Affiliates of private equity firm Peppertree Capital Management and a Goldman Sachs affiliate have moved a long-running Latin American telecommunications tower dispute closer to a forced sale after a federal judge again held Terra Towers Corp., Telecom Business Solution (TBS), and telecom executive Jorge Hernandez in civil contempt. In a sharply worded ruling issued May 7 in the Southern District …
America’s Big Three carriers unite to kill wireless dead zones — but is this about coverage, or SpaceX?
In a move that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon have announced that they have reached an agreement in principle to form a joint venture to eliminate wireless dead zones across the United States — with satellite technology at its core. The three carriers, which spend billions of dollars annually competing aggressively against …
Tower Family Foundation continues its mission with more than $3.5 Million in giving to workers and families
The Tower Family Foundation announced that it has surpassed a significant milestone in total giving. Since its inception in 2014, the Tower Family Foundation has awarded $3,502,988 in direct financial assistance and scholarships to eligible tower workers and their families. The Tower Family Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provides financial assistance and scholarships to family members of a …
FCC’s $2.4 Billion EchoStar escrow: Industry celebrates, but deliverance may be the devil in the details
The wireless infrastructure industry scored what many are calling a landmark victory Tuesday when the Federal Communications Commission approved EchoStar’s $42.6 billion spectrum sale to SpaceX and AT&T — attaching a condition that EchoStar establish a $2.4 billion escrow account to cover potential obligations owed to tower companies, contractors, and infrastructure providers left behind when Dish Wireless walked away from …
The unsung players behind every bar of signal at Connect (X): What soccer taught WIA’s Patrick Halley
Ask Patrick Halley about the future of wireless, and he will, almost certainly, start talking about soccer. Not as a metaphor borrowed for the occasion—as a genuine, deeply felt lens through which he sees the world. At the opening of Connect (X) 2026 in Fort Lauderdale, the Wireless Infrastructure Association’s president and CEO revealed a side of himself that policy …
Tower Technician Appreciation Day 2026: Honoring the skilled workers behind every call, stream, and connection made at Connect (X)
As thousands of wireless infrastructure professionals gathered in Fort Lauderdale this week for Connect (X) 2026 to debate the future of AI, spectrum, and next-generation networks, NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association offered a timely reminder of who makes it all possible. Wednesday, May 6 marks the ninth consecutive Tower Technician Appreciation Day — a commemoration honoring the men and …
Families win $18.2 Million verdict in tower deaths, but bankrupt Nexius and Myndco may leave them with pennies on the dollar
A Delaware jury has awarded $18.2 million to the families of two brothers killed when an articulated boom lift toppled onto power lines at a Bethany Beach cell tower site in November 2020. The verdict against general contractor Nexius Solutions, Inc. and its internal training affiliate Myndco, Inc. came after nearly four years of litigation and a ten-day trial that …
Tower industry champion Craig Snyder named to esteemed 2026 Wireless Hall of Fame
The Wireless History Foundation has announced its 2026 Wireless Hall of Fame inductees, and for those in the infrastructure and contracting community, one name stands front and center: Craig Snyder. Snyder, founder and Chairman of VIKOR, will be inducted this October in recognition of a career that has consistently bridged the gap between boots-on-the-steel field experience and the engineering, standards, …
Crown Castle completes $8.5 billion sale of fiber and small cell assets, emerges as pure-play tower company
Crown Castle has officially closed the books on one of the most significant strategic transformations in U.S. telecommunications history, completing its $8.5 billion sale of fiber and small cell businesses on May 1, 2026, receiving aggregate cash proceeds of approximately $8.4 billion after preliminary purchase price adjustments. The Deal Structure Crown Castle sold its fiber solutions business to Zayo Group …
AT&T’s $1.35 Billion Plano headquarters takes shape with its most visible feature a 280-foot corporate icon cell tower
When AT&T builds its new global headquarters in Plano, Texas, the first thing visible from miles away will not be a building. It will be a tower — an illuminated, AT&T-branded structure rising approximately 280 feet above the 54-acre campus at 5400 Legacy Drive, crowned by a globe-shaped cellular antenna bathed in the carrier’s signature blue. For an industry that …
Connect [X] heads to Fort Lauderdale as new Ookla data pinpoints Miami’s most strained cell site
As the wireless industry prepares to gather for WIA ConnectX—opening on Monday in Fort Lauderdale—new research is putting a spotlight on 30 miles south in Miami, where network demand is already testing the limits of existing infrastructure. A new analysis by Mike Dano, lead industry analyst at Ookla, drills down to a level rarely seen in public reporting: identifying the …
Towercos show underlying growth, but DISH disruption still clouds contractor outlook
First-quarter results from the nation’s three publicly traded tower companies—American Tower, Crown Castle, and SBA Communications—delivered a consistent message to investors: demand for wireless infrastructure remains intact. But that message doesn’t fully translate to the field. American Tower and SBA Communications reported earnings on April 29, followed by Crown Castle on April 30, with each company reinforcing steady carrier activity …
$7.5M sewage spill, coverage fight, and contractor collapse expose fiber drilling risk as BEAD work surges
A Florida sewage spill tied to an AT&T fiber project is now at the center of two lawsuits—one seeking damages, the other seeking to avoid paying them—highlighting how a single underground strike can trigger a chain reaction of liability, insurance disputes, and contractor failure. In a complaint filed April 24, 2026, the City of Lake Worth Beach is seeking more …
Tower owner co-defendant in $2.2 million lead paint settlement raises hard questions about contractor liability
A $2.2 million civil settlement announced by the Maryland Attorney General on April 9, 2026, resolved one of the more consequential environmental enforcement actions in the tower industry in recent years — and it did so by naming not just the painting contractor responsible for the damage, but the owner of the tower itself. That detail is worth examining carefully …
Motive still unknown after Mississippi communications tower attack ends in gunman’s death
Days after he tried to blow up a communications tower in Pascagoula, MS, investigators remain no closer to determining what drove a 59-year-old North Carolina man to target critical emergency infrastructure in a brazen, daylight attack that ended in a fatal shootout with deputies. Authorities say David Ray Wyrick of Eden, N.C., drove a truck through a secured fence behind …
Federal broadband permitting bill could be a game-changer for telecom siting and contracting
A bill working its way through Congress could be one of the most significant boosts the tower and telecom siting and contracting industry has seen in years — and it may be one step closer to becoming law by tonight. H.R. 2289, the American Broadband Deployment Act, introduced by Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.), is a sweeping federal bill designed to …
Verizon’s promise of transparency for contractors is a fiction — and the FCC should take notice
Commentary — Verizon made a promise. It made that promise not in a private email or an offhand remark at a trade show, but in a formal framework agreement — one that its own representatives negotiated with NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association and, by extension, with the Federal Communications Commission. The promise was straightforward: fair pricing reviews, regional flexibility, …
Carr tops out at 2,000 feet: FCC Chairman climbs NC broadcast tower, shines spotlight on tower crews
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr went 2,000 feet above ground on April 9, 2026, ascending one of the tallest broadcast towers in the United States in New Bern, North Carolina—an effort aimed at highlighting the work of America’s telecommunications workforce. The climb took place on the 1,999-foot WCTI/WYDO tower, owned by Sinclair Broadcasting and serving WCTI-TV and co-located WYDO. A crew …
Federal fraud suit exposes deeper concerns over contractor vetting in South Dakota tribal broadband project
As Wireless Estimator recently reported, calls are growing to eliminate or consolidate federal broadband programs over concerns of duplication and oversight—but a newly filed fraud case tied to a tribal broadband project in South Dakota shows the problem may run deeper than program structure alone. The complaint centers on a broadband project on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation—about 150 miles southwest …
Calls grow to eliminate USDA broadband programs as critics cite duplication and delays
A mix of fiscal watchdog groups, former regulators, and some policymakers are calling for the elimination or consolidation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s broadband programs, arguing they’ve become redundant, inefficient, and out of step with today’s funding landscape. The roots of that debate go back more than a decade. From stimulus solution to structural problem In 2009, Jonathan Adelstein, …
