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 …
Univision deal adds 66 broadcast towers to Vertical Bridge’s portfolio
Vertical Bridge, one of the largest private owners and managers of wireless communications infrastructure in the U.S, today announced that it has signed an exclusive five-year agreement with Univision Communications Inc. (UCI) to manage a portfolio of 66 premium broadcast towers in key markets located across the United States. Terms of the private transaction were not disclosed. Vertical Bridge’s portfolio …
FCC chief says the path to 5G has challenges and millions of antennas
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler looked at the past, yesterday at CTIA 21016, to give a vision of the future, while also asking, “What do we need to do seize the 5G opportunity?”. One key requirement, according to Wheeler, would be to get local officials in municipalities to agree to the installation of 5G equipment to support the higher speeds that …
Sprint’s small cell delays may be worse than the industry thinks
By Ken Schmidt Sprint and Mobilitie’s innovative plan to build mini-macros Back in June of this year, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) ran a story about Sprint’s use of “sidewalk utility poles” as a core element of their efforts to improve the Sprint network while reducing ongoing network operating expenditures. The article suggested that Sprint may have been delaying network …
In Agile agreement, Indiana throws in additional assets to meet tower leasing shortfalls
Agile Networks announced today, along with Indiana Governor Mike Pence, that negotiations have been finalized on an agreement that will license the state of Indiana’s communications infrastructure to Agile. The Indiana Finance Authority board approved the agreement this morning, pending review by the state’s legislative budget committee. The deal will have Ohio-based Agile put up $50 million immediately to Indiana …
In unique deal, CTI picks up 10 towers from Connoisseur Media for $4.1 million
Connecticut-based Connoisseur Media has announced that it struck a $4.1 million deal to sell a “package” of towers to Massachusetts-based CTI Towers. What may be an unusual deal was announced in an unconventional way along with the possibility of creative financing. In place of providing a joint press release announcing the agreement, Connoisseur CEO Jeff Warshaw copied a short article …
Civil lawsuit filed against Verizon as the culprit for tower collapses
A Massachusetts tower owner says Verizon acted without due caution in adding equipment to their tower, causing it to collapse in 2014, and they are suing the carrier for $477,000. In reply to the complaint, Verizon said that the damages were caused by “an act of God, and were not in reason preventable by human foresight, strength or care.” North …
