In recent years, there has been a proliferation of studies commissioned by system integrators and OEM vendors claiming that in-building wireless coverage is insufficient and that consumers and employees are dissatisfied with the current state of connectivity. While these studies serve to highlight a demand for better indoor coverage and suggest that private 5G or a private network is the answer, they often raise concerns about their objectivity and transparency. Such studies often fail to substantively address who will pay for the system and why. Lastly, and most importantly, they are used to ..read more

We examined applications for environmental notice to the FCC for the last month.  Here are the companies that have been most active in submitting to the FCC over that time frame.  Notably, Tillman is still active, outpacing other tower companies.  Vertical Bridge is next up with 36 new submissions, primarily under a subsidiary named “The Towers, LLC.”  Verizon (including Alltel) and AT&T also crack the top 5.  Boldyn Networks was previously Mobilitie.  There are also a number of mid-sized tower companies on the list.  Many of these new towers are being b ..read more

As we enter 2024, we thought it might be helpful to summarize what we have been seeing with new leases and existing leases in rural areas. Please do not contact us about how you can get a tower on your property; it is not something we do. Please see our article on How to Get a Cell Tower on Your Property for more details on how you can try to do it yourself).   Activity on New Cell Tower and Leases in Rural Areas   Carrier Buildouts In the last five years, there has been a decent amount of activity in building out rural areas with additional cell towers. The Big 3 wireless carrier ..read more

Recently, Black Dot (a cell tower lease optimization company) has been contacting landowners with a new slick produced video where they claim that cell towers are “now nearly extinct”.  They offer the landowner the opportunity to convert these soon to be worthless assets to cash. Of course, one must ask why BlackDot would offer to buy a worthless asset. Are they bad businesspeople or are they lying about the risk to cell towers? (They are in the business of cell tower lease optimization if that helps) Since we get this question frequently from landowners who are worried about their ce ..read more

In recent years, there has been a significant increase in offers to landowners to “pre-pay” cell tower leases with a single lump sum, instead of regular monthly payments, as is typical for most cell tower leases. Consider these offers as a type of cell tower lease buyout, but occurring in advance rather than after the lease has commenced. For example, a landowner recently contacted us, puzzled about not receiving rent on a lease he signed. It turned out that a tower company convinced him to grant a cell tower easement for a single payment of approximately $40,000 for a perp ..read more

During my early days in the wireless industry while employed by a tower company, I worked alongside a site acquisition vendor named Nape Touchstone. Eventually, I ended up forming a company with him to build towers – back in the late 1990s. Nape was a character indeed – someone who had a pithy catchphrase for everything when you asked him a question. He frequently used phrases like “busier than a one-armed paper hanger,” “sitting in the catbird seat,” and others that I can’t include here. Nape was a good-natured person and a joy to work with and for; unfortunately, I lost track of him about 10 ..read more

2022 turned out to be a strong year for wireless activity.  Wireless capital expenditures were the highest in the last 5 years. Carrier activity focused on modifying existing site and adding mid-band 5G to existing sites.  Valuations for tower and lease assets may have hit their peak- but remain high.  Looking forward into 2023- here is what we see: Wireless Service Provider Predictions Wireless service providers are near completion of their  deployments of mid-band new spectrum on existing sites. As predicted, last year turned out to be one of the busiest in terms of ..read more

In a surprise ruling, the FCC determined that a landowner was responsible for removing a 375’ guyed tower on their property after the broadcaster that built it (and subsequent broadcast owners) failed to do so. Because the tower exceeds 200’, it is required to be lit for aircraft safety. However, the tower lights apparently had been off along with the power since 2005. The previous property owner had entered into an easement allowing the tower on the property in return for $12,000/year. However, it doesn’t appear that the broadcaster paid it for very long. The property was sold but the new l ..read more

As we approach the end of 2023, we thought it might be helpful to summarize what we have been seeing with new leases and existing leases in rural areas. (Please do not contact us about how you can get a tower on your property – it is not something we do. Please see our article on How to Get a Cell Tower on Your Property for more details on how you can try to do it yourself). Activity on New Cell Tower and Leases in Rural Areas   Carrier Buildouts In the last few years, there has been a decent amount of activity in building out rural areas with additional cell towers. The Big 3 wireles ..read more

Now that we have passed the midpoint of 2023, we thought it might be helpful to share our observations from the first half of 2023 and our expectations for the latter half.    First, we start with wireless carrier and tower company activity:   AT&T AT&T is deploying 5G (via C-Band spectrum) faster than expected. They allege that they are six months ahead of schedule. Primarily, they are doing this by modifying existing cell sites to incorporate C-Band spectrum.   As a result, small cell development activity has been significantly curtailed. AT&T has told ..read more