Steve Lemay, 56, of Washington state, the owner of Steve Lemay LLC, has been identified by authorities as the erector who died yesterday morning when an 1,892-foot TV tower in Webster County, Mo. collapsed while his crew was performing structural upgrades in order for Ozarks Public Television KOZK to comply with their FCC repack requirement to move from channel 23 to …
Tech is killed after 1,892-foot tower collapses while being repack retrofitted
UPDATE: April 20, 2018 – The deceased has been identified by authorities to be Steven Lemay, the owner of the erection company that was performing structural upgrades. April 19, 2018 – An 1,892-foot TV tower in Webster County, Mo. collapsed this morning just before 10 a.m., killing a tall tower worker and injuring at at least five others with non-life-threatening injuries, …
Feds charge FCC chairman’s advisory head Elizabeth Pierce with a $250 million fraud scheme
When Quintillion Subsea 0perations, LLC CEO Elizabeth Ann Pierce ran her first meeting of the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC) on April 21, 2017 as its newly appointed chairman, she echoed FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s message that it would be a priority of BDAC to remove regulatory barriers. She also knew, if the Department of Justice’s allegations are true, that …
Puerto Rico death is second industry tower tech fatality in April
A 28-year-old tower technician died Saturday after he was electrocuted while working on an AT&T LTE installation in Puerto Rico. According to sources knowledgeable of the incident, Josean Matos Rodriquez, employed by FM Technology Group of Dallas, Tex., was working on a residential rooftop when he came into contact with a 13kv power line. Authorities said the incident occurred at 10:50 …
FCC whacks Sprint & Mobilitie with a $11.6 million fine for non-compliant small cell installs
The Federal Communications Commission today announced settlements with Sprint and Mobilitie in two separate but related investigations into whether the companies completed proper tower registration as well as environmental and historic impact reviews prior to construction of wireless infrastructure facilities. The investigation was most likely initiated last April after Event Driven identified that Sprint appeared to have been complicit in providing …
It’s unlikely that company that stole 42 towers on paper will pay a $236K FCC fine
The FCC has proposed a penalty of $235,668 against Aura Holdings of Wisconsin, Inc. for the willful and repeated failure to provide truthful and accurate information to the Commission in submitting false and misleading information in 10 different change in ownership applications on the FCC’s antenna structure registration (ASR) website. Last June, Wireless Estimator broke the story of the FCC …
WIA’s Adelstein honored for wireless training and industry education work
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 …
