The transition of control of cell sites from wireless carriers to independent tower companies is accelerating, and build-to-suit companies increasingly are getting the call from carriers to handle the buildout of their networks.Most industry watchers agree the transition is good for carriers and tower...
The Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions launched its enhanced Web site and home page-www.atis.org-designed to serve as a centralized location for daily updates on the work of ATIS-sponsored committees and forums. The site features daily updates of activities, a New ATIS Member Services section,...
MCLEAN, Va.-SpectraSite Communications Inc. and Nextel Communications Inc. announced an agreement under which SpectraSite will purchase 2,000 Nextel towers and build 1,700 more for $560 million in cash. Nextel, for its part, negotiated an 18-percent ownership interest in SpectraSite.SpectraSite said it intends to build...
NEW YORK-The New York Wireless Carriers Coalition is hoping for passage this spring of a bill that some group members believe would be the first in the country to set uniform statewide tower-siting requirements for local governments to follow and implement.The proposed legislation's primary...
After watching the company their parents founded 40 years ago begin to fall apart, Roy Moore and his two brothers decided earlier this month it was time to take the reins.The Moore's sold FWT to Baker Capital Corp. in 1997 for $145 million, following...
With tower companies and carriers facing difficulties getting permission to build sites at local zoning boards and collocation increasingly becoming a favored business model, CoLocation Technologies Inc. is marketing a solution designed to facilitate collocation.Based in Atlanta, CoLocation Technologies was formed initially to market...
PITTSBURGH, Pa.-Crown Communications said it won a contract to provide build-to-suit services in Texas for Western Wireless Corp., increasing Crown's domestic tower portfolio by about 50 towers.Crown Communications is the domestic operating subsidiary of Crown Castle International Corp.
Call Oliver Stone. The military-industrial complex is alive and well!Seems telecom execs want to be right in the thick of things at the 50th anniversary celebration of NATO, April 23-25, here.The cost of admission: a cool $250,000. That, according to a Washington Post report, is...
Pinnacle Towers Inc. acquired four towers in North Carolina and Texas in two transactions.AirNet Communications Corp. said it is supplying additional infrastructure equipment, including base transceiver stations and a base station controller, to AirLink PCS, enabling AirLink to expand its mobile wireless network in...
Bell Atlantic Mobile announced a new flat-rate price plan for wireless Internet access based on its AirBridge Internet Access service. For $25 a month, customers receive unlimited e-mail access and full Internet access for $40 a month. Novatel Wireless Inc. announced a new smaller,...
More than two years after it first filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, MobileMedia Communications Inc. now has two reorganization plans before it to settle its debts-merge with Arch Communications Group Inc. or TSR Wireless L.L.C.MobileMedia has not voiced support for either plan, leaving...
While many of their counterparts in the high-flying build-to-suit industry are prospering, tower manufacturers are finding the road ahead may be a difficult one. Likewise, recent siting decisions do not bode well for carriers trying to build their networks.Late last month, Rohn Industries Inc....
WASHINGTON-Radio licensees beware: In 18 days, on May 1,if you file an application for a radio-frequency license with the Federal Communications Commission and there is an error or omission, the application will be dismissed instead of returned as was past practice.Once an application has been...
HOUSTON-Crown Castle International Corp. and Bell Atlantic Mobile have closed a $660 million transaction involving a five-year exclusive build-to-suit program, the construction of 1,460 wireless towers and the establishment of Crown Atlantic Holding Co. L.L.C., a joint venture formed to own and operate the...
Dynamic Mobile Data SystemsDynamic Mobile Data Systems Inc. announced its Mobile Server product is commercially available. Mobile Server is a set of wireless drivers and controls for Microsoft NT servers and wireless devices that the company said extends beyond-firewall corporate data and applications to...
Sprint PCSSprint PCS named Steve Geldmacher president of its new north central region. Prior to this position, Geldmacher was area vice president for north Texas and Oklahoma. He joined Sprint PCS as the company's first area vice president in 1996, having just served as...
Cellular towers ruining AmericaTo the Editor: I have two comments regarding your antenna-siting article. (Antenna siting is hot topic for NACo Crowd, March 8.)First, it is my understanding that all calls from cellular phones travel along landline phone wires to the next cell site.Second, having...
In the last two weeks alone, Crown Castle International Corp. has more than doubled its tower portfolio in the United States and United Kingdom, securing a top position for itself among independent tower companies.The most recent transactions with Powertel Inc. and the U.K.'s One...
WASHINGTON-Rep. Charles Bass (R-N.H.), in the latest effort to strengthen state and local oversight of antenna siting, has introduced legislation to shift the burden to wireless carriers to ensure transmission towers meet with approval of local residents.The Local Zoning Preservation Act of 1999, introduced...
ISLETA PUEBLO, N.M.-After determining traditional telephone landlines would be too expensive, Excel Communications Corp. and Solectek Corp. suggested the Native American community of Isleta, N.M, use a wireless solution to connect the 15 business offices on the pueblo, said the companies.Two 100-foot towers will...
SARASOTA, Fla.-Pinnacle Towers Inc. said it purchased 85 wireless towers located in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky and Tennessee, in a series of five transactions. These towers add to the more than 900 towers Pinnacle already owns in the southeastern United States.
Resistance to unsightly towers has prompted many wireless carriers to site their antennas on existing structures such as buildings and water towers to reduce the visual impact of their equipment.That solution may soothe tensions at local zoning commissions, but it also may be creating...
WASHINGTON-Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and James Jeffords (R-Vt.), reacting to persistent complaints that federal law inadequately addresses the impact of antenna proliferation on property values, aesthetics and health, plan to reintroduce legislation by month's end that would repeal limited federal pre-emption in the telecom...
