Welcome to this week’s edition of cell tower industry news, brought to you by Towercrews.net.
Help a fallen climber
We lead this week’s cell tower news with a plea to help a climber in need. Tommy Jeglum fell 50 feet from a tower last June and managed to survive. However, the road to recovering has been incredibly difficult – Jeglum has “DAI severe traumatic brain injury,” which only 10% of people wake out of a coma from. Thankfully, Jeglum is now awake. However, the financial cost of his recovery has become incredibly difficult for the family. Those that care about him have started a fundraiser in his family’s honor, asking for any donation, large or small, to help with medical costs. There’s only four days left, so please visit the page and help this brave climber and his family.
–In other news, the town of Manchester, N.H., lost out on a whopping $1.5 million dollars in revenue from AT&T by refusing to build a cell tower in a wooded lot in town. Now here’s the real painful part of this deal falling through: a U.S. District Court Judge ruled that they ultimately had no say in the building of a tower, and now the tower will be built anyway in a different location in town, without any money going to the city. There’s talk of an appeal, but the outcome remains to be seen. Sometimes obstinance can turn around and bite you.
–There’s been a lot of talk about spectrum lately. It seems this rush for spectrum will have an impact on the tower industry, with Business Standard reporting that tenancy on towers will rise by 20% over the next three quarters and around 10,000 new towers are likely to spring up across the United States over the next year. If ever there was a good time to be in the tower business, this is it.
–Speaking of things looking up for the tower industry, placing towers in Missouri just got easier. Lawmakers gave the final approval on a new bill that adds 19 new restrictions to cities and counties’ ability to impose cell tower restrictions. Translation: if you’re a company looking to put a new cell tower up in Missouri, you’re going to have a lot less red tape to deal with.
–“Stealth towers” have been popping up all over the Saratoga Springs, N.Y., area. Most look like trees and are designed to blend in with the surroundings with residents hardly noticing them. The idea of disguising towers as trees is not a new concept, it’s just surprising that so few companies/cities that protest the erection of new towers don’t consider the possibility. The stealth towers are being used by T-Mobile US and Verizon Wireless.
Regional/Local Tower News
- Stony Brook University has better Verizon Wireless service thanks to a new distribute antenna system.
- A contractor was told to “stop work” on a new cell tower in Kittanning, Pa.
- Residents in Wallingford, Conn., will get a new cell tower hidden inside a silo.
- In San Marcos, Calif., city officials are hoping to curb “cell-tower angst” with shorter cell tower clusters.
- McPherson, Kan., hears proposal for antennae to boost cell service.
