Cell Tower and Wireless Telecommunications Blog

Since 2004, Steel in the Air has served over 3,000 clients, reviewed over 10,000 cellular leases and tracked over 2,000 lease buyout offers. We represent private landowners, corporate property owners and public entities in lease negotiations against wireless carriers and tower companies. We also consult on cell site and cell tower valuation and brokerage. Our cell tower and cell site database has grown to encompass over 285,000 cell site locations nationwide.

Md7

Md7 Sending AT&T Renegotiation Letters- without Disclosing Letter is from Md7

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We had heard previously that AT&T wasn't willing to allow lease optimization firms to send out letters on its letterhead without disclosing that the letter did not include actually come from the AT&T.   A client just received a letter though that clearly does not include anything identifying that Md7 (a lease optimization company) is involved.   We assume that Md7 is involved because the address on the letter as shown in the letterhead below

just happens to match that of Md7's offices.

The letter is the same as many other letters that are going out predominantly to private tower owners and municipal tower owners indicating that AT&T may extend or terminate the lease at the end of the current term and that AT&T is implementing a new program to "evaluate terms and conditions of all leases coming up for renewal, explore advance renegotiation options and consider alternative site locations." (emphasis added)   AT&T further requests that the tower owner: 

It appears that Md7 and AT&T have decided to remove any indication that Md7 is involved here altogether (except for the address).  Is that because the renegotiation efforts have been unsuccessful otherwise or is AT&T just looking to ratchet up the heat on tower owners to remove the opportunity for rent increases due to possible FirstNet modifications?  How many times can a company threaten to terminate a lease but not actually terminate it before owners just completely ignore the requests?   AT&T knows and based upon the fact that they keep sending the letters, there must be some tower owners that accept the revised terms with each round of letters.  

MD7 and the Value of a “Guarantee”

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In the last 6 months, Md7 has been offering landowners a guarantee on their T-Mobile ground and rooftop leases equivalent to 10 years.   What may not be clear when they offer this guarantee is that T-Mobile is not the company making the guarantee- instead a subsidiary of Md7 named Md7 Capital Three is making the guarantee.  Some of our clients have started negotiations with Md7 believing that T-Mobile is the one who is actually guaranteeing the lease and did not know until retaining our services that Md7 Capital Three is actually the guarantor. [Read more…] about MD7 and the Value of a “Guarantee”

Cingular to take lease reduction negotiations in house?

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We heard a unsubstantiated rumor that Cingular is planning on pulling back the AT&T and Cingular cell site lease optimization program contracts back from Black Dot Wireless and MD7 and doing their own lease renegotiation in-house. There has been no formal press release to this effect and if you are still being contacted by MD7 or Blackdot Wireless- then perhaps they have some time to finish up loose ends or there is no truth to this rumor.

If this rumor is real, then we applaud (loudly). Don’t have someone else do your dirty work on a commission basis- and don’t have someone else mislead or use scare tactics to renegotiate YOUR leases with YOUR landowners. Have the *&@#*& to do it yourself.