U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), a member of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet, joined with subcommittee chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) and fellow members Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Cory Gardner (R-CO) and Ron Johnson (R-WI) to introduce the “Wireless Innovation Act of 2015” yesterday, a bill to reallocate spectrum used …
NWSA delivers a detailed overview of their tower worker certification program to OSHA
In response to OSHA’s request for information regarding communication tower safety due by Monday, the National Wireless Safety Alliance provided an emphatic ‘yes’ to the agency regarding its question: Is there a need for a standardized, industry-wide training or certification program? Provided by NWSA consultant Chuck Slagle, a former Sprint EH&S executive, the safety alliance said, “The NWSA will standardize …
CTIA & PCIA deployment lawsuit charge: 3000% small cell size structure increase is an ‘imagined horrible’
CTIA – The Wireless Association and PCIA – The Wireless Infrastructure Association, have joined together to urge the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals to reject a lawsuit filed April 24, 2015 by Cumberland County, Maryland and cities in California, Washington and Texas that is asking that the court vacate the FCC’s 2014 Infrastructure Order adopted last fall to …
Leading safety expert steps forward as the tower industry’s response to OSHA tanks
Whereas an embarrassing majority of industry safety professionals and tower climbers, as high as 99% or more, have ignored an opportunity to assist OSHA in assessing current practices and ways that will result in lowering fatalities and injuries in tower construction and maintenance, an Illinois State University professor, Dr. Thomas P. Fuller, while traveling in France, took the time today to …
Expensive earthquake tower design law passes following industry indifference during hearings
PCIA – The Wireless Infrastructure Association came out against the City of Los Angeles’ newly passed ordinance requiring all new telecommunication towers to be designed as a Class lll Structure subject to an importance factor of 1.50 of the TIA-222 standard, a requirement that PCIA says could increase the cost of a tower between 30 to 200% and could stymie …
LA’s earthquake-proof tower ordinance is heavily based on an incorrect news article
The Los Angeles City Council on Friday moved to require future cell phone towers to be designed and built with a 1.5 importance factor over the current design code, EIA/TIA-222-G, so that if there ever was a severe earthquake in the city, cell towers would “still be functional.” However, their concern about the current code not being adequate was heavily …
PCIA’s ‘view from the top’ shows a little bottoming out; tall tower crew shortage possible
A common thread throughout yesterday’s PCIA – The Wireless Infrastructure Association’s Hollywood, Fla. conference was that AT&T has pulled back on their builds, Sprint is almost in a holding pattern and T-Mobile is providing a number of opportunities. Verizon, however, is seen as a steady engine that is assisting a slower than expected build in the second quarter. “Verizon continues …
New unraveled electromagnetism theory will not unhinge the tower industry
As PCIA – The Wireless Infrastructure Association kicks off its conference with an infrastructure developers meeting this afternoon in Hollywood, Fla., it’s unlikely that the demise of cell towers will be a hot topic, but media pundits frequently disagree, citing new technology that will replace them with palm size transceivers. One industry editor recently said, the traditional cell tower infrastructure …
Subcarrier’s Houston expansion bolsters its ever increasing tower and rooftop count
An industry pioneer in high performance wireless infrastructure services, with a portfolio of some of the country’s best towers in high demand locations, New Jersey-based Subcarrier Communications, announced its Southwest market expansion and the hiring of key executives Dudley Norman and Greg Weger to lead market operations from their new Houston, Tex. office. As demands for wireless connectivity prove to …
With low visual impact, RFS has antennas hiding in plain sight
Radio Frequency Systems, a global wireless and broadcast infrastructure specialist, has announced its new AllClear transparent antenna product line. It is necessary to limit the visual impact of antennas as much as possible to reduce the difficulty of acquiring new sites and renew existing leases. The AllClear product line was specifically developed to meet this need for RFS customers worldwide …
Climbing higher for techs will not be possible in Google’s grand plan
Although Google is currently developing wireless service plans that will prohibit tower technicians from climbing to maintain the transceivers – because they’ll be at an elevation between 23,000 and 65,000 feet in the stratosphere – this week’s announcement that the company intends to offer MVNO wireless connectivity to customers in the U.S. will also exclude techs from working on Google-owned …
Report: 5G growth won’t be introduced as quickly as 4G networks
If you’re looking to cash in on increased contractor opportunities that will become available as America moves towards a still undefined 5G network, seen as the mobile interface on which the network of the 2020’s and 2030’s will be based, you might have to reevaluate your business plan, according to a new market data forecast released by ABI Research. Research …
