Jonathan Adelstein, President and CEO of the Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA), was honored today at the Wireless Connect conference held at the University of Maryland for his work to enhance training and education opportunities within the wireless infrastructure industry. Dr. Rikin Thakker, Faculty Member of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park, and …
Canada’s premier tower industry event is all set for April 17 and 18
Canada’s Structure, Tower & Antenna Council (STAC) will host its 3rd annual conference April 17 and 18, 2018 at the Hyatt Regency Calgary in Alberta. From its location in the Stampede City, the STAC 2018 Conference & Exhibition will feature two full days of discussion and presentations by industry leading thinkers on the most important issues in the Canadian tower …
Services set for Alabama tower tech, the nation’s first 2018 fatality
Services have been set for Melvin Ronnie Nelson, Jr., 34, a resident of Foley, Ala., who passed away Mon., April 2, while working on a new Verizon tower installation in Utica, Miss. Nelson was the first industry-related fatality in 2018. According to Hinds County Sheriff Major Pete Luke, “The tower was being erected just off Hwy. 27 near Bear Creek …
Outside engineer’s defective gin pole rigging plan is cited for three tower techs’ deaths
Calculation errors in an engineer’s rigging plan is being cited as the reason a gin pole broke loose from the 1,000-foot Miami, Fla. tower it was attached to, causing the death last September of three tall tower technicians employed by Tower King II, Inc. of Cedar Hill, Tex. The disclosure came to light this afternoon from Tower King II’s attorney, …
AT&T’s small cell ‘rat’s nest’ of cables is needlessly messy says former FCC senior exec
Dr. Michael Marcus, a former forceful proponent of new technology at the FCC for 20 years, who is recognized for getting the FCC to adopt rules for the 60 GHz mmWave bands in 1995, has taken AT&T to task for using a photograph of a small cell in Indianapolis in a Feb. 23 presentation to the FCC that he believes …
Bonuses for American Tower execs are a far cry from bread crumbs
When companies started handing out bonuses of $1,000 or more to workers in January as a result of the GOP tax bill, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said they received “crumbs”. Pelosi was not impressed. “In terms of the bonus that corporate America received versus the crumbs that they are giving to workers to kind of put the schmooze on …
Leaving the cradle of earth, Vodafone and Nokia to create moon-based 4G network
The Moon will get 4G coverage next year, 50 years after the first NASA astronauts walked on its surface. In an announcement Tuesday, Vodafone said it plans to create the first 4G network on the Moon to support a mission by PTScientists in 2019 and has appointed Nokia as its technology partner. Berlin-based PTScientists is working with Vodafone Germany and …
American Tower and SBA paint a rosy picture for 2018
American Tower Corp (ATC) and SBA Communications (SBA) informed analysts during their earnings calls this week that higher build levels and increased carrier capex are expected in 2018, supporting above average industry growth. “First, we anticipate that our core U.S. tower market will enjoy strong tenant demand in 2018 and beyond,” said ATC CEO James Taiclet, Jr. yesterday. “Based on …
NRA awards FCC chief Pai a long gun for his ‘courage’ to kill net neutrality
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is a passionate and polished speaker. But on Friday he was flummoxed when he was about to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland when the American Conservative Union (ACU) and the National Rifle Association (NRA) presented him with the Charlton Heston Courage Under Fire” award, an honor that is given with the …
Lawsuit targets multiple companies in Ernie Jones’ tragic death
The widow of a well-respected and prominent Indiana structural engineer who died on Oct. 21, 2015 when he was crushed to death between an elevator and a guyed tower’s structural members has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Oklahoma, where the incident occurred, against the owner of the tower, the manufacturer of the structure, the elevator manufacturer, and a contractor …
SBA Communications sets deeper tower roots in El Salvador
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 …
