Wireless West Conference Wraps With Coverage on Towers and Safety Training

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The Wireless West 2021 Conference finished off its two-day event on Wednesday with discussions centering on the tower industry and tower safety training. The conference was created by four wireless associations spanning the west coast, the California Wireless Association, Arizona Wireless Association, Nevada Wireless Association and Colorado Wireless Association. To view the full sessions in their entirety, click here.

Tuesday’s session covered the topics: “Training for Tomorrow’s Technology Today” and Section 106 (SHPO and Tribal) Consultation. 

The “Tower Hour” on Wednesday was led by moderator Clayton Funk, Managing Director of Houlihan Lokey along with panelists Alda Licis, VP of Infrastructure Development for Tilson, Paul Reddick, VP of Strategy Business and Product Development for Crown Castle and Matt Newton, CEO of Everest Infrastructure Partners. 

“We hope this is the last virtual conference we’re attending for Wireless West,” Funk said, leading off the discussion to roughly 600 viewers. He then segued into asking his panelists for their reflections on surviving the past year and observations for 2021.

Reddick said one of the things that became clear over the past year was the need for everyone to have good broadband services. “And the need has become more acute,” he said. But carrier mergers, along with the emergence of DISH and C-band auctions, have all helped produce “tailwinds” for the industry coming into 2021. 

Newton said his team was quick to adapt to the pandemic conditions, and overall saw 2020 as an exceptional year. “We didn’t see any carrier slowdowns,” he said, “and enormous government stimulus packages will create wind at our back. In addition, DISH has stepped on the accelerator and has turned into a reality and a good opportunity for the industry.” Licis said the conditions set in 2020 helped Tilson reorganize and open up two new lines of business around macro towers and fiber.

Reddick said Crown is finding the C-band auction is spurring a lot of macro tower development along with small cell development over time. “Carriers tell us macro deployments are their best bang for their buck,” Newton said. And although they’ve seen a decline in build-to-suit volume, it has led to frank discussion with their customers. “We’re seeing some open-mindedness from carriers about multiple site solutions and footprint solutions,” he said.

DISH was seen by the panelists as an emerging and important player for the industry. “There was always the question, ‘is Charley for real this time?’ (referring to DISHs’ CEO) and I think that question has been answered,” Reddick said. Newton agreed but added DISH had been plotting its strategy for nearly a decade.

Another positive influence coming onto the scene, the panelists said, is the hyper cloud companies of Google, Amazon and Microsoft and the evolution of vRAN. “It’s the first instance where it’s coming into our domain,” Reddick said. “Wherever DISH places its vRAN is a place where Amazon will be interested in. And if Amazon is interested, T-Mobile will be interested, so you’ll see a snowballing effect at these locations.”

The second panel on Wednesday entitled “Tower Safety Training and Certification” featured moderator Todd Schlekeway, President and CEO of NATE, with panelists Heather Gastelum, National Site Safety at T-Mobile and Jose Tarafa, VP at MasTec. Schlekeway led off with a discussion on establishing a safety culture for their companies and for the industry. 

Gastelum said it’s a matter of morals, ethics and values. “Don’t just talk about it,” she said. “Set the examples and expectations and reward that.” She said one of the pitfalls is repeating the old saying, “we’ve always done it that way.” Tarafa said he sees techs who have the “certs” but not the competence. “When you see a tech who has a problem putting on his safety harness, that’s a sign that safety standards are not being upheld.” MasTec has eight trainers on staff along with 14 safety people, and Tarafa said his company spends a lot of time training the supervisors as well as the new recruits.

Safety standards are particularly breached when, according to Schlekeway, false credentials are being manufactured and distributed by ‘bad actors’ in the industry. 

“If we want to take the industry to the next level,” Gastelum said, “we should be developing some sort of program where the training firms and employers audit everyone they are deeming a trainer on their behalf.” She said OSHA is clear on their requirements and training standards. “Why can’t our industry push for that same approach?” Tarafa echoed that the fraudulent cards and certifications have become more widespread. “We have put together a deck to figure out if a card or cert is fraudulent,” he said. MasTec has made that resource available, he said, to any interested parties. Schlekeway said NATE is working to raise awareness on the issue.

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