August 22, 2008 - Continuing education about the dangers and the resulting deaths caused by free climbing is believed to have reduced the high fatality rate of workers falling from an elevated structure, but there are many climbers nationwide that continue to recklessly ignore adhering to 100% fall protection requirements.

In an effort to reduce free climbing, stem fatalities and ensure that tower workers maintain 100% tie off, field personnel of some of the major tower owners are taking a proactive role in ensuring that violators are identified.

A number of them have photographed or videoed free climbing activities on their competitors’ structures and have contacted the owner of the tower to alert them to the crew members’ careless disregard for safety, requesting that they too be accorded the same courtesy if free climbing is observed on any of their structures.

One tower owner company is taking their employees’ documentation of a violation on another company’s site to decide whether they will allow continuance of the  contractor’s work on their towers.

Individual tower workers and employees of management companies are also becoming vigilant in letting companies know of violations on their sites.

“Ideally, the thing to do is to contact OSHA, but the chances of them showing up on time are slim,” said one Milwaukee project manager. “But the alternative is to get those companies kicked off approved vendors’ lists and put the word out about the company or at least the individuals,” he said.

An OSHA official informed WirelessEstimator.com last month that inspections on wireless construction job sites are not at the level that they would like to see and “it is unlikely that you will ever see a crackdown targeting the tower construction industry. We just don’t have the resources,” he said.

Tower Climbers Hall of Shame candidates were captured last week on a video taken in South Carolina . A site supervisor noticed the free climbing and filmed it a thousand feet away through his rear view mirror. The owner of the tower, one of the two largest companies in the industry, has been notified of the incident.

A photograph was taken  in upstate New York earlier this month by a retired tower technician who said that he is still concerned about the number of people that do not tie off. He said that the two men on the tower noticed that he was photographing them, but they continued to free climb on the carrier-owned site.

A safety director for one of the nation’s largest tower consolidators said that he believes that it might be advantageous to the industry if the major tower owners would get together to specifically identify companies that have had numerous violations. However, he said that he wasn’t aware of what the legal considerations might be and preferred not to comment.

If you have any Tower Climbers Hall of Shame candidates, send them to info@wirelessestimator.com , but more importantly, let the tower owner know about the serious safety infractions that you observed

Georgia Towers, LLC is seeking applicants for the following positions:

    *Field Operations Tech/Mgr
    *Site Acquisition Agents
    *Project Managers

Please submit your resume to careers@gatowers.com for consideration.

Crown Castle has worked with Georgia Towers now for the last year in the Virginia and Maryland markets as turn-key contractors.  they perform services from site acquisition through construction.  As the National Site Development Manager for the Northeast, it has been a pleasure working with this group.  Their level of customer service and expertise has been exceptional.  Their local market groups are highly experienced and diligent.  Crown has undertaken an enormous project with one of our clients consisting of over 55 build to suit tower sites and growing.  The success and growth of this project has been directly attributed to th knowledgeable experienced staff that Georgia Towers assembled.  The client has been so pleased with the work performed, that they have chosen to continue to assign more projects to Crown toward their 2008 build plan.

The Georgia Tower group has interfaced seamlessly with, our client’s processes and procedures as well as Crown’s; this is no simple task considering the complexity of both our organizations.  They continue to grow their staff to meet our changing needs with highly qualified local market personnel and continue to out perform similar organizations that have been working in the markets for years.

Because of their superior performance Crown has given them exclusive rights to operate in these markets as our agents.  They represent Crown as though they were long time Crown employees, with Crown’s best interest in mind at all times.  Their diligence and work ethic is second to none, I could not have done a better job myself.

I would highly recommend Georgia towers to any client in need of a turn-key contractor for all related services to the wireless industry.  I have worked exclusively in the wireless industry now for over 20 years and it is rare that I have found a contractor that I would personally recommend to anyone with this much confidence.

Bill Gorgone
Crown Castle International
National Site Development Manager/Northeast
New Castle, DE Office
Phone (302) 419-2072

By Mike Dano
Source: RCR Wireless News

Hours after media reports indicated a deal was close, Verizon Wireless announced an agreement to acquire Alltel Communications L.L.C.for $5.9 billion in cash and assume $22.2 billion in debt, for a total package price of $28.1 billion. If approved, the deal would create the nation’s largest carrier with more than 80 million customers.

Verizon Wireless said it expects to immediately save $9 billion through the deal thanks to “reduced capital and operating expense savings.” The carrier said it would save around $1 billion in “incremental cost savings” in the second year after the agreement closes.

Many in the industry have long expected such a transaction. Both Verizon Wireless and Alltel operate CDMA networks, and both recently announced plans to upgrade their networks to Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology, a 4G standard that promises faster data connections.

Further, Alltel and Verizon Wireless both use Qualcomm Inc.’s BREW application download service.

For Verizon Wireless, the agreement would give the carrier a significantly larger customer base as well as a broader network reach. Alltel serves more than 13 million customers in markets in 34 states, which includes 57 primarily rural markets that Verizon Wireless does not serve.

For Alltel, the deal serves to erase the pressure of competing with nationwide carriers in a market that is becoming fiercely competitive on price, technology, handsets and marketing.

And the deal, if approved, has wide-ranging implications for the national and international wireless community. A combined Verizon Wireless-Alltel would offer major new opportunities for handset and network vendors, and would create an even larger player that has so far made it a point to be at the forefront of technology and policy issues.

But Verizon Wireless’ competitors will likely take the brunt of the carrier’s new deal. AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile USA Inc. and Sprint Nextel Corp., along with a range of smaller players, will have to position themselves for a carrier that is already highly successful, and may become more so. Alltel also serves as a primary roaming partner with major operators as it operates both CDMA and GSM networks in rural markets not typically served by the nationwide operators.

But Verizon Wireless could face significant challenges in attempting to finalize its acquisition of Alltel. Federal authorities are sure to carefully consider antitrust concerns. For instance, Alltel was forced to divest some properties in southern Minnesota following its acquisition of Western Wireless Corp. in 2006. Those markets were eventually acquired by Rural Cellular Corp., which Verizon Wireless is now in the process of acquiring.

If the deal is consummated it would cap an eventful year for Verizon Wireless. The carrier inked a $2.67 billion deal to acquire Rural Cellular (although the deal has not yet been approved), it earlier this year paid $9.4 billion for 700 MHz spectrum in the Federal Communications Commission’s auction, and announced plans to both open its network to devices and applications from other suppliers as well as upgrade its network to Long Term Evolution technology.

Interestingly, Verizon Wireless’ purchase of Alltel has precedent, both good and bad. AT&T Corp. purchased Cingular Wireless L.L.C. for $41 billion, a deal that many have hailed as successful, while Sprint Corp. acquired Nextel Communications Inc. for $35 billion, an expense the carrier recently had to write off as largely a failure.

Verizon Wireless’ stock was up more than 5% on the news to around $39 per share.