After a powerful series of thunderstorms with 100 mph winds roared across the Midwest earlier this week, downing trees, damaging structures and knocking out power to more than a million people and disabling communications, the FCC is reporting this afternoon a marked improvement from yesterday’s 12.4% of cell sites down in the affected counties of Iowa. The destructive storms laid …
Coalition of industry organizations advocate for wireless workforce development
A diverse coalition of influential communications industry organizations, whose members depend on a properly trained and highly skilled workforce, sent a letter to key congressional leaders in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives requesting support for industry-specific workforce development programs through stand-alone legislation or as part of a larger telecom/broadband infrastructure package. The coalition sent the letter to …
Is Ganzi’s Colony Capital at $2 an opportunity for those who missed out on profitable towerco stocks?
SBA Communications stock price closed at $311.28 Friday with American Tower’s stock at $257.61 and Crown Castle trailing at $168.19, but it’s still a price that cautious investors might shy away from during uncertain times. However, well-known wireless infrastructure magnate Marc Ganzi has what he believes is a wise investment, a $2 stock which he’s convinced has huge potential — …
Yielding to investor pressure, Crown Castle unveils a 72 skidoo board of directors plan
After pressure from major investor Elliott Management, Crown Castle said Tuesday it will begin a mandatory Board retirement policy of age 72, with several directors, including its founding chairman J. Landis “Lanny” Martin, 73, not being renominated for their positions over the next two years. The move came as Crown Castle reported net income of $200 million for the second …
NATE’s survey initiates conversations to fix troubling compliance company concerns
NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association today unveiled the results of the Association’s 3rd Party Compliance Company Experience Survey. NATE conducted the survey in May of 2020 in order to assist the Association in identifying many of the onboarding “pain points” and assess the impact these practices have on member contractor firms. Over the course of the month, 205 NATE …
SBA Communications heralds 100 injury-free days milestone
In 1989 when SBA Communications was the nation’s first company to actively build and acquire towers the company entered unchartered waters but was fully aware of the 1986 requirement to maintain their OSHA 200 log of recordable injuries and illness and maintain a safe environment for their employees. But as Boca Raton, Florida-based SBA staffed up over the years to …
Fire in the field, MTN cell tower thief gets 500 years, Peter Sandore splits from wireless
Field fire kayos AM station, but only for hours Texas radio station KCTA, whose call sign means Know Christ The Answer, couldn’t find an immediate answer as to why their Corpus Christi 50 KW AM station went off the air last week. However, an Ionos Communications consultant quickly found that it was a field fire, luckily without brimstone, and technicians …
Video challenges industry to look at suspension trauma response from a new perspective
NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association today released a video on the topic of suspension trauma. The video is the third to debut in Volume 5 of the Association’s popular #ClimberConnection series. The video includes important information that all tower technicians, trainers and first responder personnel need to know regarding how to respond effectively to a suspension trauma situation at …
Compound expansion agreement will streamline 5G build and protect historic properties
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr today announced that the Commission, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP), and the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers (NCSHPO) have reached an agreement that will support wireless infrastructure builds while continuing to protect historic properties. It does so by amending the Nationwide Programmatic Agreement for the Collocation of Wireless Antennas (Collocation NPA) that …
A safe out of plumb monopole is most likely caused by the thermal ‘Sunflower Effect’
Many of us have seen and experienced the Sunflower Effect. Most of us remember the first time we pulled up to a monopole and saw a severe case of it. It seems as if the pole is leaning or is damaged in some way. However, upon further assessment it appears that there is no damage and as the day goes …
Tower crews who had the ‘hard part’ in the nation’s successful repack singled out by FCC chief
On yesterday’s 39-month repack deadline date, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai expressed sincere thanks to broadcasters, wireless and tower companies, tower crews, Congress and his staff for making the broadcast spectrum repack a success. During remarks he made during a webinar panel presentation to the American Consumer Institute, Pai lauded individuals responsible for the world’s first incentive spectrum auction and transition starting …
Alphabet’s beaming over its successful Internet coverage Loon launch in Kenya
Loon’s airborne armada of balloons started delivering internet service to Kenya on Tuesday, ensuring online service to tens of thousands of people in the first commercial deployment of high-altitude cell sites. Loon expects to have 35 or more balloons in their fleet following additional testing. Loon, a division of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, harnessed its technology to balloons providing internet …
No more guessing, Georgia clearly identifies where broadband isn’t available
A new tool that will bring more transparency about the internet marketplace and clarify which Georgia households do not have access to high-speed internet is getting high traffic after it was officially introduced last week. The Georgia’s Broadband Availability Map enables the private sector to better see where Georgians lack access to high-speed internet, improve open-market competition, and help providers explore partnerships …
NWSA to develop Spanish language telecommunication tower technician assessments
The National Wireless Safety Alliance (NWSA) today announced that its Board of Directors has approved proceeding with the Spanish language translation of assessment tests for the Telecommunications Tower Technician 1 (TTT-1) and Telecommunications Tower Technician 2 (TTT-2) trade certifications. MasTec Network Solutions is sponsoring the effort with a generous contribution to cover the cost of translating written tests and associated …
Surge in remote work propels network visibility and security to top concerns: VIAVI
VIAVI Solutions Inc. today released the results of its 13th annual State of the Network global study of enterprise networking and security challenges. The study shows that IT teams critically require better visibility into the network driven by a number of factors, including tremendous disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic, relentless technological advances, remote working reaching an all-time high and the …
Major stockholder activist blasts Crown Castle’s fiber line of attack
Although Elliott Management Corp. doesn’t make Crown Castle International Corp.’s top ten list of institutional investors, a $1 billion investment in the Houston, Texas-based communications infrastructure giant could allow the tail to wag the dog, especially when Elliott pounds the public relations pavement as it did yesterday in a press release, castigating Crown for its underperformance in its $16 billion …
Environment oftentimes weaves dangerous webbing, a Planning Advisory Notice explains why
Equipment exposed to the environment can have an effect on technician safety, effective use, and longevity. The focus of this Planning Advisory Notice (PAN), published with permission by the Telecommunications Industry Foundation, is: Best safety practices for slings, ropes, harnesses, and hard hats to help technicians identify and prevent environmental exposure and ultraviolet degradation. In 2017, Brigham Young University conducted …
Huawei and ZTE officially designated ‘national security threats’ by the FCC
The FCC has formally designated Huawei and ZTE as national security threats to the United States, moving to disrupt the Chinese tech firms’ American operations by declaring that federal subsidies from the Universal Service Fund won’t cover their equipment. “Both companies have close ties to the Chinese Communist Party and China’s military apparatus, and both companies are broadly subject to …
Thousands of carrier layoffs will not impede 5G buildouts and might increase contractor opportunities
This week it was announced that AT&T plans to cut 3,400 jobs, according to the Communications Workers of America (CWA), and T-Mobile is laying off hundreds of Sprint employees, as reported by TechCrunch. However, the wireless infrastructure sectors of the two carriers building out 5G will not be affected since Sprint’s cuts are largely from the carrier’s sales division, and AT&T’s …
VIAVI and 3Z deliver comprehensive fiber toolkit for wireless contractors
As Viavi Solutions Inc. completes the one-year anniversary of its acquisition of 3Z Telecom, the company has unveiled a unified solution set to address the critical needs of wireless contractors in North America. Adding to the well-known RF Vision Antenna Alignment Tool, the Fiber Installer Kit includes all the instruments needed to test, inspect, and clean fiber and connectors while installing …
