Thread regarding Crown Castle International Corp. layoffs

Here's another example of the ineptitude in SC/fiber: Customer would contractually commit to pay Crown (or to a SC/fiber predecessor acquired by Crown) a capital contribution (a payment meant to defray Crown's build/install costs) in connection with customer signing up to install/operate small cells or use Crown fiber, and Crown's pricing of customer's recurring fees for the same was determined based in part on the amount of the capital contribution (which were often in the six-figure range). The larger the capital contribution, the lower the customer's recurring fees, all else being equal. Nobody was tracking the collection/payment of these customer capital contributions (especially when set forth in an agreement executed with a predecessor SC/fiber company prior to Crown's acquisition of that company), and if we did discover such a capital contribution was still owed (and there's no telling how many such payments we never identified as still owed), we would write off the agreed-upon capital contribution when a customer would simply balk at paying it or claim we waited too long to attempt to collect, while customer continued to enjoy the lower recurring fee for use of the SC/fiber. Millions of dollars in SC/fiber capital contributions (that's not an exaggeration) were written off as a result.

There's a case to be made that Jay is the worst Fortune 500 CEO on the planet.

Exactly. Both T and VZ are self performing what little they have of their own SC build in the markets where they have a fiber presence which is pretty much everywhere. On top of that, both T and VZ have entered into fiber lease agreements with FTR in places where they don’t have a fiber presence so that leaves only a handful of markets where Crown will provide value to them. So TMO becomes the last large potential customer for Crown’s SC offering and TMO isn’t going to foot the entire cost of the build.

I want to jump on the bash fiber bandwagon, but I don’t see small cell being an overwhelming success either. Who is going to colo on the pole? VZW and AT&T are doing their own thing, one customer isn’t going to pay the whole bill….

There was very poor fiber management by former district directors like M.Lee and his cronies below him who all came from a fiber company Crown Castle purchased (Lightower) that made decisions to look good in the eyes of their manager(s) and EMT vs doing what was right for Crown Castle. So much money was wasted and too many good people were negatively affected. Not to mention poor construction safety standards as with the 2019 gas explosion in Durham, NC where Crown Castle was named in at least four law suits when two were ki-led and others injured. Do you remember JB asking employees to donate money for the families who lost a loved one? It was a dark day for many. Sadly, the dark days continue on many levels.

If it isn't announced that Jay is out by EOY, you guys left are so f*cked

@rhp+1pXTflan Spot on! We had no business going into fiber.

In the article it states, “The feedback has been overwhelmingly supportive of significant change at Crown Castle, including unsolicited feedback from many current and former employees and executives of the Company” and “the ‘CEO approval’ metric on Glassdoor, which, at 51%, lags the CEO approval ratings of Crown Castle’s peers by a staggering amount.”

What the above tells me is that Elliott is DEFINITELY reading and following forums like “Glassdoor” and “TheLayoff.com” where many current and former employees are posting and responding to posts everyday.

The clock is ticking on JB and the EMT and they feel it. It’s strange how the EMT and their brown-nosing managers can get rid of people at will, but yet, they fail to see a lack of performance in their own actions and poor business making/management skills. Total hypocrisy and a good-ole-boy network!

Don’t worry Elliott, we are here for you! Both for your profits and our jobs that are on the line. Clown Castle employees, keep the posts and truth coming on these forums. It’s having an impact and working!

Elliott’s candor is refreshing. In the early days of Crown's foray into fiber (circa 2012-2013), Crown management described fiber as nothing more than "a horizontal cell phone tower" and believed that, other than for its horizontal orientation, operating fiber was analogous to operating a tower. That was the level of ignorance that prevailed. Years later, ineptitude continued to rule. Example: Crown would prematurely commit to customer pricing for small cells and fiber use, based in part on Crown’s anticipated recurring attachment/use fees to be paid to the pole/structure owner or ROW holder (the equivalent of Crown's payment of recurring rent to a landlord of a tower site), only to later discover that the actual recurring attachment/use/ROW fee Crown was able to negotiate with pole/structure owner or ROW holder was significantly higher than predicted, forcing Crown to eat the difference (having already committed to pricing with the customer), eating into Crown's expected margin and sometimes resulting in a net monthly loss to Crown (at least until that elusive second customer co-located on the pole/structure/ROW/fiber). This occurred repeatedly and is likely still occurring today.