interviewed by Wireless Estimator, Jose Garcia, a resident of Mexico, fell from an unknown elevation off of a 300-foot tower owned by SBA Communications of Boca Raton, FL. The site is located off of …
A reverse stock split is oftentimes cautionary, but DigitalBridge Group says it’s all part of the grand plan
A reverse stock split oftentimes signals that a company is trying to stay listed on major exchanges, such as the New York Stock Exchange, where a company’s shares are required to not trade below $1 for 30 consecutive days. NYSE-traded DigitalBridge Group announced yesterday that within the next three months the company expects to have a reverse stock split in …
