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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
BACOM updates information on deceased California tech who fell in Nevada
To clarify the misinformation that has appeared on social and other media regarding a recent industry fatality, Broken Arrow Communications, Inc.’s (BACOM) President, Dan Filler, has provided a statement to Wireless Estimator: “On July 11, 2019, Joel Miller, a...
Strawberry fields not quite forever for Sprint as it caves in in California
The City of Ripon, California’s City Council agreed yesterday to move forward with an agreement with Sprint (below) to allow the carrier to replace an existing cell tower at the Weston Elementary School with one to be built on...
FCC’s short-lived Tropical Storm Barry reporting has long-awaited changes
The FCC deactivated its Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) for Tropical Storm Barry yesterday, issuing it’s final report as of 11:30 a.m. showing that only 25 cell sites were out in Louisiana out of a total of 3,075. Mississippi...
California tower foreman passes in Nevada after falling off a 253-foot tower
OSHA is investigating the industry’s fifth tower climber fatality in 2019 after a Pittsburg, California man fell from a Nevada self-supporting tower on Thursday, July 11. Wireless Estimator has confirmed that Joel Joaquin Miller, age 41, passed away when...
Anatomy of a triple fatality citation: Judge rules OSHA didn’t understand industry standards
An OSHA Review Commission Judge has vacated a proposed $12,934 OSHA penalty against tall tower erection firm Tower King ll, Inc. of Cedar Hill, Texas that was issued following a tragic accident on Sept. 27, 2017 when a gin pole broke...
Monopole manufacturer or installer can’t be too proud of their shroud that hit vehicle
When driving on a highway it’s normal to keep an eye on the road to ensure that you don’t run over construction debris, especially in Orlando, Florida along I-4 as it undergoes a 21-mile facelift in a multi-year transformation...
ATC says Air Advantage is taking advantage of them by not paying rent since 2015
American Tower Corp. filed a lawsuit last Friday against Air Advantage LLC of Frankenmuth, Michigan for not paying rent on 28 towers the company owns. Air Advantage, an internet provider for both wireless and fiber-based internet, executed the agreements...
Billion dollar question: Will any entity pay $713,000 per site to the nation’s last carrier with towers?
In 2014, U.S. Cellular struck a deal with Vertical Bridge Holdings to sell 595 non-core towers for $159 million, approximately $267,000 per site. On June 17 in a note to investors, Morgan Stanley analyst Simon Flannery said if the...
Reward offered for vandals who cut guy wires and collapsed 150-foot Oregon tower
The Coos County Oregon Sheriff’s Office is offering a reward for the identification and conviction of the parties responsible for cutting the guy wires and collapsing a 150-foot guyed tower on Coos Mountain off BLM 26-1027 1 Road, according...
T-Mobile tried tower siting twice in Wichita, now it will be tried in court
T-Mobile and APC Towers have filed a lawsuit against City of Wichita over a denied conditional use application to construct an 80-foot wireless communication facility near 18th and Woodland. T-Mobile says it suffers from a significant gap in its...
A Dish carrier network could set the table for higher contractor margins
Dish Network might play the pivotal role in the Department of Justice’s approval of the proposed T-Mobile/Sprint merger after The Wall Street Journal reported that Dish is the lead bidder on the spectrum T-Mobile and Sprint are divesting in...
Friday’s ham radio climber’s death is a stark reminder of dangers present this weekend during Field Day
Field Day is ham radio operators’ open house as approximately 40,000 amateur radio operators throughout North America set up temporary transmitting stations in public places this weekend to demonstrate ham radio’s science, skill, and service to the nation’s communities....
5G’s future could literally be full of hot air…and drones leads Fast Forward Friday articles
Article Media 5G’s Future Could Literally Be Full of Hot Air… And Drones LightReading Verizon competing with telecom company to replace Chico water tower Enterprise-Record New network for first responders raises concern among media The Washington Post FCC Chairman...
Tower Infrastructure Deployment bill introduced by Representatives Walberg and Clarke
Update: June 14, 2019 – Commenting on the bill he co-sponsored with Congresswoman Yvette Clarke to establish a Telecommunications Workforce Development Advisory Council, Congressman Tim Walberg said in a statement today, “As the telecom industry deploys next generation technologies,...
TIRAP elects new leadership with American Tower’s Paul Roberts at the helm
The Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA) announced that Paul Roberts, Vice President, Compliance, American Tower Corporation, was elected to serve as Chairperson of WIA’s Telecommunications Industry Registered Apprenticeship Program (TIRAP) Executive Board. A new slate of officers was also elected....
New inductees profiled in ‘Tower Climbers Hall of Shame’
Facebook pages provide an uncensored opportunity for stupidity June 5, 2019 – For over a dozen years Wireless Estimator has highlighted some of the most egregious tower climber safety infractions in its Tower Climbers Hall of Shame. Almost daily...
Callous disregard for tower lighting regs could result in a $25K-plus fine
A Long Island, NY tower owner is expected to face several fines for violations observed by an FCC investigator of Merdarler Enterprises’ Lake Butler, Fla. tower. The FCC issued a Notice of Violation (NOV) on May 20, 2019 for...
InSite’s Weisman elected WIA Chairman; new slate of officers named to WIA Board of Directors
The Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA) has announced that David Weisman, President and Chief Executive Officer, InSite Wireless Group, LLC, was elected to serve as Chairman of WIA’s Board of Directors. A new slate of officers was also elected. Additional...
May’s total: two toppled broadcast towers due to clipped guy wires
ELK-AM in Elko, Nevada is off the air after its tower collapsed into a parking lot of a restaurant damaging several cars last night. No one was injured. The 198-foot tower, located behind the station, fell after a semi-truck hit...
American Tower picks up 5,500 African market towers for $1.85 billion
American Tower Corporation today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Eaton Towers Holding Limited, which owns and operates approximately 5,500 communications sites across five African markets. As a result of the transaction, the company...
Commissioner Starks disses broadband report as ‘fundamentally at odds with reality”
After the FCC revealed its 2019 broadband deployment report yesterday, identifying a healthy accounting that the digital divide has closed by more than 18% from the end of 2016 through 2017, Commissioner Geoffrey Starks called the report “fundamentally at odds...
Services set for tall tower technician Kevin Wright of Indiana who passed away last week
Services have been announced for Kevin D. Wright of Evansville, Indiana, who passed away on May 22, 2019 after falling from a tower in Polk County, Iowa while performing restoration services for KDSM FOX as an employee of Precision Communications,...
‘Catastrophic’ repair ends in death for tower tech who fell 1,000 feet
A 47-year-old tall tower technician died this morning after falling approximately 1,000 feet from the KDSM FOX tower near Alleman in Polk County, Iowa. The worker was employed by Precision Communications, Inc. of Grove, Oklahoma. Wireless Estimator will release...
300-foot fall is fatal to Arkansas tower technician, father of two
Services will be held Monday morning for tower technician Christopher Hawkins, 34, of Caraway, AR who passed away Thursday after falling from a 300-foot guyed tower in Brookhaven, Miss. Visitation for the father of two children will be at Monette...
Commish’s push for rural broadband was scripted 122 years ago
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, the agency’s point man for encouraging why and how the country should unite in order for the US to become the world’s leader in rolling out 5G, retweeted a 122- year-old article (below) from The...
Florida tower approval ends dueling engineers, begins life-saving communications network
Broward County Florida Commissioners yesterday approved a 325-foot communications tower in West Lake Park in Hollywood, a controversial site required to complete a new $59.5 million network awarded to Motorola Systems that is expected to be up and running by...
School cancer concerns routed from RF to PR blunder then carcinogens in H2O and vapor
When four children were diagnosed with cancer at a San Joaquin County, Calif. elementary school earlier this year, parents – rightfully concerned – went for the usual maligned suspect – RF radiation from a cell tower on a school...
Nebraska tower foundation driller’s employee electrocuted in Virginia
A tower foundation drilling company worker died on April 26, 2019, after being electrocuted on a jobsite, according to individuals knowledgeable of the April 22, 2019 incident that occurred in Accomac, Va. Kevlin Finck, 30, of Nebraska, employed by...
Telecom tower and infrastructure veteran Dudley Norman passes at 85
Dudley Norman, 85, husband, father, friend and Vice President of Subcarrier Communications, passed away April 25 in Houston, Tex. Norman, a veteran of the US Marine Corp, was a leader in the telecommunications and tower industry. He was responsible...
Sprint and T-Mobile’s urge to merge extended to July 29
According to an SEC filing, T-Mobile and Sprint have extended the deadline for completing their merger to July 29 as they continue to seek the regulatory approvals they need to complete a deal. The previous deadline had been Monday....
Lack of towercos’ aviation compliance could result in 7,000 towers heading for the scrap yard
After three years of negotiations between the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) to address annual tower owner certification concerns hit an impasse, the NCAA said it was going to...
Tin foil hat testing and junk science being used to possibly remove 35 towers from Utah schools
Motivated by Sprint caving in to demands in California to remove a school cell tower, a South Jordan, Utah resident protesting the existence of two towers at the Jordan Ridge Elementary School has prompted a school board member to ask...
Missouri counties’ property ‘expert’ taken over the coals in successful AT&T $1.69 million reduction
Living up to the state’s sobriquet, “Show Me,” senior Missouri State Tax Commission (STC) hearing officer Amy S. Westermann asked the counsel for five county property assessors – Caldwell, Daviess, Harrison, Henry and Mercer – to identify how they...
Sprint may have shot itself in the foot by removing a cell site for PR purposes
Bowing to community pressure, Sprint turned off a cell site at the Weston Elementary School in Ripon Calif. last week after community activists demanded its removal after four students were diagnosed with cancer over the past few years. Although...
Industrious Alabama thieves: Why take the copper when you can scrap the entire tower
For 15 years Wireless Estimator has covered tower compound thefts and the most common items taken are copper and cell site batteries; on occasion, a generator or air conditioner makes the list. However, in the annals of bizarre telecom thievery,...
SBA breaks the prized $200 mark and Crown to break ground for a 13-story 420K square-foot headquarters
SBA Communications (SBA) made another record high today with its stock closing at $201.49, the first towerco of the big three ever to break the prized $200 plateau. The day’s range was from $199.87 to a record high of $201.99....
Ugly cell sites can be rejected leads 20 Fast-Forward Friday news stories
Article Media San Francision can reject 5G equipment it views as too ugly Bloomberg SC school district’s cell phone tower program draws scrutiny FITSNews WIA’s Adelstein: 5G deployment faces a skills gap RCR Wireless News How a Trump admin...
Bowing to PR pressure, Sprint turns off a cell site that passed RF tests three times
UPDATE – April 5, 2019 – Lawyers at the Cochran Law Firm said yesterday they’re investigating a link between cancer-causing chemicals used at the former Nestle decaffeination plant near the Ripon school site, and the high rate of cancer in the area,...
First ‘brick’ has provided workers with an enjoyable 46 years of infrastructure builds. Thanks, Marty!
Forty-six years ago today on April 3, 1973, Marty Cooper changed the course of history when he made the first call from a handheld, portable phone in midtown Manhattan. With the transformative impact of smartphones being felt by industries...
U.S. tied with China in global 5G race, new report finds
The U.S. is tied for first with China in global 5G readiness, according to a new report from global telecommunications research firm Analysys Mason. Making an influx of spectrum available to America’s wireless industry over the next five years...
Canada’s CDPQ jumps into telecom with a 30% stake in Vertical Bridge
In their first foray into telecom, $310 billion institutional investor Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), one of Canada’s biggest retirement fund managers, has announced it has reached an agreement to acquire a thirty percent stake in the main operating...
With prank videos and articles, industry was also ‘GraviHook’ed on April 1
If April 1 isn’t your spouse’s or a loved one’s birthday or other special date, the day sneaks up on you along with a number of April Fools’ Day articles and videos, oftentimes catching you off guard as Wireless...
Huawei CFO’s release requires her to show how she swapped out cell site circuit boards
Tina Glandian, the attorney for ‘Empire’ actor Jussie Smollett, shocked the nation this morning when she announced that she has brokered a deal with the U.S. Department of Justice to have all financial fraud charges against Huawei Technologies CFO...
FCC to unveil breakthrough technology to replace billion-dollar spectrum bids
The nation’s media was quick to note last week that FCC Commissioners, normally incessantly microblogging their Twitter followers with FCC information and what they believe are cultural consciousness must-reads on every imaginable subject, haven’t tweeted once since last Tuesday. An exclusive...
PiRod’s founder Myron Noble leaves us, but memories of his kindness will last forever
Do you know what the death rate in Indiana is? One per person. In most quarters that would be considered an irreverent way to begin an article about someone’s passing, but for those who had the privilege of knowing tower manufacturer...
A safer more professional industry mourns the passing of NATE founder Bill Carlson
William (Bill) Carlson, President and CEO of Tower Systems, Inc., and heralded as the founding father of the National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE), passed away peacefully at home on Mon., March 25, 2019, leaving a legacy of friendship,...
Services set for New Jersey tower tech who died after falling from Georgia monopole
UPDATE: March 27, 2019 – Services have been set for Devon James Collins who passed away on March 21, 2019 in an industry accident. He attended Pinelands Regional H.S., and graduated from Oakcrest H.S. in Mays Landing, NJ. Devon not...
Widening student cancer concerns appear to be based upon inaccurate cell site RF test results
When a fourth child was diagnosed with cancer at a San Joaquin County, Calif. elementary school earlier this year, parents championed the need to have a Sprint cell tower removed from the Weston Elementary school campus since it could...
Texas tower designed for 90 mph wind speed toppled in a 54 mph gust
High winds early this morning caused the collapse of 300-foot self-supporting tower in northwest Abilene, Tex. Owned by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), the structure is located at the Abilene District office at 45250 North Clack St. Crews...
American Tower’s stock goes through the ceiling as Crown Castle and SBA reach record highs
American Tower Corp. (AMT) reached record high trades this morning of $187.80, shrugging off analyst Jim Cramer’s March 4 bearish outlook on the stock when it was $178.57. On March 11, ATC rewarded investors by hiking its dividend to...
Rescue crews still searching for victims following 23 tornado deaths
Rescue crews are still searching this morning for victims underneath smashed homes, trees and other debris caused by a tornado that ripped through Alabama Sunday afternoon, overwhelming the Lee County coroner’s office. Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones says crews...
Blue sky wireless workforce shortage projections aren’t grounded with reliable data
No stranger to manlifts, climbing cell sites, and even ascending a 2,000-foot tower, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr joined a Vinculums crew on Wednesday to troubleshoot a cell site along a highway outside of San Jose, Calif. According to Carr,...
FAA obstruction lighting letter sheds light on requirement for sole source replacement parts
UPDATE February 25, 2019 — An ambiguous July 27, 2018 FAA letter from Khalil E. Kodsi, Manager, Airport Engineering Division, that could be construed to imply that tower obstruction lighting systems could only use original equipment manufacturer (OEM) replacement...
3,511 broadcast stations added in the past decade as AM continues its decline
According to the FCC’s most current broadcast stations statistics, the nation saw an addition of 3,511 broadcast stations added to its ranks during the past 10 years, with the total number of commercially licensed UHF stations seeing a gain...
Two deals add 1,100 towers to Phoenix Tower International’s portfolio
Boca Raton, Fla.-based Phoenix Tower International (PTI) announced that it has reached an agreement with Uniti Group to acquire the ownership rights relating to over 500 wireless communication tower sites located across Mexico, Colombia and Nicaragua. Terms of the...
Former broadband advisory head and Quintillion CEO, pleads guilty to bilking investors of $250 million
Elizabeth Ann Pierce, the former CEO of telecommunications company Quintillion based in Anchorage, Alaska, and FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s pick to head the FCC’s Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee, pled guilty Monday in Manhattan federal court to wire fraud and...
ExteNet sues Crown and NY DOT over shot clock violation, wants Crown’s contract revoked
In a be careful what you wish for reality incident, a subsidiary of Crown Castle is being sued for violating an FCC’s shot clock deadline as set forth by Congress in the Telecommunications Act of 1996, an action that...
FCC admits to and fixes ASR flaw that allowed 40-plus illegal tower ownership changes
The FCC will enact a new procedure for reporting tower ownership changes in their Antenna Structure Registration System (ASR) on Feb. 14, 2019 to reduce the risk of unauthorized changes being made. The new process was propelled after the FCC...
FCC Chief champions the need for the industry to build out 5G, complete repack
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai gave a keynote speech yesterday afternoon to a packed room of attendees at the National Association of Tower Erectors annual convention, NATE UNITE 2019 in Grapevine, Tex. The Chairman’s remarks were: It’s great to be with...
Contractor survey uncovers some startling financial statistics that could trigger a 5G train wreck
In their drive to lower capex as they roll out 5G, carriers have created a troubling national Achille’s heel – a contractor base that has many companies swimming in debt with serious cash flow problems, according to results of an extensive...
Comments on contractor roadblocks set up by carriers that will derail America’s 5G race
Deeply concerned about the unsustainable state of wireless contracting, company executives provided 328 optional comments in Wireless Estimator’s extensive survey that was unveiled today. Armed with anonymity, it’s not possible to verify the accuracy of their statements. But it’s...
Carriers either ignore or are unaware of contractors’ higher than average truck roll expenses
Wireless contractors can’t be profitable with the hourly rates set by carriers and turfing contractors in many markets or the rates that they have to use to successfully win a bid, according to company executives who registered their concerns...
Services set for Feb. 2, 2019 for American Tower founder Steven Dodge
UPDATE: January 28, 2019 – Services have been announced for American Tower founder Steven Dodge who passed away Jan. 17, 2019 following a bicycle accident. Dodge is survived by wife of 44 years Anne Dodge (Bonita Springs, FL), sons...
Night climbing requirements could be “putting profits ahead of tower technicians’ lives”
“It’s obvious, carriers are simply putting profits ahead of tower technicians’ lives,” said a Texas-based contractor’s safety manager last week, deploring requirements by some carriers to perform maintenance work during nighttime hours to keep subscriber service interruptions at a minimum. He...
Tower technician dies during a South Dakota nighttime climb
UPDATE: January 18, 2019 – According to two individuals that are familiar with Andrew Psomas’ fall from a tower on Jan. 10 that took his life, the three-man tower crew he was assigned to was performing tiger team warranty...
‘Disruptive’ Vertical Bridge celebrates tremendous growth with 266,000 sites in just four years
Vertical Bridge Holdings, LLC, the largest private owner and operator of communications infrastructure in the United States, today announced that it has grown its portfolio to 266,000 owned, master-leased and right-to-master sites. The company, which is entering its fifth...
FCC given green light to start enforcing its new small cell regs on Monday
At the eleventh hour, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit yesterday denied a motion to stay the enforcement of the FCC’s September 27, 2018 Declaratory Ruling and Third Report and Order led by FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr. The new...
Broadband provider is suing the DOJ and FCC for foreclosure action from prison and wants $50+ million for slander
The FCC on Thursday reaffirmed its earlier decision that Hawaii-based Sandwich Isles Communications (SIC) knowingly defrauded the Universal Service Fund (USF) of more than $27 million for reimbursements it was not entitled to receive. In its order for reconsideration,...
Exclusive interview with FCC Commissioner Carr addresses industry issues and our 5G future
Wireless Estimator Publisher Craig Lekutis and National Association of Tower Erectors Executive Director Todd Schlekeway recently conducted an exclusive interview with FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr in late December. In this extensive feature article, Commissioner Carr discusses the FCC’s role in paving...
Valmont acquires industry-leading provider of concealment solutions, Larson Camouflage
Valmont Industries, Inc., a leading global provider of engineered products and services for infrastructure development and irrigation equipment and services for agriculture, today announced that it has acquired the operational assets of Larson Camouflage, the industry-leading provider of architectural and camouflage...
MTA skirts zoning rules, but after Tarrytown dressing down removes its 150-foot monopole
A 150-foot monopole erected in September in Tarrytown, N.Y. enjoyed a scenic view of the eastern bank of the Hudson River, but was retired the weekend before Christmas to a flatbed truck in search of a new home. The...
T-Mobile says they didn’t lie about their 4G LTE coverage, and possibly underestimated it
T-Mobile has emphatically denied an allegation by the Rural Wireless Association (RWA) in an FCC filing on Dec. 10, 2018 that it lied about the extent of its 4G LTE coverage. RWA said they were concerned about overstated coverage...
AT&T issues its annual colo-pricing storm warning to the nation’s tower owners
In 2016, Bill Hogg, AT&T’s president of technology operations, made the clarion call to towercos that they must lower their lease rates because their model is “not really sustainable”. Last November, Susan Johnson, SVP of Global Supply Chain, AT&T...
SPX acquires Carmanah’s marine and obstruction lighting businesses for $77 million
SPX Corporation, the parent company of Flash Technology, a leading manufacturer of obstruction lighting with their corporate office in Franklin, Tenn., announced Wednesday that it has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase the marine and obstruction lighting business...
FCC Commissioner Carr and enforcement chief Starks’ limbo status could be decided within days
UPDATE: December 14, 2018 – U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) has put a hold on FCC nominee Brendan Carr’s confirmation to a five-year term. Last week, the FCC announced that they were indefinitely pausing the release of $4.5 billion...
Bush 41 hit a communications tower and ‘hit the silk’, helping to save other lives during WWll
As the nation pays tribute to the 2,335 non-combatant servicemen killed during the Pearl Harbor attack 77 years ago today, it continues to grieve over the death of former President George H.W. Bush who was buried yesterday in Texas...
Towerco stocks on a roller coaster as Canada arrests Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou for extradiction to U.S.
News of the arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou in Canada sent the Dow plummeting as much as 785 points today before the index staged a huge comeback and was just down 78 points at closing. However, some analysts believe...
FirstNet hits one-third completion mark, AT&T’s network capacity to grow by 50% in 2019
According to AT&T CEO Randolph Stephenson at a UBS Communications Conference yesterday, the carrier is six months ahead of its contracted FirstNet deployment schedule, and the public-safety initiative will result in increasing the capacity of its network by 50%...
Mayor and FCC commish could be rumbling if Ninth Circuit gets broadband rule petition
The City of San Jose, Calif. joined by cities and municipalities within the state as well as in Washington state, Nevada, Oregon and Arizona, have filed a petition in the Tenth Circuit to move their petition to review court...
A dozen tall towers come with Nexstar Media’s acquisition of Tribune Media for $6.4 billion
Nexstar Media Group, Inc. and Tribune Media Company announced today that they have entered into a merger agreement whereby Nexstar will acquire all outstanding shares of Tribune Media for $46.50 per share in a cash transaction that is...
CTI Towers’ employees give generously to support tower workers in need
The Tower Family Foundation was the recipient today of a $13,000 donation raised by the employees of CTI Towers. October was designated as “Charity Month” at CTI, where employees were able to donate personal funds to the Cary, N.C....
Shocking tower collapse video shows an erector just two seconds away from death
Missouri State University (MSU) has released surveillance videos of the horrific 1,891-foot-tall guyed tower collapse that occurred in Fordland, Mo. on April 19, 2018 that killed a 56-year-old owner of a Washington state tall tower erection company. OSHA’s report,...
Contractor and consultant share blame in deadly 1,891-foot tower collapse: OSHA
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued a report detailing that an April 2018 tower collapse that killed Steve Lemay, 56, resulted due to design and construction failings by the managing consultant, Tower Consultants, Inc. (TCI) and...
Fewer contractors entering wireless construction as requirements increase and profits head south
A Wireless Estimator survey recently completed by 263 wireless infrastructure contractors has provided a wealth of information regarding carrier payment terms and other industry concerns that will be detailed in additional reports next month. However, the first evident troubling...
T-Mobile asking for ruling as to the legality of an additional insured certificate
In a Nov. 9, 2018 filing, the Ninth Circuit has asked Washington state’s Supreme Court to consider whether an insurer must cover a carrier’s costs in a lawsuit alleging its subcontractor’s rooftop antenna installation caused damage to an apartment...
Allan Tantillo joins Vertical Bridge as VP of New Technologies
Vertical Bridge Holdings, LLC, the largest private owner and operator of communications infrastructure in the United States, announced that Allan Tantillo has joined the company as Vice President of New Technologies. In his new role, Tantillo will focus on...
T-Mobile/Sprint merger would cause substantial harm to nation’s workforce: CWA
The Communications Workers of America (CWA) has again reached out to the FCC, blasting the proposed $26 billion acquisition of Sprint by T-Mobile, alleging that the carriers’ claims that the merger would provide “robust competition to the 5G era”...
Tata exits 30,000 American Tower leases for a payment of $320 million
Tata Teleservices is settling with American Tower for $320 million following its early exit from 30,000 tower leases in India after it sold its mobility business to Bharti Airtel. The sale paves the way for the Tata group to close its...
Fed’s findings could stymie new OSHA tower rule and lead to adoption of A10.48 Standard
An extensive 266-page report from The Small Business Advocacy Review Panel (SBAR) regarding a possible new OSHA standard that would apply to all work activities performed on cell, broadcast and all other communications towers was released this week with...
Carriers’ fuzzy Hurricane Michael outage math doesn’t add up
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai last week chided carriers for their slow progress in restoring wireless service in areas close to where Hurricane Michael made landfall. He called it “completely unacceptable.” Yesterday, he complimented broadcasters for their stellar job. “Another...
Hurricane Michael mauls cell service in three states after cutting through Georgia
When Hurricane Florence slammed into North Carolina on Sept. 17, it kayoed 718 cell sites, according to the FCC’s Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) which listed the counties that could suffer service interruption in four states. Hurricane Michael, the...
Whether Dish Network builds 50,000 towers or collocates, contractors will benefit
Although media headlines state that Dish Network is considering building 50,000 towers throughout the nation at a cost of $10 billion to launch a new 5G network, it’s doubtful that they will, but collocations are a strong possibility for...
Industry’s first-ever influential contractor survey’s deadline is October 10
Make your company’s concerns count As wireless contractors are acutely aware, contractor firms in the industry have experienced trends that have seen payment terms go from 30 days to 60 days, and now are settling in at 90 to...
Repack cuts commercial UHF broadcast stations to below 1,000
According to newly released statistics by the FCC, the nation saw an addition of 110 broadcast stations added to its ranks during the third quarter, with the total number of commercially licensed UHF stations dipping below 1,000. In addition, there are fewer AM...
Thanks to nation’s unsung tower techs, Florence’s NC cell site outages are down 77%
When Hurricane Florence’s full tally of cell site outages was identified in North Carolina on Sept. 15, tower crew restoration companies had already been servicing many of them, and the 1,063 outages were reduced dramatically to 787 the following...
Carriers’ post-hurricane snow job promos beginning to flood the media
Carriers are trying to outdo each other in presenting how well their network faired following Hurricane Florence’s slow destructive dance across the Carolinas. Now a tropical depression, Florence is still a life-threatening storm as widespread flooding continues to destroy homes...
Cell site outages aren’t always aligned with commercial power outages
Assessing the correlation between commercial power outages and the ability for cell sites to keep operating with a backup power supply will be a work in progress for months to come as carriers and FCC analysts review data obtained through...
Puech picked to succeed Hess in American Tower executive leadership change
American Tower Corp. today announced changes to its senior management team. William H. Hess intends to step down from his position as Executive Vice President, International Operations and President, Latin America and EMEA, effective October 1, 2018. Olivier Puech,...
Hurricane Florence’s ‘ground zero’ cell tower starts to be battered by storm’s outer rain bands
There was no collective sigh of relief from wireless infrastructure technicians and management as Hurricane Florence was downgraded from a Category 4 to a Category 2 storm early this morning. Instead, news that the storm has widened and may...
Infrared LED obstruction lighting is not required: FAA Obstruction Evaluation Manager
An ambiguous recent change to the FAA’s Obstruction Marking and Lighting bible left some obstruction lighting managers with the impression that the Advisory Circular (AC) now requires towers with a new FAA determination to include infrared (IR) LEDs in...