American Tower Corporation (ATC) has purchased 66 towers from Brazil’s TIM Cellular S.A., and CTI Towers, Inc. has acquired the marketing rights to 125 commercial properties. ATC paid $8 million for the 66 towers as part of a continuing deal that began in 2014 when TIM said it would sell up to 6,481 towers. Currently, 5,753 towers have been sold. …
Canadian investment group agrees to pony up $1.6 billion for 43,000 towers in India
India’s Reliance Communications (RCOM) has sold its tower business to Canadian private investment firm Brookfield Infrastructure Partners for $1.6 billion. The deal was announced in October. RCOM and Reliance Jio, the telecom arm of Reliance Industries Ltd, will continue as major long-term tenants of the new tower company, along with other existing carriers on the 43,000 towers. In addition to …
FPS says oui to American Tower’s $726 million offer for 2,400 towers
American Tower Corporation and Dutch pension fund manager PGGM today announced their entry into a definitive agreement to acquire FPS Towers, which owns and operates approximately 2,400 wireless tower sites across France, through their previously announced joint venture, ATC Europe. The price was set at approximately $726 million. FPS, founded in 2012 when it acquired the towers of Bouygues Telecom, …
Eco-Site appoints former American Tower exec to lead site development/operations
Eco-Site, Inc. (www.eco-site.com), a North Carolina-based wireless tower and densification solutions company, announced the appointment of Scott Lewis to the position of senior vice president, site development and operations. Lewis brings more than 15 years of wireless infrastructure experience in his new role, most recently leading network engineering and deployment for American Tower. Lewis is responsible for creating a single, …
FCC cell tower Ponzi scheme ensnares a Puerto Rico mayor charged with extortion
The mayor of Gurabo, Puerto Rico was arrested yesterday on charges of extortion and soliciting a bribe for allegedly using his municipality’s money to invest in a $15 million Ponzi scheme that was structured around investors being able to reap handsome profits from their investments in FCC cell tower administration contracts. According to the indictment, on or about October 2012, the …
American Tower CFO: T-Mobile, Sprint merger would strengthen the tower industry
If the big four carriers morphed into three majors through an acquisition, American Tower EVP/CFO Tom Bartlett believes that no matter how it all shakes out, “it’s all good for the tower industry and our business, in particular, here in the United States.” Bartlett was interviewed by Batya Levi yesterday at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference in Manhattan, …
Limitless Mobile’s bankruptcy hits contractors, towercos and suppliers
At the end of November, Limitless Mobile’s subscribers in central Pennsylvania knew something was amiss when their cell service was cut off, and if they went to the Susquehanna Valley Mall in Selinsgrove this past weekend they would have been greeted with an empty store with a note on the security gate that said the store had been closed and …
Civil workers unearth a skull and other bones at S.C. cell site
A crew performing civil work at a Greenville, S.C. monopole site unearthed human remains that, according to a news release from the Greenville Police Dept., had been in the ground for an extended length of time. While excavating Monday morning with a small backhoe, the workers unearthed a skull, a portion of a mandible and what appears to be a …
Officials feel Mobilitie is disingenuous as moratoriums mount throughout the nation
Cities and counties are continuing to slap moratoriums on the installation of towers and mini-macro sites in public rights-of-way. The most recent city registering concern is Boynton Beach, Fla. whose officials this month issued a moratorium on installing them until June so that they can examine the current regulations to determine if changes need to be made. The action came …
CS&L to pick up 473 towers and change its name to Uniti Towers
Little Rock, Ark.-based Communications Sales & Leasing Inc. reported a loss on Monday of $4.1 million during its 2016 third quarter, and said it plans to acquire Network Management Holdings LTD, a private company that owns and operates 359 wireless communications towers in Mexico, Nicaragua and Colombia. The company said it expects to initially pay $65 million for the purchase …
American Tower reacts to Sprint and T-Mobile merger rumors
Update: Nov. 14, 2016 – SBA Communications Corp. provided an update to its exposure to both companies in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. In the papers, SBA said that as of the end of Q3, T-Mobile and Sprint each represented around 16% of its total site leasing revenue. Revenue generated from each of T-Mobile and Sprint overlapping sites represents …
Avant-garde cell tower design has a minor flaw, it won’t work
An assistant professor of design research at M.I.T. has a unique way to rethink a cell tower’s essential infrastructure by programming building materials — wood, textiles, and synthetic fibers — to respond automatically to external stimuli like heat, cold, light, wind or water. He asks of the next-gen cell tower: “How can we make it change shape, bend, twist, twirl, …
American Tower enters Argentina with an undisclosed assets buy
According to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Nov. 9, 2016, American Tower Corporation entered into an agreement to acquire a portfolio of urban telecommunications assets in Argentina, including wireless sites, equipment and fiber assets located on utility infrastructure as well as a number of indoor wireless sites. The Company expects to commence its business in Argentina with this …
Alyssa Runner joins Wireless Estimator in key advertising and marketing role
Wireless Estimator is pleased to announce the appointment of Alyssa Runner to the position of Marketing/Advertising Consultant. Alyssa has been crusading the digital marketing arena for more than seven years, specializing in copywriting, lead generation, data-driven strategies and conversion rate optimization. With a Bachelor’s degree in Advertising and Public Relations and a Master’s in Public Administration, she focuses her time …
New lighting standards helped tower owners to lower bird kill; 15,000 still left
New guidelines for communication tower lights spell out how tower operators can save birds and energy without sacrificing safety. Put in place by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the guidelines strongly encourage tower operators to turn off or reprogram steady-burning red or white lights in favor of flashing lights, which are less harmful to birds yet still …
American Tower registers its unease about ‘complicated’ towers, U.S. and Canadian crews
American Tower Corporation (ATC) informed the FCC on Monday that their phased approach to transition TV stations to new channels, with an ambitious completion deadline of 39 months, should take into consideration same phase tower assignments, complicated sites, the availability of tower crews, and the assumption that Canadian crews may not be available to assist in the repacking efforts following the spectrum …
Investors shrug off Fool’s American Tower ‘big risk’ report
Last Wednesday, an article in The Motley Fool cautioned investors about a proposed Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) change that would be a huge risk to American Tower’s business model, and the author implored the nation’s second largest tower owner to take immediate steps to alert Wall Street as to how they were going to address that concern. As of …
RCom to sell majority ownership of 43,000 towers to Canadian-based Brookfield
India-based Reliance Communications (RCom) has signed an agreement with Canada’s Brookfield Infrastructure group to sell a 54% stake in the company’s tower unit comprised of 43,400 towers for $1.65 billion. American Tower Corporation reportedly had been looking to also acquire RCom’s portfolio. The remaining 49% will be owned by RCom which will continue to be an anchor tenant on the structures. …
Reports of Russia using its cell towers to stretch its defense system might be a stretch
In his rallies and presidential debates, Donald Trump said that he has a way of defeating ISIS and putting Russian President Vladimir Putin in his place. But the real estate mogul says he’s not releasing any further information because he wants to unleash his measures secretly. However, it appears that Russia, which normally keeps its defense system initiatives and actions close …
AT&T’s veiled tower lease ‘threats’ surface again with new onerous requirements
According to a number of news reports that republished information from an article by Fierce Wireless, AT&T is in a full-court press to force tower owners to take new restrictive terms or the carrier might relocate to an alternative site. The articles state that the push to lower rates dovetails with AT&T’s SVP of wireless network design Tom Keathley’s August …
