Matt’s Arm is the newest tool in the tower industry, and contractors say there is no other tool that is so versatile since it adapts to most all tower types and lifting needs. It’s quickly becoming an essential tool for contractors’ crews. For decades, there had yet to be a serious design change in an industry stalwart, the venerable but cumbersome …
Bernard Borghei joins Tower Engineering Professionals as its new Chief Revenue Officer
Tower Engineering Professionals (“TEP”), a leading full-service provider of engineering and maintenance services to the tower, mobile network, and other telecom infrastructure customers, welcomes Bernard Borghei as its new Chief Revenue Officer. Borghei is the Co-Founder and former Executive Vice President of Operations of Vertical Bridge and has over 29 years of experience in the wireless telecom and infrastructure …
QualTek Services files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy with hopes that its debt can be cut almost in half
Wireless infrastructure developer QualTek Services warned earlier this month that it would need to obtain alternative sources of capital or otherwise meet its liquidity needs and/or restructure its existing indebtedness through the protections available under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The Blue Bell, Pennsylvania company filed for bankruptcy today in the Southern District of Texas, identifying that it had …
Driver is electrocuted while unloading aerial lift for California cell site project
According to authorities, a 37-year-old Fresno, CA, equipment rental delivery driver was electrocuted Wednesday while offloading an aerial lift in Parlier, CA, that would be utilized by a tower crew performing services on a nearby cell tower. Officials say that Jaun Abriz was employed by H&E Equipment Services and struck an electrical wire at about 9:00 a.m. Those responding to …
Sadly, the first fatal fall in 2023 took the life of a 33-year-old tower technician in Kansas
Burial services were held today in Las Piedras, Puerto Rico, for 33-year-old tower technician Frankie Rivera-Rivera who succumbed from his injuries after falling from a 350-foot tower in Andover, Kansas, on May 9. According to individuals knowledgeable of the incident, Rivera and a co-worker were reportedly performing maintenance services for AT&T on a tower off Zenith Rd., owned by Harmoni …
A taste of 5G spectrum offerings is more easily explained using its constituent flavors
By John Paleski Mobile broadband businesses were eager to shell out over $120 billion during FCC auctions to acquire spectrum blocks to roll out 5G. That’s understandable since they needed it to lay the groundwork for fifth-generation wireless services. However, understanding what 5G is and the spectrums used to offer transformational speeds and capabilities that can open the door to …
Harmoni Towers announces the appointment of Yannis Macheras as its CEO
Yannis Macheras Harmoni Towers, a portfolio company of Palistar Capital LP, an alternative asset manager focused on mission-critical communications infrastructure, has announced the appointment of Yannis Macheras as chief executive officer of Harmoni, effective immediately. Macheras was previously CEO of Parallel Infrastructure and joined Harmoni in November 2022 when Harmoni acquired Parallel. Macheras is a well-known leader in the telecommunications sector, having held senior roles …
CWA’s questionable climber injury and death rate data from their survey get a fact checking F from experts
The Communications Workers of America’s (CWA) Tower Climbers Union published the results of a survey designed by tower technicians Thursday with critical findings showing that their members’ safety is being compromised. The press release announcing the study said more than 65% of technicians have been on a job site where someone has been injured and 4% where someone has been killed, a horrific life-shattering …
Vertical Bridge appoints Ronald Bizick as President and CEO, Alex Gellman becomes Executive Chairman
Vertical Bridge REIT, LLC, the largest private owner and operator of communications infrastructure in the United States, today announced the appointment of Ronald G. Bizick, II as President and Chief Executive Officer effective May 2, 2023. Bizick has served as President and Chief Operating Officer since joining the Company in March 2022. Current CEO and Co-Founder Alex Gellman will become …
Virginia Congressman Wittman’s tower site visit deepens his knowledge of NATE members’ importance
NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association and member companies Crown Castle, MILLENNIA Contracting, Inc., and Network Building + Consulting today facilitated an opportunity for Congressman Rob Wittman to conduct a communications tower site visit in the First Congressional District of Virginia. During the site visit, Congressman Wittman toured a 283-foot, self-supporting Crown Castle communications tower and compound with event participants …
TIA’s BEAD summit will thread the way for contractors and suppliers to take advantage of $42 billion in funding
Recent trade shows have explored opportunities that will become available through the Broadband Access and Employment Program’s (BEAD) Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), providing States approximately $42 billion to deploy broadband in America where it is not located. However, they were typically 45-minute sessions that often scratched the surface, leaving many unanswered questions. Fortunately, the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) is …
Alabama state agency is saddened by a tower tech’s death, but it appears that they caused it
Some of the Alabama Forestry Commission’s (AFC) key roles are to protect wildlife, such as inventorying gopher tortoise burrows to improve their habitat. However, its overriding mission is to protect forests from harm. Unfortunately, the state agency failed miserably to protect a Deatsville AFC communications technician last year. As a result, Brett Savage died when a guyed tower that was …
Deutsche Telekom captures majority control of T-Mobile U.S.
Germany’s Deutsche Telekom now has majority ownership of T-Mobile U.S., Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Hottges said Wednesday during the company’s annual in Bonn. “We have the majority and are the largest shareholder of the world’s most valuable telecommunications company, T-Mobile U.S.,” Hottges said. An SEC filing dated March 31, 2023, shows that Deutsche Telekom and its subsidiaries hold 53.9 percent …
Little Rock monopole bows to a tornado as its side-by-side neighbor continues to stand tall
An EF-3 twister ripped through Little Rock, AR on Friday, folding over a monopole, but a sister structure remained erect on the property of the Agape Academy off of Napa Valley Drive. The owner of the structures is unknown, and the monopoles are not registered in the FCC’s database. The tornado, with wind speeds between 136 and 165 mph, left …
Murphy Tower Service announces strategic investment in tower analytics provider FieldSync
Murphy Tower Service LLC, a leading provider of wireless and wireline construction and maintenance services, recently placed a strategic investment in FieldSync LLC, a next-generation tower analytics provider. By combining Murphy Tower’s industry-leading capabilities with FieldSync’s revolutionary approach to data acquisition, the partnership will accelerate the assessment, analysis, maintenance, and deployment of critical infrastructure. “The investment in FieldSync further builds …
Fathered by Marty Cooper, his cell phone turns 50 today at an adjusted for inflation cost of $12,066
Fifty years ago today, Martin (Marty) Cooper, an engineer for Motorola, stood nervously along 6th Avenue in New York City, about to trigger America’s love affair with mobility. He reached into his pocket for a little telephone book and dialed a landline number on the cell phone he had invented. It was part of his plan to razz his archcompetitor, …
Toppling of Nebraska 300-foot guyed tower might be investigated as an act of domestic terrorism
The Furnas County Sheriff’s Office (FCSO) has opened an investigation after a communications tower south of Oxford, Nebraska was intentionally destroyed. The sheriff’s office said the tower, owned by Strayer Communications, was toppled and destroyed on Saturday. Their initial findings indicated intentional damage to a guy wire that was cut and resulted in complete structural failure of the tower, causing …
Oregon man stranded in snow couples his phone and drone to text his rescuers
While trying to traverse a remote area in Willamette National Forest in Oregon, a motorist recently became stuck in the snow, and no cell service was available in the very forested area. Fortunately, the Lane County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue office (LCSSR) said the unidentified stranded motorist’s ingenuity in using a cell phone and a drone to alert them most …
Plaintiffs: T-Mobile/Sprint merger resulted in soaring prices and decreased innovation
In a motion by T-Mobile and SoftBank on December 5 to dismiss a lawsuit to overturn T-Mobile’s Sprint acquisition, the seven plaintiffs representing the class action said that the defendants claim that the “lawsuit seeks to turn the antitrust laws on their head.” However, plaintiffs argue that the “case involves no gymnastics.” Instead, it advances claims that go to …
Austin ice storm’s power outages complicated by 500-foot tower that decimated transmission lines
Over 96% of Austin Energy customers in Austin, TX, currently have power after last week’s ice storm, and the utility expects to have close to full service by Sunday, February 12. Restoring power in some areas can be a multi-day effort, especially when utility equipment is in hard-to-reach areas, such as a greenbelt, or buried under extremely heavy debris. One …
