Stand-Down for Safety

Last year, OSHA, National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH), and the Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR) joined forces for a national Stand-Down campaign. The campaign focused on preventing construction falls, and nearly 1 million workers participated. This year the campaign has been expanded to two weeks and is set to take place from May 4-15. Even more organizations have joined in the event this year: he American Society of Safety Engineers, National Construction Safety Executives, the U.S. Air Force, the National Safety Council, OSHA-approved state plans, state consultation programs, and OSHA Training Institute Education Centers. Continue reading here. 

nTelos Closes 1st Part of Tower Sale

In January, nTelos announced they would be selling up to 103 towers to Grain Management, a private equity firm focused on investments in the media and communications sector. The first part of the tower sale closed earlier this week with 85 towers sold for $35 million. nTelos has access to reserve capacity on the leased towers for future use, according to the agreement.

Serious Violation Draws Serious Fine

On August 14, 2014, a 49-year-old tower worker fell nine stories to his death while painting a communications tower near Stockton, Illinois. OSHA believes the fatality occurred because the man’s employer, Sherwood Tower Service, did not provide an adequate fall protection system while he was working on the tower. They have cited the company for two willful and one serious safety violation. OSHA has also placed Sherwood Tower in its Severe Violator Enforcement program. OSHA has proposed penalties of $114,800 for the company, based in Terre Haute, Indiana.  Continue reading here. 

America Movil Tower Spinoff by June

Even though summer seems so far away, it will be here before we know it. America Movil’s planned spinoff of cell towers in Mexico into a new company will be up and running by May or June of this year, Reuters reported. “We are very advanced in the tower spinoff process,” Chief Executive Daniel Hajj said in a conference call. The plan will be presented to shareholders in April and hopefully working by May or June of this year, he said. (Reuters) The new company will have 11,000 sites, but Hajj noted he was worried the new company would be considered preponderant in the market and subject to tougher regulations. Continue reading here. 

FCC Imposes $20k Fine Against GCI

The FCC has imposed a penalty of $20,000 against General Communications Inc., a former tower owner of an antenna structure in Fairbanks, Alaska, for failing to monitor and exhibit the required lighting on the structure and not notifying the FAA of the outage. The FCC explained, “GCI does not deny the violations, but requests that we reduce the proposed forfeiture because of its good faith efforts to correct the lighting issues, which we deny given that GCI’s corrective actions were taken after being notified of the light outage by FCC agents. After reviewing GCI’s response to the NAL [Notice of Apparent Liability], we find no reason to cancel, withdraw, or reduce the proposed penalty, and therefore we assess the $20,000 forfeiture the Bureau previously proposed.” On September 12 and 13, 2012, FCC agents observed that the lighting required for aircraft safety was unlit during daytime hours. Continue reading here. 

What’s the Dish?

With Verizon selling off both their wireless and tower assets last week, some investors feel that a deal with Dish Network is off the table. However, Miriam Gottfried of The Wall Street Journal isn’t so sure that’s the case. Verizon announced they would use $5 billion of the after-tax proceeds from the sale to buy back shares, and devote the rest, about $6.8 billion, to pay off the debt related to its spectrum purchases in the AWS-3 auction. “To further bolster its competitive position in that business, the carrier likely still needs to buy more spectrum to bring its capacity per subscriber in line with rivals. And Dish controls one of the largest unused blocks,” Gottfried wrote. Continue reading here. 

Cell Tower Controversy Moves to Court

American Tower is suing the town of Lowell, North Carolina, after the city denied a permit for a 160-foot tower. American Tower claims that the city had no legitimate reason to deny the permit, so they are asking the court to overturn the town’s decision. The tower would be placed in a residential neighborhood, and was one of new four towers planned for the city. Lowell Mayor Larry Simonds was a vocal opponent of the tower and feels it would be an eyesore and decrease the property values of nearby homes. The tower was denied on October 17, and American Tower filed the lawsuit on November 14 stating there wasn’t substantial evidence to deny the tower.