WHEN IS IT APPROPRIATE TO SHARE A CELL TOWER LEASE?

Earlier this week, we received a call from a landowner who had been contacted multiple times about their lease. The most recent series of attempts was from a person with a foreign accent who claimed to be from one of the US-based cell tower lease buyout firms. (We spoke with the buyout firm, and they […]

The Early Days of the Cell Tower Lease Buyout Business

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 […]

FCC Orders Landowner to Remove Abandoned Tower

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 […]

Update on 2022 in Wireless- analysis and expectations.

Now that we have passed the midpoint of 2022, we thought it might be helpful to share our observations from the first half of 2022 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 […]

Q1 2022 State of the Industry Update from Ken

For anyone hoping that 2022 would slow down from 2021, that will not happen. We enjoyed a slight lull in activity in January, only to be slammed in February and March. What’s occupying us these days? AT&T C-Band Modifications. AT&T is adding C-Band equipment to their existing macrocells to provide mid-band (faster) 5G. Because they […]

Cell Tower Lease Revenue Share Hijinks

A client of ours has a ground lease with one of the big three public tower companies. Instead of rent, the landowner gets a straight percentage of the revenue from all wireless carriers subleasing space on the tower. The client contacted us to help them sell the lease. However, when we reviewed the revenue share […]

5G Site Marketing: Scam or Opportunity?

One of the more disturbing trends in 2021 and early 2022 is the rise of the “5G site marketing companies.” Over the past year, we have observed a substantial increase in the number of proposals issued to our larger municipal and corporate clients. Some of these companies include 5G, LLC.; SiteMark, LLC.; Aon 5G; and […]