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 …
Compound expansion agreement will streamline 5G build and protect historic properties
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr today announced that the Commission, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP), and the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers (NCSHPO) have reached an agreement that will support wireless infrastructure builds while continuing to protect historic properties. It does so by amending the Nationwide Programmatic Agreement for the Collocation of Wireless Antennas (Collocation NPA) that …
A safe out of plumb monopole is most likely caused by the thermal ‘Sunflower Effect’
Many of us have seen and experienced the Sunflower Effect. Most of us remember the first time we pulled up to a monopole and saw a severe case of it. It seems as if the pole is leaning or is damaged in some way. However, upon further assessment it appears that there is no damage and as the day goes …
Tower techs put their life in danger if they accidentally disable a cartel’s ‘parasite’ antenna in Mexico
A tower tech in Mexico turned off the power to an American Tower site to perform routine maintenance and within minutes three armed men in fatigues embroidered with a prominent drug cartel logo braced him in the site’s compound since their “parasite” antennas on the structure for their narco-network went down. He was released with a warning “I was so nervous… …
Tower crews who had the ‘hard part’ in the nation’s successful repack singled out by FCC chief
On yesterday’s 39-month repack deadline date, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai expressed sincere thanks to broadcasters, wireless and tower companies, tower crews, Congress and his staff for making the broadcast spectrum repack a success. During remarks he made during a webinar panel presentation to the American Consumer Institute, Pai lauded individuals responsible for the world’s first incentive spectrum auction and transition starting …
Arson ruled out after Virginia church’s shrouded bell tower goes up in flames
Members of the New Highland Baptist Church attended drive-in services yesterday and were visually reminded of the burnt out hull of their 125-foot bell tower that was set ablaze Thursday night in Mechanicsville, Virginia in their parking lot off of New Ashcake Road. The good news shared at the morning service is that the structure’s owner, American Tower Corp., will …
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 …
Two cell site electricians shot to death while performing an AT&T upgrade in Florida
UPDATE: June 22, 2020 – The two cell site workers that were shot to death have been identified. They were found by the mother of a co-owner of the logistics company that was killed. Additional information is available here. The bodies of two electricians were found early this morning inside an AT&T equipment shelter at a monopole site in Jacksonville, …
Cops collar the nation’s first cell tower terrorist accused of setting fire to two California sites
Police arrested a Riverside, California 27-year-old man last week for allegedly torching two cell towers in Fontana and trying to burn a third structure using “homemade incendiary devices”. The Fontana Police Department said that Bryan Uriel Guzman was arrested on Thursday, June 11 and charged with arson to property, arson of structures and attempted arson. Bail for Guzman was set …
All Quiet on the Western Wireless Front as the infrastructure industry enjoys a peaceful weekend
Concerns about the possibility of Saturday’s Global 5G Protest Day bringing out anarchists bent upon setting fire to cell tower sites or vandalizing them in other manners were well-founded but failed to materialize this weekend. Picked up by major news outlets, Wireless Estimator first reported on Thursday that companies were taking the threats seriously and asked wireless workers to be vigilant …
Sprint’s unauthorized use of NYC townhouse’s wall should be worth over $2 million lawsuit claims
A New York City husband and wife filed a lawsuit against Sprint and T-Mobile on Monday, alleging that they installed 5G antennas without their permission and violated the terms of a contract they made with Sprint eight years earlier. According to the complaint, Sprint allegedly had previously installed a cell site on a residential townhouse immediately adjacent to the one …
