Investor Marc Ganzi has completed his company's purchase of ExteNet Systems, raising more than $1.4 billion in debt and equity. That amount represents the price paid for ExteNet as well as "dry powder" to invest in ExteNet's business and in future acquisitions.
"We plan to...
1. Ericsson is teaming up with Cisco in a move that should make it a stronger competitor to Huawei and to the combined Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent. The partners said the deal will yield $1 billion in incremental revenue for each company by 2018. Ericsson...
The Federal Reserve's recent decision to leave interest rates unchanged – for now – is a good one for the wireless tower industry.
A capital-intensive industry, the three major tower companies earn most of their revenue by leasing out space on communications towers they own or control, so there’s...
A man is reportedly in stable condition after falling from a cell tower in Summit Park, West Virginia. Officials with Harrison County EMS say the man suffered a head injury and was airlifted to a local hospital.
This is not the first cell tower related...
Last year, active tower sites in the U.S. declined for the first time ever, according to analysts at SNL Kagan, but the setback is expected to be temporary. The tower business is healthy, but it is also going through some big changes. Three of...
Wireless carriers value suppliers who can offer a full suite of solutions and who have deployment expertise. Companies that supply and deploy wireless infrastructure are responding to this demand by teaming up, hoping to gain market share and create scale that will help them...
Tower companies appear to be outspending carriers
U.S. carriers have been selling their tower portfolios to raise cash for spectrum purchases and deployment, and the move away from infrastructure ownership may extend to small cells and distributed antenna systems as well. Two of the three...
 Auto accident claims climber lives, memorial fund set up
Five tower climbers from Wingate Communications were driving in a pickup truck in Brooksville, Fla., this week when a box truck ran a stop sign, hitting the truck full force. After impact, a large amount of transmission fluid, gear oil...
Crown Castle, American Tower, SBACÂ report Q2 earnings
It's that time of year when the tower industry's largest companies report their earnings for the second quarter of 2015.
First up is Crown Castle. The company's net income increased from $23 million to a staggering $1.1 billion, largely due to the...
In another sign that smartphone sales may be leveling off, Samsung said today that profits for its mobile device unit were down more than 37% versus last year. Samsung's profits have been falling for 5 quarters now, but this report is a clear indication...
SBA Communications recently surprised some investors with news that it will sell its stake in ExteNet Systems, and today the company shed some light on the decision during its second-quarter earnings call. SBA Communications CEO Jeffrey Stoops said that it had doubled its initial...
ExteNet Systems, a builder and operator of DAS and small cell systems, is set to become part of Digital Bridge Holdings, the investment group that owns Vertical Bridge and Mexico Tower Partners. Along with Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners, Digital Bridge is set to buy out...
AT&T is reportedly talking with Telesites to lease Mexico towers
AT&T’s push into Mexico is reportedly set to include a tower agreement with rival America Móvil’s recently spun off Telesites business.
Bloomberg recently reported that the two companies were in talks over a leasing agreement that...
Lawsuits over 2014 tower collapse continue
Two weeks ago RCR Wireless News reported that a lawsuit had been filed by the family of a firefighter who died in an attempted rescue from a 2014 cell tower collapse in West Virginia. This was apparently just the beginning,...
Lawsuit names SBA Communications, others as defendants
In February 2014 a tower in Clarksburg, W.Va., collapsed, killing two tower climbers and injuring others. The stress of the collapse caused stress on guy wires connecting the tower to a nearby tower which also collapsed, killing one firefighter,...
Crown Castle said today that it has agreed to sell its 1,800 Australian towers to a consortium of investors led by Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets. The sale price is roughly $1.6 billion, and Crown Castle expects to net about $1.3 billion since it...
Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure may be getting a lesson in small cells. Claure said goodbye to his wife and newborn baby after Mother's Day to head for Japan, where he has been meeting with Softbank executives to discuss the Sprint network. Here in the...
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – Anyone who thinks a slowdown in carrier spending is threatening the health of the infrastructure industry was not at PCIA's Wireless Infrastructure Show this week. Record attendance at the show, record revenue for PCIA and a sold-out exhibit hall were all...
SBA Communications said today that a solid fourth quarter capped off a strong 2014, and the tower giant expects continued strong carrier spending in the year ahead. The company said that the top four U.S. carriers delivered 75% of its incremental site leasing revenue,...
Boca Raton, Fla.-based SBA Communications (SBAC) announced third fiscal quarter total revenue of $393.3 million, beating the tower company’s estimate of $385.6 million.
That growth was driven by the 2012 purchase of 2,300 tower sites in the United States and Central America, along with acquisition...
FCC, Department of Labor launch TIRAP at workshop
After talking about it for weeks, the Federal Communications Commission (in conjunction with the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration) workshop, titled "Tower Climber Safety and Injury Protection" happened this past week. Many industry...
Americans want mobile broadband, and they want good jobs with potential for growth. The wireless industry can deliver both, but only if adequate training is available for the workforce.
Department of Labor, FCC announce wireless apprenticeship program
Right now, thousands of wireless infrastructure jobs are going...
In the latest editorial feature report from RCR Wireless News, wireless infrastructure providers, tower company executives, industry analysts and recruiters are interviewed about current trends in the North American wireless infrastructure services market.
Wireless operators keep pace with the relentless demand for mobile data by...
ORLANDO, Fla. – Surging mobile data demand means that wireless operators need to add coverage and capacity to their networks, and that often means co-locating a cell site on a tower occupied by one of their competitors.
"Volume and demand for co-locations and new towers...
