After Hurricane Harvey hit the coastal tourist town of Rockport Tex., decimating communications in Aransas County, carriers reported to the FCC on Saturday that 18 of 19 cell sites were out of service. This morning, according to the FCC, the county is still without service, but more importantly, the percent of cell sites that are down in the affected counties …
Wireless industry works to maintain service for millions of Americans impacted by Hurricane Harvey
The wireless industry is working hard to maintain service for the millions of Americans across Texas and parts of Louisiana impacted by Hurricane Harvey, as data released by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) showed that 95 percent of the thousands of cell sites across the region were up and running, although sites that are not operating are increasing. The nation’s major wireless carriers, AT&T, …
Charter advance allows SBA to break into the S&P 500 on Sept. 1
S&P Dow Jones Indices has announced that it will add Charter Communications Inc. to the S&P 100 Index on Sept. 1, providing the opportunity for Boca Raton, Fla.-based SBA Communications to become the newest S&P 500 company. Charter, which is part of the S&P 500, is replacing DuPont, which has been acquired by Dow Chemical Co., with the combined company …
Photos proved to be elusive for most tower techs, but not the eclipse’s enjoyment
Taking eclipse photos with their beloved broadband structures in the foreground proved to be a daunting task for tower climbers yesterday as they tried to capture the first coast-to-coast total eclipse of the sun in the past 99 years. And using NASA’s suggestion to take your ISO certified sunglasses and put them in front of your smart phone camera’s lens …
Crown Castle disputes whistleblower’s claim that it hid millions in fees from New York
A whistleblower lawsuit filed on Dec. 28, 2015 alleging that Crown Castle International has cheated New York out of millions of dollars by hiding fees it received from wireless carriers that were supposed to be split with the State has been unsealed in N.Y. State Supreme Court. The U.S.’s largest operator of towers and DAS systems is accused of filing …
Court tosses Tall Tower’s lawsuit filed after Vertical Bridge acquired Clear Channel’s towers
A lower court should have dismissed Tall Tower Capital, LLC’s lawsuit accusing Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners, LP of breaching an agreement in a deal to buy Clear Channel’s 472 broadcast tower assets, a Florida appeals court ruled Friday, finding that the firm had not established personal jurisdiction in Florida. A three-judge panel for the Florida Second District Court of Appeals unanimously …
Safe guy wire inspections explored in NATE’s newest Climber Connection video
The National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) today unveiled a Guy Wire Anchor Inspection safety video as part of Volume 2 of the popular Climber Connection series. The video was released by NATE at the Association’s 2017 Summer Conference in Kansas City, Mo. The NATE Guy Wire Anchor Inspection video provides an overview of surface inspections and dig-to-block inspections, the two …
Circuit court confirms that the FCC set fair utility pole attachment rates
The Eighth Circuit denied a petition from the nation’s power and electric companies for review of a 2015 Federal Communications Commission order governing the rates utilities may charge telecommunication providers for attaching their networks to utility-owned poles. The court found the pricing decision to be just and reasonable, holding that the term “cost” in Pole Attachments Act, 47, U.S.C. 224, …
Mobilitie thumbs its nose at Houston’s pedestrians as it plants poles in the middle of sidewalks
After the City of Houston, Tex. Public Works and Engineering Department recently became aware that numerous DAS nodes had been installed on sidewalks, a City engineer promptly red-tagged at least one monopole that was erected by MasTec North America, Inc. for Mobilitie, LLC. It also prompted the department to issue FAQs on network nodes, below, that were released today. Council …
Legend uses power of the plug to rectify a FM station’s lease dispute
A Wyoming tower owner cut off electric to Northwest College’s KNWT transmitter after Legend Towers, LLC said that the campus was not in compliance with its lease agreement. As part of budget reductions more than a year ago, NWC leaders cut the college’s radio/television program, but KNWT stayed on air, continuing to incur their tower lease expenses. But the college’s …
AT&T’s FirstNet chief mum on new tower builds, questions ‘public safety grade’ towers
A two-hour progress hearing on FirstNet yesterday by the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation and the Internet provided scant details on AT&T’s plans for new tower builds throughout the country, especially in rural areas, other than a brief mention there was an aggressive program in place to accomplish it. Michael Poth, CEO of FirstNet and Chris Sambar, Senior Vice President, …
Crown Castle makes a $7 billion bet on going horizontal with Lightower
Crown Castle International Corp had reportedly made an offer to acquire Lightower Fiber Networks for more than $7 billion, including debt, according to Reuters. Another company courting an acquisition of Lightower was Uniti Group Inc., Reuters said. Formed by Berkshire Partners, Lightower’s network extends over 33,000 route miles throughout the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Midwest, providing dense connectivity to over 22,000 service …
CTI Towers secures $20 million debt facility from CIT Group
CTI Towers, a fast-growing wireless tower company, recently procured a $20 million debt facility with CIT Group Inc. The facility allows CTI Towers to continue its growth through building and acquiring wireless tower assets. The facility also provides CTI Towers with the potential to tap into an additional $20M once the initial $20M is drawn. CTI Towers presently owns 208 towers …
Discrimination lawsuit against Mobilitie mirrors plaintiff’s groundless racial issues with Bechtel
A wireless construction manager has filed a discrimination lawsuit against Mobilitie, LLC, a nationwide wireless infrastructure service provider, alleging that the company “engaged in a pattern or practice of failing to hire African-American and non-Caucasian applicants” for numerous construction-related positions in its offices throughout the country. Rufus Lovell Brooks of Orlando, Fla. filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for …
Corrupt broadband provider loses its exclusivity grant in the Hawaiian Home Lands
In an opinion and order released on July 3, the Federal Communications Commission revoked the exclusive license of Waimana Enterprises to build, construct, maintain and operate a telecommunications network in the Hawaiian Home Lands (HHL). In December, the FCC said that Sandwich Isles Corporation, Waimana Enterprises, Inc. (WEI), its parent company, and Albert S.N. Hee, owner of both organizations, were …
Tough charges and high bail set for cell site-related crimes
Two cell site-related incidents – trespassing and battery thefts – are becoming commonplace, but the anticipated charges in one case were reaching, and the bail for another was extraordinary. Wyoming, Minn. police arrested three men Sunday night after an officer noticed a vehicle in the parking lot of an AT&T Long Lines tower supporting cell service. While investigating, officers found the …
Dumb RF engineer who shut down smart meter base stations is sentenced to jail
In 2014, a radio frequency engineer upset after being fired from his job which required him to set up base stations that employed omni directional antennas on communications towers to monitor water meters, took revenge upon his unnamed employer and hacked into base stations to shut them down. He also changed the radio frequency for communications. and altered the code for …
American Tower’s CEO says revenues to fly by its U.S. incomes
American Tower Corp. expects its international revenue to top its U.S. sales in three to seven years as the company expands into Asia and Europe through acquisitions, according to CEO James Taiclet. “We would like to deepen our position in the anchor markets and then enter the adjacent markets,” Taiclet said in an interview with Bloomberg. “We want to create …
Surveyor and design firm are off the hook in siting errors that cost Texas city $508,000
When Rowlett, Tex. officials found out in March that they had constructed a police communications 325-foot tower on a neighbor’s plot of land and not city property, they fixed the error, as reported by Wireless Estimator, by paying $478,000 additional to buy the adjoining lot. Otherwise, they would have incurred a $400,000 penalty for not having the tower constructed to …
SBA chief takes a payday; Crown takes new Florida office space
SBA Communications CEO Jeffrey Stoops recently sold 94,289 shares of SBA stock at an average price of $133.76 for a total value of $12,612,096. However, the chief executive is still hanging on to 329,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44 million. The company’s shares hit an all-time high on June 2, closing at $138.69. The all-time low …
