Is Verizon Selling Towers?
Recent news reports have confirmed that Verizon has engaged a third-party advisor to evaluate the sale of its remaining cell
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Recent news reports have confirmed that Verizon has engaged a third-party advisor to evaluate the sale of its remaining cell
Impact of T-Mobile and Verizon’s Potential Acquisition of U.S. Cellular on Cell Tower Landowners and Owners Introduction The telecommunications landscape
In a telling shift, AT&T recently relocated a cell site from an American Tower Corp. (ATC) site to a Crown
SITA Q&A Forum
Our cell tower lease experts answer all your questions in our Q&A forum. See what other landowners are asking about cell tower leases.
We want to help you improve your lease, not line our own pockets. Our goal is to help you however we can, and if we can’t, we won’t pitch you services you don’t need or buy your lease. We’ll never encourage you to do something you’re uncomfortable with. Our team is made up of industry experts who aim to help you however they can. We are the cell tower lease experts who work only for you, not the cell phone or tower companies, and our goal is to get you the best cell tower lease or cell tower lease buyout possible. We also offer counsel for a full year after we evaluate your lease, so you’re never left out in the cold.
With over 15,000 cell tower lease rate datapoints in our lease database, we can provide you with the most reliable information available. Because we have over 20 years of experience, we can provide you with the best, most reliable data, so you know what to expect. We also offer flexible payment terms, so we can meet your specific needs. Unlike some of our competitors, we won’t take a percentage of your lease. Instead, we charge a fixed, flat rate or work on a contingency basis.
In short, our goal is to work only for you and get you the best lease or buyout possible with the least hassle.
We Are a Team of Client-Focused Professional Cell Tower Lease Experts.
We’re there for you – no matter what. We prioritize your goals and tailor our consultations and guidance to meet your needs.
Here are some testimonials from our happy clients.
Nobody has better data. 400,000 cell site locations and 15,000 cell site leases with lease rate information are in our data. We have been tracking tower and lease data since before any of our competitors were even in business.
Over the last 20 years, we have advised clients in all 50 states. Thousands of landowners have benefited from engaging our services. Our reputation as a cell tower lease consultant is unparalleled in the industry.
Steel in the Air works with you and only for you. We do not take compensation from public tower companies or wireless carriers. We never accept engagements where there is a potential conflict of interest.
Our Top Frequently Asked Questions
Sorry, but this isn’t a service we provide. We don’t lease property for towers, nor do we help landowners find someone to build a tower on their property. See Cell Tower on Your Property for more details. If you submit your property to us, it will do you no good.
The average cell tower ground lease in the United States pays approximately $1,300/month. However, there is a wide variance in how much leases are worth. Area of the country, value of land, zoning restrictions on placement of new towers are all factors that influence how much a specific site is worth.
In most cases, no. Many of these “renegotiation” requests are fishing expeditions. The companies making them get paid a commission for convincing you to lower your rent or accept other unfavorable terms and conditions. If your lease is less than $2,000/month, it rarely makes sense to renegotiate. If it is higher, please reach out and we will let you know if there is anything to be worried about.
Most landowners are contacted at least once a month by some company that wants to “buy” their lease. Sometimes, these offers come from the company leasing the property; in other cases, from third parties who buy leases. Their motive is different depending upon the company.
For the lessee, they just want to make sure other companies don’t buy the lease. For third party lease buyout firms, they aggregate these leases together. For them, aggregation leverages the risk of termination across many leases.
You can rest assured that they would not be contacting you if they thought your lease is not worth more than what they will offer you for it.
Unlike our competitors, our pricing is clear and reasonable. We can be engaged in a number of ways:
It depends upon your lease agreement. If your lease agreement has a revenue share clause, then yes, you should receive more rent. If there is no revenue share clause, then unless they are expanding outside the lease area, you likely aren’t entitled to additional rent.
Unfortunately, it is becoming more typical. Tower companies want to tie up your land for a long time, but do not offer any reciprocal commitment on their part. We generally advise not agreeing to anything longer than 25–35 years. See our page on negotiating a new cell tower lease.
Absolutely.
If you are buying a piece of property with a cell tower on it, the first thing you MUST do is ask the seller how much rent the lease is paying. Sometimes property owners have already sold the lease rights to a third-party, and you won’t receive any rent.
Likewise, if you are selling a piece of property with a cell tower lease, you should consider offering the property inclusive of the lease and without it. Typically, we find that traditional purchasers of real property do not value cell tower leases as highly as companies that buy cell site leases.
In either scenario, please contact us and we can help you think through the options available to you.
Let’s put it this way- it isn’t good. A Right of First Refusal (ROFR) clause prevents the landowner from selling the lease to a third party without the lessee having the right to match the offer. At best, having a ROFR clause is an annoyance. At worst, it can be combined with anti-assignment language to prevent you from selling the lease altogether.
Most new leases include a ROFR clause and depending upon how unique (or not) your property is, you may have to agree to a ROFR clause. See this article for more details on the Right of First Refusal clause in cell tower leases.
We do not work for the large public tower companies or any of the wireless carriers (with 3 small exceptions over our 20 years in business). We do work with some smaller private tower companies. However, unlike some consultants, we never accept compensation from both sides. We work solely for you and never disclose your information.
No, they won’t. Satellite-to-cell technology is supplementary to cell towers, not a replacement for them. See our article on why satellites won’t replace cell towers anytime soon.
Please reach out to us if you have any questions (except how to get a tower on your property). We will respond promptly.