The AT&T Tower Attachment Programcame about with the emergence of cellular and PCS and the disappearance of microwave radio. Well, the microwave was no longer used in most places, but to get rid those huge cornucopia antennas is expensive. AT&T has approximately 3000 towers throughout the US. Most of them are between 150 and 350 feet high, self standing, angled steel, 4 legged structures. These towers were built when AT&T was the sole long distance utility in the US.
What that means at the facility level is that AT&T was able to choose the best land, highest point with access, good budgets meant it was built to last, no skimping in design. Most sites feature good ground systems, generator backup power, fencing, and a tower that was designed to keep the huge antennas from moving to less than a degree. The down side to the generators were that most of the fuel tanks were underground (removal was another project for Hanson Engineers).
Droit Technologies was consulting for the BARC Group at the time when the PCS emergence came about. AT&T in Peachtree, GA had applications for tower attachment that were 6 months old. Drawings for the sites could not be gained in most cases, so initial involvement at the first sites required site survey reports that included layout drawings and an implementation plan. The need for installations to be done yesterday slimmed down the process. AT&T left it up to the customer to make sure the power, grounding, penetration plates, backup power, lightning arrestors, and floor space were available and reserved.
The streamlined process left the tower and antenna attachment as the main concern. Is there enough cable ladder on the tower to run the cable? Is someone already at the elevation on the tower that the customer wants? What type of antennas need attachment. The final product was a set of drawings showing the tower, attachment details, and bill-of-material.