No one was injured this morning about 8 a.m. when a 500-foot broadcast tower collapsed in Lincoln, Neb. at 4100 Industrial Ave. The cause of the collapse is unknown, but two witnesses told Channel 8 Eyewitness News they heard a couple of popping noises and the tower just fell. Several TV stations broadcast from the structure and it also has …
Towercos headed for some stiff competition with formation of Lendlease Towers
When Lendlease recently entered the U.S. tower market in May with its purchase of Parallel Infrastructure’s 450 towers, it is likely that major tower operators viewed the acquisition as a missed opportunity and another competitive thorn in their rosy future, and possibly shrugged off Lendlease Americas CEO Denis Hickey’s statement that he would expand those holdings. True to his promise, …
Violent Florida contractor charged in $16 million DOD bribery and kickback conspiracy
Oct. 12, 2017 – Update and Correction: Timothy Donelson, who was arrested on Oct. 4 for participating in a bribery and kickback conspiracy was employed by Level 3 Communications, according to his LinkedIn page, during the period when he allegedly co-conspired with three other individuals who are charged with the issuance of almost $16 million in fraudulent invoices. Donelson’s arrest record identified that …
Tata closing its doors will take a nice chunk out of American Tower’s income
In response to press reports that Tata Group is going to close down its India-based Tata Teleservices Ltd. (TTL), American Tower Corporation (ATC) today announced that the carrier accounted for approximately $80 million, or 5% of the REIT’s consolidated property revenues, including approximately $32 million of pass-through revenue. In addition, TTL accounted for approximately $40 million in gross margin for …
Joint agency team assesses Puerto Rico cell tower damage
A team from FEMA and Joint Force Land Component Command assessed damage to cellular and radio towers today caused by Hurricane Maria throughout the island of Puerto Rico According to Spc. Gabrielle Weaver, the team assessed several towers via helicopter in an effort to reestablish communication to the island. They are trying to make a list of which one is …
Towercos use the power of the plug and courts to get lease bills paid
While the Empire State Building Realty Trust (ESRT) used the New York Supreme Court this week to win its lawsuit against radio station Pacifica WBAL for unpaid tower rent of $1.8 million plus attorney’s fees, towercos in India owed millions of dollars by Reliance Communications are cutting the carrier’s power to force them to ante up unpaid lease payments that …
Lack of on-site generators, COWs, contributes to Puerto Rico’s still horrendous cell service
After Hurricane Maria’s catastrophic devastation of Puerto Rico’s cell sites, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai directed his staff last week to reach out to American Tower, SBA Communications and Crown Castle “to see how we can work together to address Puerto Rico’s communications needs,” However, according to over a dozen industry professionals interviewed by Wireless Estimator, the answers are already known …
High angle rescue brings down two tower techs in North Carolina
Two workers had to be rescued after being unable to get down from an approximately 125-foot Crown Castle monopole in south Charlotte, N.C. Thursday night. According to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police, two techs were working on the tower, located at 1800 Rama Rd. when one of the men became ill. The other tower climber proceeded to help his coworker, but couldn’t assist …
Three Tower King techs killed in Florida after gin pole rigging failure
UPDATE: Sept. 29, 2017 – Authorities have released the names of the three technicians who fell to their deaths Wednesday when a gin pole failed during an antenna installation project in Miami Springs, Fla. The men were identified as Marcus Goffena, 31, from Sidney, Ohio, Brachton Barber, 23, of Longwood, Fla., and Benito Rodriguez, 35, of Tampa, Fla. Brachton is …
FCC says wireless carriers remain competitive, but not by building new cell sites
Carriers captured high grades for competitiveness, according to the FCC’s Twentieth Mobile Wireless Competition Report, an annual analysis of whether there is effective rate rivalry with wireless operators Although the 34-page report provides a wealth of additional information to support competitiveness, according to Jonathan Adelstein, President and CEO of the Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA), anybody who has turned on a …
Puerto Rico’s horrendous cell site outages complicated by generator/fuel theft concerns
Puerto Rico’s cell service is still devastated today with over 91% of its sites out of service, basically the same as yesterday. The horrific outages caused by Hurricane Maria are also being felt in the U.S. Virgin Islands where 60.4% of cell sites are out of service, slightly down from yesterday’s 61.3%. In San Juan, P.R., subscribers saw a poor, …
Carriers’ cell site outages to the FCC will not match their marketing hype
Commentary Although the nation’s four major carriers are reporting cell site outages in affected areas of Hurricane Irma to the FCC, and the Commission is providing daily compilations for a snapshot in time, such as today’s outages in Florida of 13.4%, carrier public relations officials are beginning to spin their hardened site assets at speeds off the Saffir-Simpson scale. On …
Rivada teams up with U.S. Cellular to entice New Hampshire to opt-out of FirstNet
Rivada Networks announced this morning that New Hampshire’s first responders “deserve a dedicated, purpose-built and statewide public-safety broadband network, and Rivada has teamed up with U.S. Cellular to ensure that mission is accomplished.” In Sept. 2016, Rivada Networks, Herndon, Virg., signed a no-cost, no-obligation contract with the state of New Hampshire to develop an alternative radio access network plan for …
Harvey-crippled cell sites are on the mend with 19% back as FCC adds nine new counties
According to the FCC, there are 3.8% of the cell sites out of service in the affected area of Hurricane Harvey, down from 4.2% yesterday. There are no counties with greater than 40% of cell sites out of service. There are no cell sites reported out of service in La. Since the peak of 365 cell sites out of service …
Hardened sites and resupply keep downed cell sites from Hurricane Harvey at 365
Even though flood waters are rising, there was only one additional cell site out of service today from yesterday as a result of Hurricane Harvey’s relentless rainfall in Texas and Louisiana. Carriers are attributing it to hardened cell sites and their disaster recovery plans that have intensified following previous hurricanes such as Sandy in 2012. There are 4.7% of the cell …
Harvey kayos 364 cell sites as carriers brace for more outages
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 …
