Alticom bv is a Dutch company that owns 30 transmission masts in the Netherlands . It operates as a market leading core communications infrastructure provider in the Netherlands. Alticom offers space on these masts for antennas as well as transmission equipment to operators of telecommunication networks and room within the constructions for the associated equipment and as colocation / data center / backhaul / connectivity .
18-535: Alticom owns 30 masts and towers all over the Netherlands. Its primary activity consists on colocation services for all telecommunication and content delivery networks in the Netherlands. It can offer full coverage of the country Alticom owns the concrete base of the large towers such as the Gerbrandy Tower and Zendstation Smilde while the steel mast on top of these towers is owned by a company named NOVEC , which
36-478: A 223.5 metres (733') high guyed mast was mounted. This structure collapsed after a fire on July 15, 2011. Rebuilding of that tower started in late 2011 and was completed in October 2012; the replacement structure is also a partially guyed tower, now 303 metres (995') high. The tower is named after Pieter Gerbrandy , Prime Minister of the Netherlands during World War Two . Nearby, there is another remarkable antenna:
54-551: A complex ownership structure: On 14 August 1968 a US Air Force plane, an F-100 Super Sabre , from the Lakenheath Air Force Base in England was involved in an accident in heavy low clouds where the tip of a wing hit and broke one of the guy-wires of the tower, causing the upper section of the tower to bend. The pilot made an emergency landing at Soesterberg Royal Netherlands Air Force Base with considerable damage to
72-420: A concrete tower with a height of 100 meters (328') on which a guyed aerial mast is mounted. Its total height was originally 382.5 metres (1255'), but in 1987 it was reduced to 375 metres (1230'). On August 2, 2007, its analog antenna was replaced by a digital one reducing its height by another 9 metres (30'). Its height is now 366.8 metres (1203'). This tower type is a partially guyed tower , which combines
90-504: A lower free standing tower antennas with an upper guyed mast. If the structure is counted as a tower, it is the tallest tower in Western Europe. The Gerbrandy Tower is not the only tower which consists of a concrete tower on which a guyed mast is set. There is one similar but smaller tower with the same structure in the Netherlands, the radio tower of Zendstation Smilde , which consisted of an 80 metres (262') high concrete tower, on which
108-699: A mast, removed in September 2007 and replaced by a similar 214 m (702 ft) UHF antenna for DVB-T, raising the tower's height to 294 m (965 ft). Destroyed by a fire on 15 July 2011, that mast was removed, and replaced in 2012 with the current steel lattice one. The tower is similar in configuration to the Gerbrandy Tower ( IJsselstein ). Originally the mast was built by the state company for Post and Telephony ( Koninklijke KPN N.V. ) but due to privatisation this has changed. Several masts in The Netherlands, including above mentioned Gerbrandy Tower, have
126-582: A precaution, leaving large parts of the Netherlands without FM-radio and digital TV (DVB-T) reception. The ownership of the tower is complex: the concrete main structure is owned by Alticom : a company established in 2007 that bought many assets from KPN . Alticom was part of the European TDG Group, but in June 2011 it was announced that all shares in Alticom were acquired by investment company Infracapital who are
144-734: Is a subsidiary of TenneT . The ground on which these towers are built are owned by KPN , the company that sold the towers and masts to Alticom and Novec in 2007. Only the first 3 meters around the base of these structures are owned by Alticom Since 2009 space in the towers is offered as colocation centers. Offering includes: housing of servers infrastructure, energy provisioning, emergency power, connectivity, etc. The company offers these spaces as data centers and offers this to IT companies as regional data center facilities . All facilities are on-site to guarantee permanent operation (such as emergency power-generators, redundant communication links etc.). Data and colocation centers such as those offered by
162-531: The CJ2 Data tower (Dutch: CJ2 Datatoren ) is a 303 m (994 ft) partially guyed tower in Hoogersmilde , Netherlands. Built in 1959 for directional radio services and TV and FM-transmissions, it consists of an 80 m (260 ft) high reinforced concrete tower topped since 2012 by a 223 m (732 ft) television mast. It originally had a tubular 190 m (620 ft) analog TV - UHF antenna for
180-558: The KNMI-mast Cabauw , a mast used for meteorological measurements. Another nearby antenna, the 196 metre (643') high mediumwave transmitter Lopik , was demolished on September 4, 2015. On July 15, 2011, there was a small fire in the Gerbrandy tower. Only hours later, a similar tower in Smilde caught fire and collapsed, after which all transmitters in the Gerbrandy tower were shut down as
198-563: The Wayback Machine , 8 June 2011, retrieved 27 July 2011. Gerbrandy Tower The Gerbrandy Tower ( Dutch : Gerbrandytoren ) is a radio tower in IJsselstein , the Netherlands . It is also known as Lopik tower after the nearby town. It was built in 1961. The Gerbrandy Tower is used for directional radio services and for FM- and TV-broadcasting. The Gerbrandy Tower consists of
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#1733085970905216-432: The company are bound to play a key role in addressing latency, which will become a critical issue for the next 5G deployment. 5G pushes for a network change. Processing and storage capacity will be located as close as possible to the user through data centers for edge computing. That means moving broadband content delivery, streaming video, etc. closer to the edge of the network. There will be edge data centers and connected to
234-473: The fire. The fire destroyed the steel mast on top of the concrete tower completely and the top of the concrete tower was damaged. The owner of the steel mast, NOVEC BV, announced that starting in March 2012 erection of the new mast on top of the concrete tower would begin, which would be operational by the summer of 2012. The new steel lattice mast is a few metres (yards) higher than the previous tubular one, bringing
252-483: The infrastructure specialists of Prudential plc . Alticom is the owner of the concrete base and the first three meters (10') of ground around this base. The metal mast on top of the structure is owned by NOVEC , which is a subsidiary of the electricity transmission operator TenneT . And the ground on which the tower is built, excluding the first three meters (10') around the base, is (still) owned by KPN. Zendstation Smilde Zendstation Smilde , also known as
270-751: The latter micro data centers. On 15 July 2011 a large fire in the Smilde tower broke out within the steel mast on top of Alticom's concrete base. The extreme heat that was produced by this fire resulted in the collapse of the steel tower and the steel construction was destroyed. All transmissions from the tower, including the FM radio signal of RTV Drenthe, which is assigned as the official emergency station in case of emergencies, have since been stopped. Via two temporary masts in Assen and Smilde transmission of this station as well as most public and commercial programmes are restored. On
288-502: The right wing. On 15 July 2011, the antenna section caught fire and collapsed, leaving only the concrete base standing. In the above-mentioned report a warning was given that there was an increased risk of accidents in the masts, mainly because of the complex ownership structure, which left safety processes unclear. An investigation by the Dutch police failed to show any criminal negligence or other contributing factors that could have caused
306-452: The same day a smaller fire in the highest tower of Alticom, the Gerbrandy Tower , interrupted transmission of TV- and radio in a large part of the Netherlands. There is no indication that these fires are related. On 8 June 2011 a joint press-release from Infracapital and the TDF Group was published. The press-release informed the public that investment company Infracapital has acquired 100% of
324-424: The shares in Alticom from TDF Group. Infracapital is the investment company specialized in investments in infrastructure related companies. It is managed by M&G Investment limited which is the asset management arm of Prudential plc . Some other companies Infracapital invests in are Red Funnel , Associated British Ports , Kelda Group Pressrelease Infracapital acquires 100% of Alticom Archived 2011-07-24 at
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