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 …
DigitalBridge steps slightly outside its digital lane with a $316 million infrastructure buy
DigitalBridge Group, Inc. has announced that its operating company, DigitalBridge Operating Company, LLC, has completed its transaction to acquire AMP Capital’s global infrastructure equity investment management business, which has been rebranded as InfraBridge in a transaction valued at $316 million. A considerable amount of InfraBridge’s assets are outside of DigitalBridge’s flagship digital infrastructure equity business. The deal was announced last …
Either Mother Nature or a deficient design caused a New York American Tower monopole to collapse
UPDATE: February 3, 2023 – An American Tower representative has informed Wireless Estimator that the Fred A. Nudd monopole that collapsed in Depew, NY, during a winter blizzard was not subject to the litigation with Nudd and would have been out of scope for any remedial work required to ensure that it complied with design standards. This site was part of …
Wildlife volunteers join up with a tower tech and others to ensure a fishing line didn’t kill eagle family
When Kathleen Westfall, one of Audobon EagleWatch’s 600 dedicated volunteers monitoring 1,000 eagle nests in Florida, viewed a Bald Eagle’s nest on Plum Lane in Hudson last Monday, she became concerned after noticing a large amount of fishing line in the nest on a Crown Castle 160-foot monopole. She immediately contacted Kim Rexroat, a director at Raptor Center of …
Vandals destroy three 410-foot towers, unaware their crime would backfire and gift a religious broadcaster
The FBI and local authorities are investigating the felling of three AM broadcast towers owned by Truth Broadcasting Co. in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, each one on a different day within less than three weeks. The first collapse witnessed by a nearby homeowner, Cliff Orgnon, occurred on December 21, 2022. After the three towers were destroyed, WSJS went off the air. …
Tower crew removing a bald eagle’s nest draws the ire of residents and a federal investigation
A federal investigation is in the works after residents contacted wildlife officials after they watched a tower crew remove a bald eagle’s nest from a cell tower on Thursday in Mount Pleasant, SC. A local wildlife photographer, Cacky Rivers, informed News 2 that she had been in touch with federal and state agencies who reported to the scene. According to …
AT&T’s sole bid is inked for a New Jersey lease deal; lawsuit argues monopine violates town’s height restriction
A Scotch Plains, NJ homeowner has filed a lawsuit in Superior Court to block the Town of Westfield’s plan to lease space to AT&T for the construction of a cell tower at the Conservation Center – an adjacent recycling compound. David Munsky, whose home borders Westfield and the recycling facility’s property, claims the monopine will “tower over” his and other …
A secured cable grip failure appears to have caused the death of a Texas tower technician
After a 32-year-old tower technician passed away on December 15, 2022, in Weatherford, TX, while engaged in an installation project for Verizon, the limited information provided by the Parker County Sheriff’s Office and the technician’s employer, Neticom of Arlington, TX, appeared to indicate that the Fort Worth technician was killed after a hybrid cable came loose while it was being …
Hybrid cable is severed from its rigging, causing the death of a Fort Worth tower technician
Clarification: An earlier version of this article said that a hybrid cable being raised fell on a technician causing, fatal injuries. According to the technician’s employer, the cable had been secured to the tower with a cable manufacturer-installed hoisting grip that failed. An update is available here. A 32-year-old Fort Worth, TX tower tech died on December 15, 2022, when …
If DigitalBridge’s turnaround falls short, Legion Partners wants Ganzi to sell the expanding REIT
A small activist investment fund wants to be the tail that wags the dog after it heavily weighted its company’s portfolio in DigitalBridge Group stock. It believes the company should consider a sale if current efforts fail to boost shareholder value. Legion Partners Asset Management, with a portfolio today of about $280 million, began its investment in DigitalBridge during the …
Fighting Mother Nature for 44 years, two tall towers in South Dakota finally succumb
The massive winter storm that moved through the Plains Wednesday morning knocked down a 1,700-foot TV tower and an 800-foot broadcast tower in northeastern South Dakota just outside the boundaries of Garden City. The 1,700-foot guyed tower, constructed in 1978, is owned by Nextar and was the home for CBS affiliate KDLO-TV and KDLO-FM When the tower fell just before …
$19 million ‘disguised’ loan and breach of ageement by American Tower is alleged in $794 million lawsuit
Terra Towers Corporation (Terra), TBS Management, S.A. (Terra TBS), and DT Holdings, Inc. (DTH) filed a lawsuit against American Tower International (ATI) in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court on December 12, 2022, alleging ATI breached a $794 million acquisition and development deal in Latin America known as Project Codu, referring to “Center of da Universe” because of its size and shape. …
Strong winds against ice loading shears off top half of Montana tower
The Lincoln Volunteer Fire Rescue reported strong winds knocked over a communications tower near Lincoln, Montana last week. The Stonewall communications tower was erected 30 years ago and had its top half sheared off. Fire Chief Zach Muse said the loss of the Stonewall tower will impact all digital communication for agencies in the Lincoln area from law enforcement to fire. …
Interstate, interagency effort provides an impaled American Bald Eagle the ability to fly to rescuers
Firefighters over the years have rescued tower technicians off of communications towers, but on Thursday, the City of Macclenny Fire and Rescue Department in Florida was called upon to rescue our national symbol of pride – an American Bald Eagle that was impaled on a lightning rod of a decommissioned 120-foot monopole at the St. George Elementary School in neighboring …
‘Amazing’ milestone of 10,000-plus trade certifications in a six-year time span achieved by NWSA
The National Wireless Safety Alliance (NWSA) announced that the organization has officially surpassed 10,000 trade certifications issued to workers in the communications infrastructure industry. NWSA reached the 10,000 credentials mark in a six-year time span, having started offering trade certification programs to the industry in late 2016. “I would like to congratulate the National Wireless Safety Alliance on achieving this …
AT&T sues Liberal, Kansas after it nixes a second siting application that appeared to be a hole in one
The former Vice Mayor of Liberal, Kansas, allegedly informed AT&T’s siting representative that the City would support an ordinance allowing a special use permit for a 150-foot monopole on the property of the Liberal Country Club after the City denied a prior church location in 2021 due to resident opposition. However, the City Commissioners denied their request, and AT&T sued …
ProPublica’s ‘recycled nonsense’ is likely to reinforce the conviction of some residents that 5G causes illnesses
Award-winning investigative journalists at ProPublica have spotlighted wrongdoing since 2008, such as Ryan Knutson and Liz Day’s extensive piece in 2012 about the men and women who climb cell towers who “pay with their lives” in a joint investigation with Frontline. They broke new ground since no other major media dared to expose the high industry death count and how, …
Tower and retail store terrorist’s plea deal shortens a life sentence to 75 months in jail
A Whittemore, Michigan, resident was sentenced last week to six years and three months in jail on two separate criminal cases related to a $5 million extortion plot using shrapnel-filled pipe bombs the defendant placed outside cellphone stores in Cheboygan, and Sault Ste Marie, Michigan. He could have received 20 years in prison. John Douglas Allen, 76, was sentenced before United …
With powered ascenders more prevalent in the industry, NATE unveils its 2022 white paper guide
NATE: The communications Infrastructure Contractors Association today officially released the 2022 Guide for Powered Ascender Use on Antenna Supporting Structures White Paper. This 10-page document is intended to address the use of Powered Ascenders in conjunction with a fixed synthetic rope for personnel ascending, descending and work positioning on telecommunications structures. There is not a recognized standard in the United …
