As three leading industry experts gazed into their crystal balls Tuesday during their NATE UNITE 2016 presentation, “The Future of the Wireless Industry,” their consensus indicated a robust build program that could last for more than a decade. However, Clayton Funk of Media Venture Partners, Christopher Fisher, Cuddy & Feder LLP; and Robert Paige, Vertical Bridge, cautioned National Association of …
Crown Castle’s chief, Ben Moreland, to hand the reins over to CFO Jay Brown
The CEO of Crown Castle International Corp. will retire effective June 1, 2016, the Houston, Tex.-based wireless communications infrastructure provider announced yesterday during its analysts conference call. Ben Moreland will leave as the company’s president and CEO, but remain executive vice chairman of the board of directors. Jay Brown, the organization’s CFO will become president and CEO. Brown, a certified …
Sprint provides a sound thrashing to Re/code for their scoop that duped journalists, tanking stocks
Sprint: Towercos have nothing to worry about – for now At two conference calls this morning, Sprint said that an article by tech website Re/code on Jan. 15, 2016, was not accurate, and Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure, during a media call, said the misinformation regarding a Sprint radical network overhaul “caused a lot of damage”. Re/code had claimed, according to …
Sprint should have a sanity check before it commits ‘Network Suicide’ with its pole plans
By Iain Gillott – Commentary Much has been written and speculated in the last week about Sprint’s network plans after the publication of a Re/Code article and the plan to significantly cut network expenses. Aside from the resulting pressure on the stocks of several wireless companies, including Sprint’s, it also appears that the article has caused Sprint to move up …
Tower company executives’ ears will be on Sprint’s conference call tomorrow
Sprint moved its quarterly analysts’ earnings call to tomorrow morning in what some analysts believe is an apparent move to ease the concerns of investors after an article on a tech website said that the carrier was going to move its base stations from American Tower and Crown Castle sites to government properties “which costs much less”. The carrier had …
Report of Sprint dumping its tower companies is slowly being debunked as industry stocks nose-dive
After the media threw Sprint, American Tower, Crown Castle and SBA Communications under the bus during the past five days by republishing unsubstantiated statements that appeared on a tech website, without adding research of their own, editors are starting to reassess their ‘need to be first’ news blast that resulted in all four companies’ stocks tanking Friday. Sprint suffered the most …
Misleading Re/code Sprint story is long on conjecture, short on facts
Facts that would have made better reading and more sense By Ken Schmidt After reading Wireless Estimator’s article, “Towercos tank after radical unconfirmed report of government competition,” and seeing the original article from Re/code on Friday, I felt compelled to respond. It seemed reckless to me that a website like Re/code could publish an unconfirmed report, have it copied by …
Towercos tank after radical unconfirmed report of government competition
Report seen as ‘nonsense’ by siting professionals UPDATE, Jan. 19, 2016 – Deep diving industry expert Ken Schmidt has provided a detailed analysis of why Re/code’s “improper deductive reasoning” in their article doesn’t dovetail with available information regarding Sprint’s Next Generation Network. The story, published on Jan. 15, 2016, claimed that Sprint would be relocating its cell sites from American Tower Corporation …
Cortel and TowerCom Technologies picked up by newly-formed J5 Infrastructure Partners
Under the direction of a new CEO, two well-established wireless services companies will expand their deployment services in the Western U.S. with an infusion of cash from two equity investors. Ridgemont Equity Partners and SR Capital Advisors announced Friday that their newly formed company, J5 Infrastructure Partners, includes the talent and assets of Cortel, Inc. of San Diego, Calif., and …
Wireless workforce and supplier requirements for 2016 continue to be mostly upbeat
To project whether 2016 will be a banner, bust or somewhere-in-between year for wireless construction, and service and supplier providers, one has to simply search for the devil or angel that’s always in the details. Unfortunately, conflicting details and limited industry information clouds accurate projections. But the industry overall appears to be still creating jobs and there should be a robust …
Slim’s Telesites towerco spinoff is off to a rocky start
Telesites SAB, a spinoff from Carlos Slim’s America Movil SAB, has a majority of analysts recommending selling the shares. The wireless-tower company started trading in Mexico this week and after its debut on Monday when there appeared to be market interest, it proceeded to drop yesterday 2.9 percent to 11.99 pesos ($.70). Mexico City-based Telesites, created to manage the operator’s …
Mt. Wilson’s iconic Poole complex acquired by InSite Towers
A deal to buy the multi-tower Poole Tower complex on Mount Wilson in California that was expected to be close to being inked in April, according to a report in Wireless Estimator, took another seven months, but finally closed last week, according to Media Services Group’s Bob Heymann, Jr. who served as the broker for Poole Properties, in announcing the …
Indiana’s tallest building picks Subcarrier Communications to manage its rooftop assets
Subcarrier Communications has been selected to provide rooftop management services for the Chase Tower in Indianapolis, Ind., expanding their building rooftop management portfolio. The team leaders for this transaction were Operations Manager Greg Weger, and VP of Engineering Bill Cordell from Subcarrier’s Houston Office. The iconic Monument Circle building opened in 1990. At 830 feet, it’s the 47thth tallest building …
CTI jumps back into tower ownership with a 120 structure deal with Vyve Broadband
Massachusetts-based CTI Towers, Inc., a wireless tower operating company in which Comcast Ventures is majority owner, has jumped back into the tower space following their announcement today that it has acquired 120 communication towers from Vyve Broadband, a Rye Brook, N.Y.-headquartered mid-sized MSO with towers in Okla., Kan., Ark., and Wyo. The deal, expected to close by year-end, will provide …
Digital Bridge and Stonepeak complete ExteNet Systems’ $1.4 billion recapitalization
ExteNet Systems, Inc., a leading independent provider of distributed networks enabling outdoor and indoor wireless connectivity, announced the successful completion of its recapitalization efforts, initially announced in July. The acquisition is led by Digital Bridge Holdings (Digital Bridge) and Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners (Stonepeak), which together head the consortium that invested or arranged over $1.4 billion capital, inclusive of equity and …
Phoenix Tower International closes its 600 T-Mobile tower buy
Phoenix Tower International (PTI) announces that it has closed its transaction with T-Mobile to acquire the ownership or management rights relating to over 600 wireless communication tower sites including the exclusive right to manage and operate the sites from T-Mobile. Terms of the transaction remain confidential between the parties. TD Securities LLC served as M&A Advisor to PTI and provided …
Mobilitie and Digital Bridge vie for ‘largest’ infrastructure bragging rights
Mobilitie LLC, announced it has closed a $325 million debt investment. Led by CIT Bank, N.A., and TD Securities (USA), LLC, the investment will continue to fuel the exponential growth of the company’s distributed antenna systems, small cell, communication tower and Wi-Fi business investments. The Newport Beach, California-based company took the opportunity in its press release last week to state …
Trump Tower’s not-so-swaying broadcast antenna results in a $2,000 fine to developer
On Aug. 31 and Sept. 1, 2015, Toronto, Canada building authorities closed off an area of the city’s financial district after they received reports of an ‘unstable’ antenna on the Trump Tower. On Friday, the developer of Trump Tower, Talon International Development Inc., was handed a $2,000 bill from the city for the cost of closing off the roads around …
Carriers say they’re being strong-armed with onerous Long Island lease requirement
Carriers leasing space on Riverhead, New York’s water towers have filed federal lawsuits claiming the Riverhead Water District is trying to “strong-arm” them into paying more by not allowing technicians onto the properties to repair and upgrade equipment until they agree to the new terms which the carriers believe are too high MetroPCS has leased space on the water tower …
Vertical Bridge picks up 200 Nsight towers, raising its count to almost 3000
Vertical Bridge, the largest private owner and manager of wireless communication infrastructure in the U.S., today announced it has closed a transaction to acquire the rights to over 200 wireless communications towers from Nsight Tower Holdings, LLC (“Nsight”), a major telecommunication service provider in the Midwest. Vertical Bridge will have the exclusive rights to lease and operate the portfolio of …
