American Tower Corp. and InSite Towers’ management, and dozens of broadcasters, breathed out a collective but cautious sigh of relief early this morning as controlled burns around Mount Wilson in California appear to have kept at bay the Bobcat Fire that had made a renewed push to destroy the Mount Wilson Observatory and 29 communications towers. As of 3:00 a.m. …
Towercos should consider a contribution instead of a pricey plaque
Unlike phony ego-boosting vanity award scams and paid articles, Wireless Estimator’s Top 100 Tower Companies in the U.S. is the real deal. It’s a list of the industry’s top tower companies who have successfully built or acquired 10 or more macro towers. Their achievements are well known and applauded in a challenging environment. However, a Connecticut wall plaque company is …
Family of man killed in Missouri TV tower collapse sues structure’s owner and design engineer
The family of the owner of a tall tower erection company killed when a 1,891-foot TV tower collapsed near Fordland, Missouri in 2018 has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the Missouri State University Board of Governors (MSU) and South Carolina-based Tower Consultants, Inc. (TCI) who contracted with MSU to retrofit their structure as part of the FCC’s repacking effort. Steve Lemay, …
FCC’s full day full-court press to develop O-RAN sported key industry experts
The FCC convened the top experts in the field yesterday in a ground-breaking virtual event to discuss the benefits of an Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN), the challenges of implementing it, and the lessons learned from recent deployments. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai lead the all-day sessions that included aroster of public- and private-sector experts who discussed the current state of …
Site developer sues over towers of Madison County rejection
In the 1995 movie Bridges of Madison County, Merrill Streep and Clint Eastwood fell in love at the Roseman covered bridge in rural Winterset, Iowa. A quarter-century later, AT&T and FirstNet wanted to erect a 300-foot guyed tower four miles away in an agricultural area that required cell phone coverage. However, Madison County’s board of adjustment on August 4 wasn’t …
CTI’s 1,150 towers acquired by Melody Investment Advisors for an undisclosed price
Melody Investment Advisors LP (Melody) today announced the entry into a definitive agreement to acquire CTI Towers, Inc., an owner and manager of wireless towers in the U.S. CTI Towers is majority owned by Comcast Ventures, Comcast Corporation’s venture investment arm. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to close later in 2020, subject to the …
Judge rules that a Massachusetts city was correct in denying ExteNet’s poles over power concerns
In a ruling yesterday, US District Court Judge Allison Burroughs dismissed a lawsuit by ExteNet Systems against the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts and its Pole and Conduit Commission over the commission’s decision to reject five of the ExteNet’s proposed small cell wireless installations in the city because its applications did not specify how the company would power the wireless devices …
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 …
Sprint and T-Mobile settle Manhattan $2 million townhouse damage claim in a New York minute
Justice is said to be blind but no one ever said it was fast, especially in the COVID-19 era where lawsuits are causing the wheels of justice to move at glacial speeds. So a lawsuit that was filed by homeowners in June against Sprint and T-Mobile alleging that they installed 5G antennas on a Manhattan penthouse that caused damage to …
Elderly Vertical Bridge AM tower goes horizontal after being walloped by 130 mph winds
A 310-foot self-supporting tower owned by Vertical Bridge that broadcast WMT-AM radio’s signal throughout Iowa collapsed last week after tornado-type winds swept through Linn County. According to the National Weather Service, a powerful line of severe thunderstorms known as “Derecho” tracked across Minnesotta, eastern Iowa, and northwest Illinois in the afternoon of August 10. Straight line winds were estimated to …
Reward upped to $10K for information regarding shooting deaths of two cell site workers
Two months ago, two men were shot multiple times inside a Jacksonville, Florida AT&T cell site equipment building and police are no further ahead in the investigation of their deaths that appears to have been the result of a robbery while the men were working at night resupplying battery banks. Phillip Harley, 37, co-owner of Harley and Sibs Logistics LLC, …
Vertical Bridge acquires last big broadcast tower portfolio for $213 million: Cumulus Media
In February, Cumulus Media said that the company was considering selling its tower portfolio of 250 sites across 32 states to increase its liquidity and pay down debt. On Friday, the deal was inked with Vertical Bridge picking up the assets for $213 million. Previously, CFO John Abbot said that he believes that the multiples being paid as the tower industry …
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 — …
California city loses $50K in annual revenue, Yurok tribe gains cultural protection
For years, residents of the City of Trinidad, California have been objecting to cell towers located atop Trinidad Head, a scenic promontory instilled with deep spiritual and cultural importance by the Tsurais of the Yurok Tribe. Trinidad leased land to Verizon, which subleased space to AT&T and Sprint. The 20-year lease expired in 2018, but was extended to as Verizon …
Helicopter cell site project crash kills pilot and passenger
Update: August 3, 2020 – The passenger who died in a helicopter crash last Wednesday has been identified as LaDonna Stroud, a longtime friend of the pilot, James “Jim” Robinson, the owner of St. Louis Helicopter (SLH), who also passed away while preparing for cell tower work near Pioche, Nevada. Stroud was a nurse practitioner and a former member of …
Two dead in a small plane crash in Utah that collapsed a Crown Castle tower
A single-engine North American Navion plane crashed in Iron County, Utah on Sunday morning, killing its pilot and passenger, authorities confirmed. The plane struck a 397-foot Crown Castle guyed tower about eight miles southwest of the Cedar City Regional Airport near 6500 W. 4000 South about 9:30 a.m., said Iron County Sheriff’s Lt. Del Schlosser in a statement. There was …
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 …
NATE’s survey initiates conversations to fix troubling compliance company concerns
NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association today unveiled the results of the Association’s 3rd Party Compliance Company Experience Survey. NATE conducted the survey in May of 2020 in order to assist the Association in identifying many of the onboarding “pain points” and assess the impact these practices have on member contractor firms. Over the course of the month, 205 NATE …
Thriller in Manila: American Tower to get all nationwide permits in 16 days, but telcos could be seized
Philippine government officials threw the nation’s towercos a sweet sixteen party last week with the signing of an Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) joint memorandum circular (JMC) titled Streamlined Guidelines for the Issuance of Permits, Licenses, and Certificates for the Construction of Shared Passive Telecommunications Tower Infrastructures (PTTIs). With the signed JMC, the oversight agencies have reduced the requirements and processing …
Arrest made following theft of Sprint network routers that took down carrier’s service in Texas
A Texas man, possibly a Cisco certified technician, who appeared to have codes to enter cell tower sites and keys to access Sprint equipment that permitted him to steal routers from dozens of compounds was arrested Monday in Fort Worth and is currently in jail awaiting a detention hearing this morning. Fort Worth Police Detective Stephanie Phillips, assigned to the …
