Millicom International Cellular S.A. (“Millicom”) has announced that its subsidiary Telemovil El Salvador S.A. de C.V. (“Tigo El Salvador”) has agreed to sell up to 800 wireless communications towers to a subsidiary of SBA Communications Corporation (“SBA”) in El Salvador. As a result of the transaction, Tigo El Salvador will receive approximately $145 million in cash. Additionally, the two companies …
Free exhibit hall pass is another enticement for heading to NATE UNITE 2018
Every year the National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) adds new educational and event activities to it annual convention, the acknowledged premiere conference for the wireless construction and maintenance industry. This year is no exception as the organization introduces its free exhibit hall passes during the Feb. 19 through Feb. 22 NATE UNITE 2018 event at the Gaylord Opryland Resort …
Phoenix Tower acquires 215 tower sites from Digicel in the French West Indies
Phoenix Tower International (PTI) of Boca Raton, Fla. via its subsidiary Phoenix Tower FWI, S.A.S. announced today that it has closed its transaction with Digicel Antilles Francaises Guyane (Digicel) to acquire the ownership or management rights relating to 215 wireless communication tower sites from Digicel. This latest transaction solidifies PTI’s position as the premier tower company in the Caribbean. Terms of …
American Tower could take over the Philippines as sole towerco
A new tower siting policy in the Philippines to free telecommunications companies from costly capital expenditures in constructing communication towers and eventually reduce the cost of their services is being rolled out by President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration. Under the controversial “common tower” policy, telecommunications companies will no longer be allowed to build communication towers or cell sites, but instead must …
Washington’s ‘Little Red Book’ could easily save tower tech lives
The State of Washington Department of Labor and Industries’ (L&I) extensive Safety Standards for Telecommunications became effective Jan. 1, 2018, and in order to get the rule into workers’ hands, the agency, at no cost to the individual or their company, is providing a downloadable copy of the 129-pages of rules in Chapter 296-32 WAC. The department is also providing …
New broadcast stations’ 2017 count shaved in half following FCC’s reverse auction
According to newly released statistics by the FCC, the nation saw an addition of 609 broadcast stations added to its ranks during 2017, with 158 of them being low power FM stations. However, the repack auction has taken its toll. In 2016, an additional 1,365 stations were added, 55% more new broadcasters than in 2017. (VIEW BROADCAST CATEGORY COUNTS BELOW) The year saw the continuing …
Top 10 industry stories in 2017 trailed with one fake news article
Below are the top 10 articles that appeared in Wireless Estimator during 2017 based upon the number of views each one received, such as the September rigging accident that claimed the lives of three industry workers. It had 6,000 Facebook likes, was shared on LinkedIn over 900 times, and had been viewed over 48,000 times With Wireless Estimator’s safety-centric audience …
Akron jumps at $11 million telecom lease deal to fill budget hole
The city of Akron, Ohio has completed the sale of 15 lease agreements to Pittsburg, Pa.-based EIP Communications and will receive $11 million. City leaders were expected to move forward with the deal since they had already spent about $6 million that they had earmarked from the sale when they passed their 2017 budget nearly a year ago. The city …
Battery thief uses Verizon codes for multi-county Florida crime spree
A Ruskin, Fla. man with ties to the industry has been arrested by Hillsborough County Florida deputies for breaking into numerous cell phone tower compounds in Hillsborough and surrounding counties to steal backup power supply batteries. Authorities say that William Bingham, 40, broke into a Gibsonton cell tower site on Nov. 27 using Verizon access codes to get into the …
Weekend Kansas fatality is nation’s 7th industry death in 2017
January 3, 2018 – UPDATE: Authorities have released a statement that Clayton Donnell Barnhill of Grayson, La., was working on a communications tower fell approximately 320 feet to the ground from a 420-foot guyed tower. Based on reports by the Trego County Sheriff’s Office, a coworker on the tower with the deceased heard the deceased “click” his safety harness on, then …
Big tower build bonanza for towercos and contractors announced by Sprint
Sprint CFO Tarek Robbiati last week gave the industry an early holiday present – thousands of new towers to be built across the nation. At the 45th Annual UBS Global Media and Communications conference, Robbiati said the carrier intends to spend upwards of $4 billion on its network during fiscal 2017, which ends in March 2018, and expects to increase spending …
FDH Velocitel restructures after QualTek acquires Velocitel assets
Following QualTek Services’ recent acquisition of the assets of the Velocitel wireless turf and Site Safe businesses from Willis Stein & Partners and Vision Capital, FDH Velocitel’s remaining business units have reorganized into FDH Infrastructure Services (FDH-IS). FDH Velocitel’s infrastructure engineering businesses, FDH and Stainless, have been restructured to preserve both entities’ long traditions of service excellence to the wireless, …
Cary lands Boston-based CTI Towers as they continue to expand
CTI Towers, one of the nation’s largest privately-held tower companies, announces it will be relocating its corporate headquarters to Cary, NC. CTI has been based in the Boston market since its inception in 2011. CTI will be moving to the Highwoods property at 5000 CentreGreen Way, and will commence operations at the location beginning in February, 2018. “With our continued …
American Tower picks up 20,000 towers in India for $1.2 billion
American Tower Corp.’s Indian subsidiary is buying approximately 20,000 communications towers from Vodafone India Ltd. and Idea Cellular Ltd. for $1.2 billion. ATC Telecom Infrastructure Private Ltd. is buying the sites and expects to generate roughly $320 million in property revenue from the assets during the first full year of ownership, American Tower said today. In both deals, the companies …
AT&T and Verizon threaten the big three towercos with a new Tillman 200 tower scheme
In a move clearly positioned as a threat to major tower owners to lower their lease rates, AT&T, Verizon and Tillman Infrastructure announced a joint agreement today to build hundreds of cell towers, with the potential for significantly more new site locations in the future. Last year during an investors conference, Bill Hogg, AT&T’s president of technology operations, said that …
CommScope’s AT&T antenna orders is first real sign of FirstNet’s deployment
In March, Barclays said that AT&T could start deploying the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) as early as June, but the announcement was one of many short-lived guesstimates. However, according to CommScope, they have received antenna orders from AT&T for FirstNet. In a Nov. 1 earnings call with analysts, Mark A. Olson, EVP & CFO of CommScope Holding Company said, …
Either there’s a shortage of COWs in Puerto Rico or FCC data
In order for Americans to experience a total solar eclipse of the sun on Aug. 21 and record it on their cell phones, carriers rolled out dozens of Cell on Wheels and Cell on Light Trucks for the two-minute event, but can’t seem to provide Puerto Rico with any more than 14 COWs and COLTs, according to FCC data, as …
Media is hoodwinked on ‘new’ federal Crown Castle siting lawsuit
A press conference was held Thursday morning in front of the Nassau County, N.Y. Supreme Court building announcing that a lawsuit has been filed by several Long Island homeowners challenging what they believe is Crown Castle’s installation of hundreds of unregulated and untested wireless facilities. Broadcast, print and digital media were there and sucked up the staged presentation with CBS2’s …
No injuries reported in Nebraska broadcast tower collapse
No one was injured this morning about 8 a.m. when a 500-foot broadcast tower collapsed in Lincoln, Neb. at 4100 Industrial Ave. The cause of the collapse is unknown, but two witnesses told Channel 8 Eyewitness News they heard a couple of popping noises and the tower just fell. Several TV stations broadcast from the structure and it also has …
Towercos headed for some stiff competition with formation of Lendlease Towers
When Lendlease recently entered the U.S. tower market in May with its purchase of Parallel Infrastructure’s 450 towers, it is likely that major tower operators viewed the acquisition as a missed opportunity and another competitive thorn in their rosy future, and possibly shrugged off Lendlease Americas CEO Denis Hickey’s statement that he would expand those holdings. True to his promise, …
