A few weeks ago we visited a large investment bank to present our Q1 2019 Wireless Update findings to a group of investors and attended some private meetings. Here is a short recap of our top 10 findings. Applications for new towers has been rising slightly. Of applications to the FCC for new structures, nearly […]
As pointed out by Inside Towers, construction drawings for a DISH NB-IOT installation are available here. We reviewed the drawings carefully and have some observations. What is DISH installing? DISH appears to be using one 3′ satellite dish for backhaul purposes. The drawings include a designation that a second location must be available on the […]
A number of our clients have ground leases with Crown Castle that contain revenue sharing clauses. They contacted us recently to ask why their lease payments went down or up. Typically, the rent payment adjustments are being made because of what Crown Castle is referring to as adjustments in their master lease agreements with their wireless […]
Previously, we wrote about Tillman Infrastructure, a tower company that has expanded significantly to build towers near existing towers to encourage wireless carriers to move from the existing tower to the new tower, all in an effort to reduce lease rates. For over a year now, tower companies have publicly discounted the impact of these “build-to-relo” […]
Before the announcement by Sprint and T-Mobile of their merger, Reuters ran a story that suggested that a T-Mobile/Sprint deal “may cast shadow over tower companies”. The article points out that one of the major synergies of the Sprint/T-Mobile merger is “decommissioning cell sites”. No surprise here so far other than why the author of this article uses […]
In Penitas, Texas, what appears to be a new small cell pole was erected overnight near a busy thoroughfare. There is a great news story about this in the video below. If you watch the video closely, you will see a small microwave dish at the top which suggests that this is a […]
A new competitive dynamic emerges in the fight for densification dominance Tickers: ZAYO, CCI (Disclosure- author holds positions in ZAYO) The deployment of small cells started in earnest in 2015. Two years later, all of the Big 4 wireless carriers have adopted a small cell strategy to handle the 50+% YOY growth in mobile data […]
As we have done in years past, we look ahead to 2017 and share our forecasts for the coming year. All things considered, 2016 was a mediocre year for the industry. 2017 looks to be all about repositioning – meaning that while we don’t expect growth in CapEx, we do anticipate industry development in some […]
Or How to Sell a Cell Tower for $2,000,000 A tower owner client of ours asked us for help in documenting for their lender that cell towers are used by many companies, not just cellular companies. To assist, we established the list of non-cellular cell tower leasing companies. Most people understand that the typical cell tower […]
On September 20, Comcast’s Brian Roberts announced that Comcast Wireless – a second iteration wireless venture – is scheduled to roll out in mid-2017. While details have been limited so far, here is what we anticipate based upon 20+ years in the wireless industry.