Top 100 Tower Companies in the U.S.
Total does not include foreign-owned tower portfolios. In some cases the tower company might not own the structure, but has lease rights and the ability to acquire the towers after a set period of time. Totals do not include DAS and small cells.
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The Top 100 Tower Companies in the U.S. list is from a database maintained and updated by Wireless Estimator. If you are a representative of a tower company and have additional updates to your total tower count, or if you are not listed and have 10 towers or more, please contact info@wirelessestimator.com. You cannot republish this information without obtaining permission from WirelessEstimator.com, and only the Top 10 Companies can be published along with WirelessEstimator.com as the source of the information.
Portfolio Smoke & Mirrors
US tower counts and site information are often inaccurate and purposely misleading
Tower Portfolio News
Undocumented immigrant arrested for illegally setting Knoxville cell phone towers on fire
The Knoxville Fire Department said investigators arrested and charged a Knoxville, KY, man after there were numerous fires at cell phone tower sites. According to multiple news searches, none of them were reported in local news media since they started occurring...
Workforce shortages and last mile technology are concerns at WISPAPALOOZA
The industry’s workforce shortage and last-mile technology were critical topics during Wednesday’s virtual keynote interview between FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr and WISPA CEO David Zumwalt at the Las Vegas trade show’s WISPAPALOOZA that ends today. The video can be viewed...
Ruth Dowling will ably take over Ed DiSanto’s executive roles at American Tower
American Tower Corporation announced changes to its senior management team. Ed DiSanto intends to step down from his position as Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer, General Counsel, and Secretary, effective January 1, 2023. Ruth Dowling, who has been...
Hopefully after his tower climb a 37-year-old felon will serve time
A 37-year-old man was arrested after fleeing officers, ramming his pickup into two sheriff’s vehicles, then climbing to the top of a 150-foot cell tower before finally giving up, the Yuba County (CA) Sheriff’s Office reported. Deputies said the...
Ian’s Florida cell site outages still critical in some counties with a 28% average as deaths continue to mount
According to the FCC, the cell site outage average on Sunday dropped to 28% in the most affected Florida Counties that saw outages of 20% or higher. Although it’s a severe concern for residents and first responders still performing...
With 50% of Florida’s cell sites out, ‘deadliest hurricane’ prediction has loved ones on edge
“This could be the deadliest hurricane in Florida’s history,” President Joe Biden said at the Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters in Washington on Thursday regarding Hurricane Ian. “The numbers are still unclear, but we’re hearing early reports of what...
Cell sites out of power are expected to rise steeply following Hurricane Ian’s devastating damage
The FCC’s communications status report released yesterday afternoon identifies that Florida’s cell sites weathered Hurricane Ian’s devastating thrashing of Florida. Of the 13,832 total sites, only 188 were out of service, representing a statewide average of 1.4%. Today’s report...
The backstory of a teen tower climber rescue: It took a village
A Fox 8 News viewer yesterday afternoon sent Wireless Estimator an email with a link to an article on the Ohio TV station’s website that a 15-year-old boy had been rescued off of a 190-foot cell tower. With few details, it...
Lawsuit hastens NJ borough’s approval of Verizon’s 20 sites on Belmar’s beachfront property
The Borough of Belmar, NJ has agreed to let Verizon Wireless erect 20 small wireless sites along its boardwalk after the carrier filed a lawsuit last year accusing the borough of delaying approval for the proposal. According to a...
Fatal fall of a 29-year-old tower tech from a 300-foot Louisiana tower is industry’s first 2022 death
OSHA is investigating the death of a 29-year-old tower technician who fell from a guyed tower in Florien, LA, late Friday afternoon. According to multiple sources interviewed by Wireless Estimator, Jose Garcia, a resident of Mexico, fell from an...
Verizon signs lease deal with American Tower to boost 5G deployment
American Tower Corporation and Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ) announced today that they have signed a new overarching lease agreement, facilitating Verizon’s on-going 5G network deployment across American Tower’s extensive U.S. portfolio of communications sites, with over 11,000...
Harmoni Towers’ acquisition of Parallel’s structures raises them to U.S.’s second largest private towerco
Harmoni Towers (“Harmoni”), a portfolio company of Palistar Capital LP (“Palistar”), an alternative asset manager focused on mission-critical communications infrastructure, today announced that it has agreed to acquire Parallel Infrastructure (“Parallel”), a leading tower platform and build-to-suit provider, from...
NATE, American Tower Corporation and MILLERCO Host U.S. Senator Roger Wicker
NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association and member companies American Tower Corporation and MILLERCO hosted U.S. Senator Roger Wicker on a communications tower site visit in Gulfport, Mississippi yesterday. Gulfport Mayor Billy Hewes also attended the event. During the...
T-Mobile and Starlink link up to ‘end mobile dead zones’
T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert and SpaceX founder Elon Musk said that their companies are working to “end mobile dead zones” and will launch a new mobile service enabled by Starlink second-generation satellites and T-Mobile bandwidth. Sievert and Musk announced...
Newly minted tower techs will receive their training on IsoTruss’s carbon fiber towers
IsoTruss, Inc., an engineering, design, and manufacturing services provider, today announced the donation of two patented IsoTruss® carbon fiber cell towers to the Learning Alliance Corp. (LAC) center located in Tampa, FL. The donation will support LAC’s workforce development initiative in...
QualTek contests Washington regulators’ $12,000 fine for safety violations following employee’s death
QualTek Wireless LLC of Blue Bell, PA, is contesting two serious Washington State Labor and Industries (LNI) safety violations issued after an employee fell to his death in Arlington, WA, on December 4, 2021. Tower technician Michael Vasquez, 24, was working...
Vertical Bridge achieves carbon neutrality for third consecutive year
Vertical Bridge REIT, LLC, the largest private owner and operator of communications infrastructure in the United States, today announced that it has realized 100 percent carbon neutrality for the third consecutive year. The Company began a proactive review of...
Carlyle partners with ‘disruptive’ Tillman, committing up to $1 billion to accelerate investments in US towers
Global investment firm Carlyle announced that funds managed by its Global Infrastructure platform have committed up to $1 billion to partner with Tillman Global Holdings to accelerate its investments in Tillman Infrastructure, a leading privately held cell tower platform...
Stainless marks a storied 75 years of pioneering leadership in the broadcast industry
FDH Infrastructure Services, LLC (FDH), a leader in engineering investigations of critical structures and developer of global technology solutions, is proudly commemorating the 75th anniversary of Stainless, its broadcast division. Officially incorporated on July 24, 1947, Stainless has been...
Tower titan Michael T.N. Fitch passes, leaving the industry with a more stable environment
Michael T.N. Fitch passed away on July 22, 2022, leaving behind a rich legacy of assisting towercos and carriers in advancing infrastructure siting. Fitch spent the first 20 years of his extensive career at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC),...
Offering no standards guidance, CWA says safety bulletin ‘threat’ has the tone of an ‘irate boss’
The Communications Workers of America (CWA) Tower Climbers Union has jumped on the carabiner bandwagon of concern regarding a recent NATE advisory bulletin on July 20, 2022, that stated, “Carabiners are NOT intended for rigging applications involving material handling and overhead lifting,” after...
Use of a carabiner for load lifting provided varied responses but client requirements still reign
NATE’s July 20, 2022 industry advisory bulletin that carabiners are not intended for rigging applications involving material handling and overhead lifting saw a slew of Facebook comments in the past six days that had some posters defending the use...
Topping estimates, all Valmont segments are up in Q2 financial report but telecommunications shines
Shares of Valmont Industries (VMI) hit their highest level in more than a month, gaining 7.8% to $256.53 in noontime trading after the infrastructure and agricultural solutions provider reported Q2 2022 results that beat estimates and raised its FY guidance. In the...
Contractors warned using carabiners for material rigging applications could suspend future work
Industry stakeholders have issued a warning that no matter how strong a carabiner is, companies using them for material handling and overhead lifting could see a loss of work when their jobs are shut down. NATE: The Communications Infrastructure...
Death of a tower worker falling off a 300-foot Crown Castle guyed tower proves to be incorrect
News reports on Monday described an industry fatality when a tower technician fell off a guyed tower that he was working on in Anderson, SC. However, the reporting was incorrect. TV station WSPA said a man working on a...
Placing pipe bombs at AT&T and Verizon locations could result in a ‘life’ sentence for Michigan man
A Whittemore, Michigan man might spend the rest of his life in prison after pleading guilty yesterday to two separate criminal cases related to the placement of explosive packages outside cellphone stores in Cheboygan and Sault Ste Marie and...
Northleaf to acquire a 40 percent interest in Vodafone’s New Zealand tower business for $1.1 billion
Northleaf Capital Partners (Northleaf), a leading global private markets investment firm, today announced that funds managed by Northleaf will acquire a 40% interest in Aotearoa Towers Limited (Aotearoa) a mobile tower infrastructure business, from Vodafone New Zealand Limited (Vodafone)....
In an early morning fire, a Crown Castle tower gets ‘lit up like a Christmas tree’
A 162-foot self-supporting multi-tenant cell tower became engulfed in flames early this morning in Seattle, WA near the busy intersection of I-90 and I-5 south of downtown in the International District. According to Seattle Fire Department Chief Geoff Wall,...
A reverse stock split is oftentimes cautionary, but DigitalBridge Group says it’s all part of the grand plan
A reverse stock split oftentimes signals that a company is trying to stay listed on major exchanges, such as the New York Stock Exchange, where a company’s shares are required to not trade below $1 for 30 consecutive days....
Tower painter runs afoul of Maryland residents and businesses being showered with lead paint chips
For almost three weeks, a Nebraska painting contractor was prepping a 997-foot guyed tower in Woodberry, MD, to be repainted by either pressure washing or grinding off existing layers of paint on the structure, according to residents. In the...
New New York broadband map sports a high 78% coverage
The New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) has released a first-of-its-kind, interactive broadband map to provide the most detailed depiction of broadband infrastructure in New York to date. The map, available here, along with an accompanying report, is...
Towerco stocks tank as Communication Services Sector declines 33% and REIT Index shaves 23%
Towerco stocks notched a slight increase on Friday, but they’re still way off their 52-week highs. All four of the publicly traded companies saw significant declines beginning in December 2021, with considerable losses last week. DigitalBridge Group is down...
After decades of leadership, SBA’s Bagwell and Hunt are retiring, Cane and Koenig to succeed them
SBA Communications Corporation (SBA) today announced that Kurt L. Bagwell, Executive Vice President and President – International, and Thomas P. Hunt, Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel, will retire from their current titles and roles effective...
Telecom advocate Patrick Halley to lead WIA as its President and CEO
The Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA) today named communications policy veteran and association leader Patrick Halley as the organization’s incoming President and Chief Executive Officer, effective August 1, 2022. Halley joins WIA from USTelecom – The Broadband Association where he serves...
It’s official: Dish Network meets the FCC’s 20% U.S. coverage deadline as it turns on 5G in 128 cities
Yesterday morning, some media reports suggested that Dish Network might not be able to meet its FCC-mandated June 14 deadline to cover 20 percent of the US population with its 5G network. One report said that the nation’s newest...
‘Fall’ is a 2,000-foot tower thriller dropping in a movie theatre near you
Airplanes, trains, buses and even chainsaws have been unwitting protagonists in horror and thriller movies. An abandoned communications tower has finally reached stardom. Thrillers typically highlight the failures of governments, institutions, and society as a whole. On August 12, Fall,...
Skyway Towers’ 400-plus structures acquired by Basalt Infrastructure Partners for undisclosed price
Basalt Infrastructure Partners LLC (“Basalt”) announced that the third flagship Basalt fund (“Basalt III”) has acquired Skyway Towers, LLC (“Skyway”) from Tinicum L.P. and affiliated entities (“Tinicum”). Skyway is a nationwide telecommunications infrastructure developer that owns and operates multi-tenant...
Senators Blackburn and Hagerty champion technologies other than fiber in NTIA’s $42 billion in funding
During a February hearing on broadband expansion and internet access, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Administrator Alan Davidson informed representatives that “sunlight is the best disinfectant” and transparency will be a “huge” part of his agency’s administration in...
CWA gets its first Tower Climbers Union crews, but an agreement with QualTek could be stalled for 14 months
A majority of 11 wireless tower technicians at QualTek have voted for union representation with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) in an election conducted this week in Henderson, NV. Their next step after National Labor Relations Board certification will...
FCC Commissioner Carr slams Commerce Department for putting its thumb on the scale for fiber
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said that the U. S. Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Association (NTIA) was being myopic with fiberoptic when it released its new rules that will govern the expenditure of $42.5 billion in grants authorized...
Industry engineers are now able to identify best practices for tower mount analysis, courtesy of TIF
The Telecommunications Industry Foundation (“TIF”) announced the publication of a new White Paper on tower mounts that involved the efforts of many individuals from across the industry. As mounts continue to support existing equipment and the deployment of new technology including...
Broadband industry questions NTIA fiber czar’s $42 billion dollar priority that might be illegal
At a hearing on February 16, 2022, Alan Davidson, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and NTIA Administrator, informed House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology members that “…we need a technology-neutral approach to funding broadband...
Dish must again face lawsuit that it used two sham companies to save billions of dollars in spectrum buys
Dish Network Corp. will be required to face a whistleblower’s False Claims Act (FCA) spectrum license lawsuit for the second time following a Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruling yesterday. The carrier is alleged to have used...
Biden favoring fiber in $42 billion broadband funding could kick other technologies and contractors to the curb
The Biden administration formally started its $42.45 billion initiative on Friday to bring reliable and affordable high-speed broadband internet to everyone in the U.S. by the end of the 2020s. “In the 21st century, you simply cannot participate in...
DigitalBridge and IFM shell out $11 billion for data center company Switch
DigitalBridge Group Inc. and IFM Investors have announced they have agreed to buy data center operator Switch Inc. for $11 billion, including debt, marking the latest deal in the digital asset sector. Last November, American Tower announced the acquisition of...
Mobilitie mobilizes into U.S. military bases with the acquisition of Signal Point Systems
Mobilitie, a BAI Communications company and a leading wireless infrastructure provider in the United States, has closed on an agreement to acquire Signal Point Systems, Inc. (“Signal Point”), a well-established telecommunications infrastructure provider focused on U.S. military bases. The acquisition unites...
They do every day, but especially tomorrow tower techs should walk and climb proudly
NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association unveiled a commemoration declaring Wednesday, May 4, 2022 as Tower Technician Appreciation Day. For the sixth consecutive year, a day has been set aside by NATE and the industry to pay tribute to...
Hundreds of tower techs told ‘squeezed’ workers could benefit from CWA Tower Climbers Union
Last month, 11 employees of QualTek’s Nevada location filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRF) for a union election for admittance to the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union, the first-ever company to ask for representation....
NATE and OSHA encourage participating in a national safety stand-down next week to prevent construction falls
NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association is urging its members and all wireless industry companies and stakeholders to actively participate in next week’s OSHA National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls in Construction. NATE and OSHA are requesting that employers...
Simpson, Blakeslee and Hillabrant appointed to Tower Family Foundation leadership positions
The Tower Family Foundation announced today a series of appointments to the non-profit organization’s leadership team. Mike Simpson, Chief Procurement Officer of T-Mobile USA Inc, has been seated to serve on the Tower Family Foundation Board of Directors. Additionally,...
Board of Health issues Verizon a cease-and-desist order for ‘unfit’ tower but now needs $84k to defend it
Tomorrow, Pittsfield, Massachusetts Board of Health (BoH) officials will ask the City Council to back up their cease-and-desist order against Verizon Wireless to discontinue their use of a cell tower at 877 South Street, requesting $84,000 in legal fees...
Fengate grabs undisclosed number of U.S. towers in nine states
Fengate Asset Management (Fengate) announced closing on the acquisition of a significant portfolio of high-quality wireless communications towers, located in nine states across the United States, from Florida-based TowerCom, LLC (TowerCom). Fengate is managing this acquisition on behalf of the...
Raising the Barr for above and beyond customer service, especially when lives are at stake, is ASK’s mission
To gain and keep loyal customers, successful companies go above and beyond with customer service and support. Pat Barr, who humbly entitles himself as Albuquerque, NM-based ASK Tower Supply’s technical specialist, takes that to a higher level, and in...
SPX announces acquisition of International Tower Lighting
SPX Corporation (“SPX”) announced today that it has completed the acquisition of International Tower Lighting, LLC (“ITL”), a private company headquartered in La Vergne, Tennessee. ITL is a leader in the design and manufacture of highly-engineered Aids-to-Navigation, or “AtoN”...
Subcontractor’s ‘shoddy concrete’ work proves to be costly for Crown Castle in Baltimore
The Baltimore, MD City Office of the Inspector General (OIG) announced last Wednesday that the City’s Department of Transportation (DoT) has fined Crown Castle Fiber LLC (Crown Castle) $447,000 after the OIG found that 450 small cell...
Appeals court won’t revive Martha’s Vineyard AT&T cell tower lawsuit
Fears about radio frequency emissions affecting a Martha’s Vineyard man’s medical equipment and property value weren’t enough to allow a husband and wife standing to sue over the previous construction of an AT&T cell tower on the island, a...
Massachusetts high court rules police must get a judge’s warrant before running tower dumps
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court authorized some broad police searches of cell-phone location data Friday, but also set limits on police activity to control mass surveillance and intrusions against innocent people’s privacy. The case arose from seven tower dumps...
Pieter Nel elevated to CEO of American Tower Europe; Julian Plumstead takes M&A Post
American Tower Corporation, one of the world’s largest real estate investment trusts and a leading independent owner, operator and developer of telecommunications real estate and infrastructure, continues to grow in Europe. Pieter Nel was appointed CEO for Europe, one of the key...
Nationwide strike of contractors averted after carriers and towercos agree to meaningful concessions
An organized work stoppage action by U.S. wireless contractors that could have exceeded the breadth of economic damage caused by the steel workers strike of 1919, that shut down the nation’s steel industry, was averted yesterday after carriers and...
U.S. towerco is bid up in down under 2,000 tower deal that went to ATN and Singtel for $2.7 billion
UPDATE – April 1, 2022: Macquarie Asset Management today announced that, alongside its coinvestors, it has entered into binding agreements with Australia Tower Network (ATN), owned by AustralianSuper and Singtel, for the sale of 100% of Axicom for $2.7...
ATF accuses man of setting fire to American Tower cell site, trying to destroy multiple other locations
A Jackson County Mississippi man is facing federal charges from the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) after a special agent said the arsonist maliciously set fire to an American Tower cell tower...
Verizon Jackson Pollock-type pole is perhaps first 5G artwork cell site
When Verizon Wireless first began installing 5G light poles last March in Harrisburg, Pa., for reliable connectivity for their subscribers, some residents didn’t know that they were telecommunications structures and questioned what was the purpose of the large cylinder...
Phoenix Tower to acquire 3,226 towers From Cellnex Telecom in France
Boca Raton, FL-based Phoenix Tower International (“PTI”) announced that it has completed a definitive agreement — subject to the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) approval — with Cellnex Telecom to acquire 1,226 telecommunications sites in very dense areas in France adding SFR as...
American Tower reportedly a contender for 41,000 Deutsche Telekom towers for $20 billion
American Tower is reportedly a key contender for a 41,000 Deutsche Telekom towers acquisition. Deutsche Telekom reportedly started the sales process for its mobile towers business as part of broader efforts to maximize the value of its infrastructure assets....
Key execs believe certified tower technicians will lead the nation’s continuous build programs
Attendees at NATE UNITE 2022 were provided an executive level overview of how field personnel will be taking control of their future as the wireless workforce becomes increasingly dependent upon new skillsets that will be required of technicians. The...
Johnny Crawford and Bob Paige elevated to key executive positions at Vertical Bridge
Vertical Bridge, the largest private owner and operator of communications infrastructure in the United States, today announced the promotion of two of its longest serving leaders to Executive Vice President. Johnny Crawford was named Executive Vice President of Development,...
Lawsuit filed against Georgia city after its Council slights a Shriners’ site for T-Mobile
Municipal Communications of Atlanta, GA filed a lawsuit against Columbus, GA and its mayor and council members stating that it is violating federal law by blocking its requests to build a T-Mobile cell tower that’s necessary to improve coverage...
Union Wireless chooses TowerCo to market and manage its wireless tower assets
TowerCo has announced a partnership with Union, a fast growing regional wireless provider that serves the states of Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Montana, and Idaho. As an industry leader specializing in colocation, TowerCo will market and manage Union’s portfolio of 322...
Wireless infrastructure pioneer Van Thompson passes away
Van Thompson, a cell tower development pioneer, passed away quietly at his home in Annapolis, Maryland on January 5. He was 66. Thompson was known as a founding force in managing, developing and implementing wireless infrastructure in the mid-Atlantic...
AT&T expects a spring or summer start of their one climb strategy that will keep contractors busy
AT&T contractors are expected to be busy in late spring or early summer as AT&T uses single tower climbs to deploy two bands of new mid-band spectrum for 5G, allowing the carrier to simultaneously expand C-band and roll out...
Thirty-year-old tower tech passes after falling from 400-foot tower in Ontario
Canada, frequently identified as one of the safest countries for tower climbers, had a fatality yesterday when a 30-year-old tower technician fell to his death in the Township of Minden Hills, Ontario. The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) reported that...
Bogus BLS averages put larger wireless contractors at a greater risk of being red-flagged
Avetta and other compliance vendors continue to use the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data to initially assess the safety culture and performance of wireless contractors through metrics such as the Total Recordable Incident Rate...
Windy City Tower Techs resolves OSHA fatality investigation with zero citations relating to accident
Windy City Tower Techs, LLC (“Windy City”) suffered an unfortunate fatality incident on September 3, 2021 at a monopine telecommunications tower in Olympia Fields, Illinois. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) conducted a comprehensive investigation into the...
CTI Towers announces the appointment of CFO Tammy Wolfe
CTI Towers is one of the largest private tower companies in the US, and has been a portfolio company of Melody Investment Advisors LP (“Melody”), an alternative asset manager focused on telecommunications infrastructure investments, since 2020. CTI Towers owns...
DigitalBridge surpasses its fund target by over $2.3 billion in commitments
DigitalBridge Group, Inc. has announced that DigitalBridge Investment Management, the firm’s investment management platform, has closed its second flagship fund, DigitalBridge Partners II, LP, with $8.3 billion in commitments, surpassing its original target of $6.0 billion. The Fund received...
DISH Chairman Ergen and FCC’s Carr added to NATE UNITE’s stellar lineup of keynotes and presenters
NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association announced today that DISH Co-Founder and Chairman Charlie Ergen and FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr will participate in a Q & A Keynote Fireside Chat at the NATE UNITE 2022 Conference in Las Vegas,...
DISH Network appoints John Swieringa as its new wireless prexy as pressures mount to launch in Las Vegas
DISH Network has named John Swieringa as President and Chief Operating Officer of DISH Wireless. In this expanded role, he will be responsible for all operational aspects of DISH’s wireless business including the deployment and management of DISH’s virtualized, O-RAN 5G broadband...
Verizon welcomes the new year with a fireworks display
On New Year’s Eve, firefighters responded to a cell tower that was on fire at West 2nd Street, City of Gulf Shores, AL. According to city officials, the fire was immediately extinguished and emergency service communications were not affected....
Unionization of tower training company provides CWA with a foot in the door they intend to exploit
In the past few months, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) has been quietly attempting to unionize wireless contractors and has made inroads with employees of two mid-sized companies, according to sources who have informed Wireless Estimator of the...
Only one tower was damaged during Kentucky tornados: FCC report
According to the FCC’s Disaster Information Reporting System’s (DIRS) report yesterday, only one cell site was out due to damage from the deadly tornadoes that devastated numerous Kentucky communities last weekend, destroying over 1,000 properties, including facilities of two...
DigitalBridge creates first scaled, independent tower company in Iceland through two acquisitions
Boca Raton, FL-based DigitalBridge Group, Inc. announced that funds affiliated with DigitalBridge Investment Management, the firm’s investment management platform, have completed the acquisition of the telecom tower portfolios of Sýn hf. (Sýn) and Nova hf. (“Nova”), two leading Icelandic...
World Tower facilities demolished by tornado as neighbor Drake Lighting is mostly spared
President Joe Biden visited Mayfield, KY today, a town that was rendered unrecognizable after tornadoes brought death and destruction to the area over the weekend. Residents affected by the tragic event called for funds for recovery. During a press...
Unless you are a tower tech, T-Mobile wants to ensure that no employee is left behind
Commentary – T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert received a round of thanks from his employees and future job applicants when he announced on Friday, “Every single employee at T-Mobile, even our newest team members just starting to build their skill...
RF signage placement row heads to NJ court after landlord refuses T-Mobile site access
After a 24-year contractual relationship with a Brunswick, NJ building owner, T-Mobile Northeast LLC says in a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court of New Jersey that 390 George Street Associates refuses to allow the carrier to perform...
24-year-old Nevada tower tech passes after a 140-foot fall in Washington — 2nd fatality in 3 weeks
Wireless Estimator has confirmed that a 24-year-old Las Vegas, Nevada tower technician, whose goal was to excel in his new career, has passed away after falling from a communications tower in Arlington, WA on Saturday afternoon at about 1:30...
Foolish draft petition has a carrier telling NATE to ‘Shut up!’ and the matrix pricing problems will be resolved
Commentary — One carrier’s well-thought-out solution to NATE’s concern regarding untenable contractor matrix pricing that is crippling the nation’s wireless workforce can be capsuled in two words: ‘Shut Up!’ There are no legitimate arguments that matrix or model pricing shouldn’t be...
OSHA will be inspecting a dissolved air conditioning company when investigating a Texas tower tech’s death
OSHA has identified the contractor they are investigating following the death of a Texas tower technician, Steven Rankin, 53, after falling from a tower on November 17 in Garrison, TX, as reported yesterday by Wireless Estimator. The inspection information...
A 1099 crew’s 53-year-old tower technician falls to his death from a Verizon tower in Texas
UPDATE: December 2, 2021 — OSHA has released the contractor’s name that the agency will be investigating. Wireless Estimator has been able to confirm today the death of a 53-year-old tower technician in Garrison, TX on November 17. The...
Inflation delivers another gut punch to wireless contractors as it reaches a 31-year high
Consumer prices surged at the fastest pace in more than three decades in October as fuel costs accelerated, supply chains remained under pressure and construction materials and steel prices moved higher — bad news for economic policymakers at the...
IFC will invest an additional $25 million in infrastructure assets managed by DigitalBridge
DigitalBridge Group, Inc. today announced that the International Finance Corporation (“IFC”) will be investing $100 million in digital infrastructure assets managed by DigitalBridge in Brazil, Indonesia and Malaysia to expand digital access and connectivity. IFC’s $100 million investment includes...
It was anticipated, but now there’s proof that NWSA Certification dramatically reduces safety incidents
The National Wireless Safety Alliance (NWSA) announced today that due to the collaboration of all sectors of the telecommunications industry, there has been a dramatic three-to-one decrease in tower crew-related safety issues and accidents when NWSA trade certified technicians...
Vertical Bridge’s execs donate over $1.1 million to the Tower Family Foundation and Warriors4Wireless
Vertical Bridge REIT, LLC , the largest privately owned and operated communications infrastructure company in the United States, announced that its executive team has donated over $1.1 million from their personal funds to Warriors4Wireless and the Tower Family Foundation. The donations were made...
John S. Hanna Sr., industry pioneer and mentor to many, passes at 83
John S. Hanna, Sr., 83, who along with his wife Louise established Tower & Communications Services, Inc. of Florence, SC in 1970, passed away on October 31, 2021, leaving the industry with fond memories of a man who dedicated...
FCC is considering a DJI drone ban that would take a tool out of the contractor’s toolbox and not replace it
The Federal Communications Commission voted Tuesday to boot China Telecom Americas off of U.S. networks, finding that the service provider could not quash concerns that it’s beholden to surveillance requests from the Chinese government. The decision means China Telecom...
Dish’s new deployment software might benefit contractors
Dish Network Corporation has selected NEXSYS-ONE for end-to-end, cloud-based network deployment software solutions to manage Dish’s nationwide 5G network build. In a press release, Dish said “NEXSYS-ONE’s unique platform supports Dish’s network deployment with speed and agility, allowing for...
Contractors rebelling against ‘take it or leave it’ matrix pricing that could easily endanger carriers’ 5G builds
In 1999 when The Matrix opened in theatres, carriers and towercos began utilizing matrix pricing to project CapEx budgets for macro sites, while still allowing acceptable margins and opportunities for contractors to continue to be successful. Fast forward 22...
Veterans and tower techs will benefit from $3.2 million raised by T-Mobile and wireless industry companies
T-Mobile recently announced a staggering $1.4 million distribution to be shared equally by the Tower Family Foundation (TFF) and Warriors4Wireless (W4W) following the 8th Annual T-Mobile Golf Tournament. With 47 corporate sponsors supporting the event, the two benefactor organizations...
Valmont Telecom’s turnkey small cell structures simplified in its expansive ‘SimpleCell’ catalog
Wherever people congregate, including downtown districts, university campuses, commercial properties, sports venues, and transportations hubs, it’s likely that they will be communicating with a Bourbon, Bristol, Clinton, Empire, Stanton or possibly a Fremont. No, they are not the newest...
Former AT&T tech’s bail denied following his ‘Donkey Balls’ transmission site explosion
A bail bond was denied last Wednesday for a man accused of planting an explosive device at an AT&T digital transmission site in Jefferson Davis County, MS earlier this month. According to a criminal complaint filed by special agent...
Bud Noel and Patrick Murphy appointed to Tower Family Foundation’s Board of Directors
Bud Noel, Senior Vice President of Operations for the U.S. Tower Division of American Tower in Boston, Massachusetts, and Patrick Murphy, Founder and CEO of Murphy Tower Service, LLC in Carlisle, Iowa, have been appointed to serve on the...