After meeting with representatives of the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau last week, city and town leaders from Massachusetts, Georgia and Minnesota, as well as a representative of the National League of Cities, presented them with what they believe could be a model template for telecom installations in public rights of way. During the meeting, they urged the Commission to avoid …
Pence’s $260 million tower deal legacy for Indiana is terminated
Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb announced today that the Indiana Finance Authority has terminated contract discussions with Agile Networks which struck a tentative deal last September with the state to lease its communications towers while Vice President Mike Pence was Governor. As reported at that time by Wireless Estimator, Agile and Pence said that negotiations had been finalized for an agreement …
Pilot dies after clipping guy wire of Vertical Bridge Texas tower
The pilot of a small airplane was killed when he crashed in Rusk County, Tex. yesterday on a clear afternoon on County Road 497 after its wing reportedly clipped a 449-foot tall tower’s guy wire, according to Rusk County Office of Emergency Management spokesperson David Chenault. Chenault informed Wireless Estimator that the plane was an older Cessna. The guyed tower, …
AT&T’s end run around municipalities might have put Mobilitie out of the game
DAS-provider Mobilitie LLC’s petition to the FCC for a declaratory ruling to promote broadband in the U.S. by prohibiting excessive charges for access to public rights of way was championed by AT&T, at least in Ohio, where the carrier last month lobbied for and successfully sneaked in an amendment inside a bill regulating puppy mill providers. The questionable legislative procedure …
Judge: American Tower can’t evict tenant owing over $500,000
A U.S. bankruptcy court judge in Utah has ruled that American Tower Corporation (ATC) cannot kick its tenant off of a number of their towers until March 8, 2017 if ATC and Rich Broadcasting Idaho, LLC (RB) do not reach an agreement on amended or new leases – an action that is highly unlikely. According to court documents, RB owns radio …
Bankrupt Limitless Mobile wants to reject 140 cell tower leases; creditors cry foul
UPDATE: January 27, 2017 – The bankruptcy court has agreed to a revised motion to reject the leases of Limitless Mobile. It stated, “For each Lease, any Tower Equipment remaining on or at the Tower or the associated premises is hereby deemed abandoned pursuant to section 554 of the Bankruptcy Code, effective January 30, 2017.” Tower owners can now remove …
AT&T to roll out giant eyeballs and drum sets to support inauguration
The nation’s wireless carriers are ready for President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20 in Washington D. C. with increased network capacity with AT&T providing what might be the best coverage in the District – or at least it appears that way as the nation’s second largest carrier promotes its innovative and largest temporary network it has ever provided. Two …
Michigan okays two licenses to Mobilitie, but disavows DAS
The State of Michigan Public Service Commission has approved Mobilitie Management LLC’s application to provide facilities-based basic local exchange service throughout the state, but the Commission’s approval doesn’t provide the California-based company freedom to provide distributed antenna systems (DAS) or provide installations without obtaining required building permits. In its approval, the Commission noted that based upon the concerns expressed by …
Point-to-point super flyway broadband network may not have enough planes
California-based Airborne Wireless Network (AWN) believes, like Facebook envisions, that it has the answer for being able to assist in providing broadband throughout the world by using aircraft. Whereas Facebook is attempting to use unmanned drones, with its first attempt ending in a return-trip crash, AWN want to use the world’s existing commercial aircraft to create a meshed carrier network. The company …
ATC picks up 66 towers while CTI Towers picks up 125 new sites
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 …
