Welcome to this week’s edition of cell tower industry news, created by Jarad Matula and brought to you by Towercrews.net.
Climber Dies in Texas
Once again tragedy has struck in the tower industry this week. In San Angelo, Texas, a man who was working on a neighborhood tower fell to his death. The fall was due to an issue with his safety equipment. According to an officer making an official statement on the tragedy, “what they found was that when he was working on the tower making some adjustments to his safety equipment there was some type of issue…and at that point he fell.” The man was working on a 140 foot tower on behalf of Microwave Transmission Systems (MTSI), which had been subcontracted by Goodman Networks. Goodman Networks is a contractor for AT&T, whose service was on the tower.
Goodman Networks’ VP of Communications issued the following statement shortly after the tragegy: “The company has just been informed of a fatality involving one of our subcontractors Microwave Transmission Systems (MTSI). We extend our deepest condolences to the family. We are conducting an investigation and are fully cooperating with local, state and federal authorities.”
On behalf of those of us here at RCR Wireless News and Towercrews.net, we too extend our condolences and prayers to the friends and family of the fallen climber in Texas. In his honor this week, everybody check and double-check every piece of your safety equipment to make sure it is fully functional. If it isn’t notify your supervisor and company before doing any climbing. Your safety is far more important than someone having full bars on their phone.
$1B bet on Brazil
American Towers has just made a serious investment in the future of Brazil. The company already had 7,200 towers in the country, but will now add an additional 4,600 towers to this number. The company is buying BR Towers S.A. for just under $1 billion. That values each tower at roughly $210,000. For some interesting charts related to tower transactions in Brazil, as well as a video interview RCR recently conducted with Olivier Puech, CEO of Latin America for American Tower, click here.
For a look at some of the newest antennas and access points that focus on large venues, click here.
Regional & Local Cell Tower News
- Ansonia, CT inks $1.45M deal for 40-year cell tower lease
- Residents question need for proposed new cell tower in Shelton, CT
- Ventura County, CA moving to enact cell tower law
- Planning commission in San Marcos, CA will look at proposed cell tower ordinance
- Baxter, MN approves cell tower construction
- Change in Verizon cell tower plans peeves Milan, NY officials
- Copper wire, pipes stolen from Plainsboro, NJ cell tower, cops say
- Reston, VA DRB nixes cell tower for Hunters Woods Park
- Cell tower rises at For Smith Park in Fort Smith, AR
- Planned cell tower in O’Fallon, IL casts shadow
- Dover-Sherborn, MA regional school committee say cell tower plans begin to click
- Concord, MO residents come out in full force to oppose cell tower
